The office had quieted again by the time evening settled over the building. Most of the employees had already packed their bags and left, the usual hum of activity slowly fading into scattered sounds of keyboards and distant footsteps. Jungkook was still at his desk, trying to concentrate on his work despite the lingering irritation that had followed him since the morning.
Hannah appeared beside him, slightly out of breath, a folder clutched in her hand. "Jungkook, can you do me a favor?" she asked quickly.
He looked up. "What happened?"
"I have to leave early. Something came up," she said, pushing the folder toward him. "This is the presentation draft for tomorrow's meeting. I just need someone to proofread it before it goes out."
Jungkook raised an eyebrow. "You trust me with that?"
"You're the only one still here who won't mess it up," she replied simply.
He sighed but took the folder. "Fine. Go."
Hannah smiled in relief as she grabbed her bag. "You're a lifesaver."
"I know."
"Don't stay too late," she added, already walking away.
Jungkook watched her leave before opening the folder. The work was not complicated, just long and slightly tedious. He leaned back in his chair and started reading through the first page.
About twenty minutes later, the lights flickered once. Then the entire office floor went dark. Jungkook blinked.
"Seriously?"
Only a faint glow from emergency lighting remained, leaving the large office space dim and quiet. He waited a moment, assuming the lights would come back. They didn't. He looked around. Most of the desks were now lost in shadow, but one room remained brightly lit. Taehyung's office.
Of course. Jungkook exhaled slowly, staring at the folder in his hands. Working in the dark was impossible, and the emergency lights were barely enough to read by. For a moment he considered just leaving. But Hannah had asked him for this.
And unfortunately the only place with proper lighting was the last place he wanted to be. Jungkook gathered his laptop and the folder before standing up. His steps echoed faintly across the quiet floor as he walked toward Taehyung's office.
He knocked once before opening the door slightly. Taehyung looked up from behind his computer.
"What is it?"
"The lights went out," Jungkook said flatly. "I need somewhere to finish proofreading Hannah's work."
Taehyung glanced toward the dark office outside before nodding slightly.
"Sit."
Jungkook walked in and took the chair near the edge of the desk, opening the folder again. For several minutes neither of them spoke. The room was quiet except for the faint sound of Jungkook turning pages. Taehyung tried to focus on his own work. But the silence between them felt heavier than usual. Eventually Jungkook closed the folder with a quiet sigh.
"Done."
Taehyung looked up. "Good."
Jungkook stood, gathering his things.
"You could have just gone home," Taehyung said suddenly.
Jungkook stopped. "There it is again."
Taehyung frowned slightly. "What?"
"That tone."
Taehyung leaned back in his chair. "I am simply stating a fact."
Jungkook turned to face him fully. "No. You're doing that thing where everything I do is somehow wrong."
Taehyung's expression hardened. "You seem very eager to argue tonight."
"I wasn't the one who started it this morning."
Taehyung stood from his chair slowly. "You stayed in the office overnight."
"Yes, so what?"
"And you still refuse to understand why that creates problems."
Jungkook laughed under his breath. "You're unbelievable."
Taehyung stepped around the desk. "You think the world is simple."
"And you think everyone is plotting against you."
Their voices were no longer calm. The tension in the room rose sharply as they stood only a few feet apart.
"You are too young to understand how this works," Taehyung said firmly.
"There you go again," Jungkook snapped. "The kid lecture."
"You are acting like one."
"Maybe because you keep treating me like one."
Taehyung opened his mouth to reply, but Jungkook cut him off. "You know what? Just stop talking."
Taehyung's eyes narrowed slightly. "You do not tell me to stop talking in my own office."
Jungkook's patience finally snapped. Before he could think better of it, he stepped forward and grabbed Taehyung by the front of his tie, pushing him backward until the older man's hip hit the edge of the glass desk.
Taehyung looked genuinely startled for the first time. "What are you doing?"
Jungkook did not answer. Because his mind had stopped working entirely. The anger, the frustration, the constant arguments, the thoughts he had been trying not to have for days now all collided at once.
And the only way he could think to shut Taehyung up was the stupidest one possible. He leaned forward and kissed him. The movement was sudden and clumsy, more forceful than graceful as Jungkook pressed his lips against Taehyung's.
For a split second the entire world seemed to freeze. Taehyung's hands gripped the edge of the glass table behind him in shock. Jungkook had intended it as nothing more than a reckless attempt to silence him. But the moment the kiss actually happened, the anger that pushed him forward melted into something far more confusing.
And far more dangerous. Neither of them stopped. The quiet office outside remained dark and silent while the light from Taehyung's office spilled softly across the room, illuminating the moment neither of them had expected.
Taehyung reacted a second too late. The surprise of the sudden kiss had frozen him just long enough for Jungkook to pull away again. For a moment neither of them moved. The silence in the room felt heavier than before, charged with something neither of them had prepared for.
Taehyung's brows drew together as he straightened slightly against the edge of the table. "That," he said slowly, "was terrible."
Jungkook blinked. "What?"
"You cannot even kiss properly." The bluntness of the comment made Jungkook's jaw drop.
"I was trying to shut you up," Jungkook snapped.
"Yes, well," Taehyung replied coolly, "you failed."
Jungkook opened his mouth to fire back, but Taehyung moved first. One hand came up to grip the front of Jungkook's shirt, pulling him forward again before he could react. The movement was firm, deliberate, nothing like Jungkook's impulsive shove from earlier.
"If you are going to do something like that," Taehyung murmured, his voice lower now, "at least do it properly."
Before Jungkook could respond, Taehyung closed the distance. The kiss this time was nothing like the first. It was slower, controlled, confident in a way that made Jungkook's thoughts scatter instantly. Taehyung tilted his head slightly, guiding the movement with practiced ease, his hand still holding Jungkook close.
For a moment Jungkook froze. Then heat rushed straight through him. When Taehyung finally pulled back, his eyes were sharp with quiet challenge.
"That," he said calmly, "is how adults kiss."
Something in Jungkook's expression changed. Before Taehyung could step away, Jungkook grabbed him again. The sudden movement pushed Taehyung backward onto the glass table, the edge pressing lightly against the back of his thighs as Jungkook stepped between them.
This time there was no hesitation. Jungkook kissed him again, harder, the frustration and confusion from earlier pouring straight into the kiss. One of his hands braced against the table beside Taehyung while the other caught the older man's shirt.
The force of it made Taehyung's breath hitch slightly. Whatever lesson he had tried to demonstrate seconds earlier had clearly backfired. Because Jungkook was no longer trying to silence him. Now he was simply refusing to let go.
For a moment neither of them seemed to remember where they were. Jungkook's kiss had lost the hesitation from before. What began as frustration now carried something deeper, something that had been building between them for far longer than either of them wanted to admit. Taehyung's back met the cool surface of the glass table as Jungkook leaned over him, one hand gripping the edge beside his hip to steady himself.
Taehyung inhaled sharply when Jungkook's mouth moved against his again, the force of it leaving little room to breathe. The younger man had stopped holding back completely. His earlier embarrassment had vanished, replaced by something far more certain.
"You're still reckless," Taehyung muttered breathlessly when Jungkook finally pulled back.
"You started it," Jungkook replied, his voice low.
Taehyung almost laughed at that, but the sound never quite left his throat when Jungkook's hands moved again, sliding to his waist and pulling him closer. The edge of the desk pressed against Taehyung as Jungkook stepped fully between his legs, the closeness making it impossible to ignore the tension that had taken over the room. For someone who had just been told he could not kiss, Jungkook seemed determined to prove otherwise.
Taehyung tilted his head back slightly when Jungkook kissed along his jaw, his fingers tightening instinctively against the table behind him. The office that had been filled with arguments only minutes earlier now felt impossibly small, the quiet outside making every movement between them feel louder.
"Jungkook," Taehyung started, though the warning never quite formed.
Because Jungkook had already stopped listening. The younger man pulled him closer again, the movement firm enough to make Taehyung lose the small distance he had tried to keep. For all his usual composure, Taehyung found himself reacting before he could think, his hands gripping Jungkook's shoulders as the moment spiraled further out of control.
The frustration from their earlier fight melted into something hotter and far more dangerous. Every look, every argument, every confusing thought they had both been avoiding seemed to collide all at once in that quiet office.
The glass table behind Taehyung creaked faintly when Jungkook shifted closer. For a brief second Taehyung considered stopping it. He knew he should. There were a hundred reasons why this was a terrible idea. Jungkook was younger. Jungkook worked for him. Jungkook had no idea what kind of complications would follow something like this.
But when Jungkook looked at him again, breath uneven and eyes dark with stubborn determination, the words never came. Instead Taehyung pulled him back down.
What followed was messy and impulsive, nothing like the controlled version of himself Taehyung usually showed the world. The tension that had been simmering between them for weeks finally burned away the last of their restraint.
The quiet office remained dark outside while the light from Taehyung's office spilled across the room, the glass table becoming the unfortunate witness to their complete lack of self control.
By the time the storm between them finally settled, the argument that had started everything felt distant and almost ridiculous. Taehyung remained where he was for a moment longer, catching his breath as he stared at the ceiling above him. Jungkook stood beside the table, equally silent, the earlier anger replaced by the sudden realization of what they had just done.
The room was filled only with the sound of their uneven breathing. Jungkook stood beside the table, one hand resting against its edge as he tried to steady himself, chest rising and falling heavily. Taehyung was still leaning back against the glass surface, hair slightly messy, eyes narrowed as he slowly sat up. He winced faintly before glaring at Jungkook.
"That was unnecessary," Taehyung muttered, clearly offended.
Jungkook blinked. "What was not necessary?"
Taehyung crossed his arms, looking almost personally betrayed. "You are too enthusiastic for someone who learned to kiss ten minutes ago."
Jungkook just rolled him eyes. "Too old to take it?"