I'm back from the dead! Sorry for the long delay again, but I've been working and studied for exams all summer so I haven't had time to write TT But the winter adventures are finally approaching, and I might or might not have a few interesting things planned for the upcoming parts ;3

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As the winter settled further along with the colder weather and shorter days, the last couple of weeks of this semester went by quickly as we buried ourselves in knitted sweaters, large scarves and homework. The last exams were written this week and we are now finally allowed to unplug our brains from any form of school work for three whole weeks forward.

And to celebrate our temporary freedom -- at least until the next hell begins in January -- we wrap up the semester with the long awaited ski-trip. The clock is just about to strike six a.m. and there is not a single soul in the school's parking lot that is energetic right now.

Except Hoseok, of course.

"Guuuys!" he cheers at the top of his lungs when he approaches the assembly that is me, Areum and the guys. Taehyung is currently koala-ing me; meaning that his cheek is squished against the slope between my neck and shoulder, arms locked around my body for support while he's allowed his own body to relax against mine -- as he's literally asleep standing up. His friend's loud, too cheerful arrival makes him groan in annoyance.

"Listen up you bag of rotten cheetos," Yoongi growls through gritted teeth, eyes boring into Hoseok's with pure rage. "Unless you want to ski down the slopes with two broken legs and my fist stuck down your throat.. I suggest you keep it down when you're in a ten meter radius from me."

Hoseok's eyes widen in fear and he takes a scared step towards his girlfriend, slightly hiding behind her. It's not rare to fall victim to Yoongi's viscous word-spews, and we all know he doesn't really mean it -- most of the time. It can hurt depending on his mood, but thankfully he attacks Tae, Jungkook and Jimin more than us others.

It is rare for him to cuss like that to Hoseok, however, meaning that Yoongi was not in a good mood at all. And if anyone prefers to keep their body parts where they should be, they better not say anything to anger him. Though, the best thing would be to simply get as far away as possible from him.

Chanyeol looks a bit afraid as he eyes the short-tempered male before making eye-contact with Baekhyun, who simply shakes his head as if knowing that Chan might say something dumb.

Areum takes the initiative, as per usual, to lighten up the tension and fearful silence.

"When's that damn bus getting here? I'm freezing my damn Ryan socks off!" she complains in a frustrated whisper-yell.

Jungkook's eyes shoot up. "Ryan socks?" he squeaks, clearly intrigued.

"They released special christmas socks in the Ryan store two weeks ago. They're soooo adorable and comfy!"

"What?! How haven't I heard of this?" Jungkook exclaims in disbelief.

"What are you, two years old?" Jimin scoffs.

"Excuse you," Jin inclines with an arched eyebrow. "Don't need to be rude just because you have a distasteful wardrobe inspired by 14 year-old white girls."

When you think an insult from Yoongi hurts, Jin just hits it just where it hurts the most personally.

Even I felt that burn.

"Guys, let's not begin this trip with a battle of who can roast the other the most.. We all know Jin will win in the end," Namjoon steps in with a sigh, hands raised. Jin grins in triumph and Jimin pouts angrily, burying the lower half of his face into his scarf and tucking his hands further into his pockets. I can faintly hear him scoff "My wardrobe isn't inspired by 14-year old white girls.." which is thankfully muffled by the clothing covering his mouth, so I was the only one that heard. Otherwise he could risk getting a Jin-slap across his face. You do not want a Jin-slap across your face.

The newly established Ryan trio high-five each other, while Jimin's pride remains humiliated.

And like a ray of sunshine, the Universe decides to finally summon the long awaited bus that is approaching the parking lot like the hero it is. We all release tired cheers as it pulls up in front of us, the mood instantly lifting as we load our bags into the trunk and step into the bus.

Since we needed to unload our belongings, Tae had no choice but to rip his body away from mine before disappearing into the bus to join the others in occupying the rear area. When I finally enter the warmth as well, I tiredly drag my feet across the narrow aisle and search for Areum's red beanie, which I find almost immediately. I was just about to sit down next to her when I suddenly feel an unknown force pulling me down from behind, resulting in me crashing into the seat opposite Areum's.

I wasn't surprised when I noticed that it had been Taehyung, who's currently looking at me with a sour expression.

"You weren't going to sit next to me?" he mutters, pouting cutely.

I chuckle before replying, "The first thing I saw was her beanie and I honestly didn't think further than that because I'm really tired. And you didn't tell me earlier, so.."

"But I thought it was obvious that we were going to sit together?"

I raise my eyebrows, suddenly feeling bad but at the same time wanting to squish his cheeks together. "I'm sorry love," I coo, leaning forward to deliver a quick kiss on his lips. "From now on we're permanent bus-sitting partners, and may the Universe punish me if I ever forget that."

My promise makes him smile brightly, and he leans back in his seat contently. He then digs up his earbuds and poke one into his ear and the other into mine.

"I prepared a playlist for us," he says with an almost shy smile.

I give him a shocked look. "Really?" I ask in awe to which he nods in reply. "How come?"

He shrugs. "Felt like it. And some of these songs reminds me of you, so.."

"Aww, really? Look at you being romantic and stuff."

"I try," he chuckles, looking a tiny bit embarrassed.

I can't help but smile widely, searching for his hand and enveloping it with my own when finding it. "I feel honored. I can't wait to listen to it," I almost whisper, leaning into him.

He then taps shuffle on the list, a lovely piano melody starts playing in my ear. It doesn't take long at all before I start daydreaming while staring out the window, watching the houses and buildings swirl by. When we finally drive out onto the highway, I feel my eyelids become more heavy until I struggle to keep them open.

No, stay awake. You have to listen through all the songs he handpicked just for you.

I shift my gaze from the trees to Taehyung, and notice that he's sound asleep, looking so soft and peaceful. The sight makes me smile, a warm feeling bubbling in my stomach as I remind myself that this beautiful man next to me is mine, and that I didn't need to keep it a secret from the world anymore.

The rest of the ride wasn't too eventful, since I too eventually fell asleep to the soft rocking of the bus and Taehyung's closeness, while the side of our heads rest against each other.

♣

"WE'RE HERE!"

I jump in my seat in reaction to the loud voice next to my ear, waking up with a half a heart-attack, throwing a glare at Areum who smirks mischievously.

She and Hoseok literally share the same braincell.

Taehyung also wakes up, not from Areum's voice, but from my head knocking his when I got startled. He groans tiredly, hand touching the place where our heads had collided.

"Ouch?"

"It broke my heart waking you two cuties up, but at least I captured the moment forever!" she beams before shoving her phone up in our faces, revealing the picture she'd secretly taken of us cuddled up against one another. Of course she would take a picture of that.

"Guys, look! There's so much snow!" Hoseok says excitedly as he shows up beside his girlfriend. "The first thing I'm gonna do is making a snow-angel right outside this bus."

Taehyung and I take a look outside the window, both our eyes growing wide as we take in the winter wonderland on the other side of the glass. I might actually join Hoseok in making that snow-angel. We quickly get up from our seats and almost throw ourselves out of the bus. The cold is definitely more intense here, snow covering every inch of ground as far as the eyes can reach and it squeaks underneath the soles of our shoes as we walk on it.

I'm in absolute love with this place.

Hoseok wasn't kidding when he said that he'd do a snow-angel right outside the bus, because two seconds after we step outside his body has sunken into the snow, working his arms and legs in up-and-down motions. I laugh as I watch him smile brightly as he continues to lie on the snow, looking at Taehyung with a shrug before plopping down onto the snow next to Hoseok, making an angel of my own. A handful of seconds later, the four of us are lying on the snow and four angels are imprinted on the snow.

"What the hell are you crackheads doing?" Jin shouts from the assembly that is him and the other boys, probably waiting impatiently for us to arrive.

"Angels!" Hoseok shouts back with the most cheerful smile he could muster.

"I'll show y'all angels when I personally choke you if another one of my nose hairs freezes to ice!" Yoongi exclaims with rage.

Thankfully we all seem to live to see another day since we join them 0.5 seconds after Yoongi uttered his threat. And now we stand in line to get the keys to our rooms that we share two-and-two. As we're waiting, Areum and I throw a glance behind us where Taehyung and Hoseok are standing. Areum winks at them before sneakily dropping her bag for Taehyung to exchange with his. We successfully obtain our keys with zero suspect and dart to our room, exchanging victorious grins to one another.

Once inside our rooms, we plop ourselves down onto each single bed and release heavy sighs.

"Are we geniuses or are we geniuses?" Areum squeals excitedly. Still lying on our beds, we high-five each other and laugh evilly.

"I love how the teachers literally don't care."

"Eh, they were young once too. I'm sure they did the same thing," Areum says, wiggling her eyebrows and sitting up. "How long do you think before he's getting here?"

I sigh and check the time on my phone. "Around three, two, one.."

Knock knock.

"There you have him," I say, also getting up from the bed to approach the door, which unsurprisingly reveals a grinning Taehyung as we open it.

"Which room?" Areum asks when we let Tae inside.

"319. The floor above this one, then at the end of the hallway to the right," he explains simply, to which Areum nods in reply along with a salute.

"Yessir! We'll pick you guys up for lunch soon," she chirps with a wink before closing the door after herself, leaving me and Tae by ourselves. He smiles cutely at me while cocking his head to the side.

"I'm glad we get to share rooms," he says as he steps closer to me. His arms then snakes around my waist, gently pulling me close to him. With eyes locked solely on mine, he utters softly, "I can hug my Blue all night."

My heart flutters madly, but a big smile find its way to my lips as I bring my face closer to his. "You really can't sleep without me for one weekend?" I tease, feeling our noses brush against each other.

"Nope," he replies with zero hesitation. "I always want you next to me."

With that he encloses the space left between our lips. I will probably never get over this feeling, and I will forever wonder how a pair of lips could be this soft. My hands travel to his waist, gently squeezing his sides which makes him chuckle against my lips. I smirk evilly before tickling him, making him screech and grab my hands to keep me from repeating my actions.

"Now you're in trouble love," he growls after retracting his lips and narrowing his eyes at me. He pushes his body against mine causing us both to stumble further into the room and my back to crash onto the nearest bed. Taehyung traps my body underneath his while watching me intensely, voice extremely deep as he utters, "You shouldn't have done that."

I pout my lips just a little bit, jokingly trying to appear innocent. He rolls his eyes at me but allows himself to smile. "You're too damn cute," he whines in complaint, but leaning in to kiss me again soon after.

As his hands starts to travel from my hips and up, I knew what was waiting for me. I squeal in fear before he even started tickling me and tried to push him off, though he didn't budge. Then he actually starts tickling me and I let out a panicked scream, Tae only laughing evilly at me as he continues to torture me.

"TAEE STOP!" I exclaim through my violent laughs to which he only cackles at. "Pleaseee I'm sorry! I'll never tickle you again AHH-"

He doesn't stop. And by now my survival instincts kicks in giving me strength I didn't know I had which helps me twist my body in hopes to get him off me, which only resulted in him falling off the bed and taking me with him. Taehyung's back takes the fall as he lands with a thud and I crash onto his chest.

Now instead we're a laughing mess on the floor.

"Are you okay?" I ask him after collecting my breath.

"I think I got a concussion," he groans, holding his head while whining in agony. "Ooo it hurts!" I roll my eyes knowing very well that he was over-exaggerating. "I need a whole day of cuddles from my girlfriend to heal again."

"We've watched so many k-dramas together that you've starting to act like them. It's cringey, please stop."

"How come you fangirl when Park Hyungsik and Nam Joohyuk does it but when I try to be cute it's suddenly cringey?"

"Because they act. You actually think that people do that for real?"

He makes a grumpy face and mutters something a human can't possibly translate into existing words. I chuckle and boop his nose with my index finger. "You don't have to be overly romantic like them to make me feel loved. I fell for you just the way you are anyway."

Like Thanos snapping his fingers, Taehyung's face instantly brightens as he sits up eagerly and reshifting me into his lap instead. His arms circle around me and his glistening eyes look into mine with admiration. "Really?"

My lips stretch out into a wide grin, answering him by connecting our lips. His arms tighten around me as our lips move slowly and passionately against each other. When we eventually pull apart, he lets his fingers play with my hair while his other hand cups my cheek. "I'm really happy to be here with you. It's gonna be fun learning how to ski."

"Aww, you have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this trip. I'll teach you everything that I can," I say happily. "I heard that they have an ice skating rink! Please can we go?"

He chuckles as he nods enthusiastically. "Whatever my beautiful girlfriends wants, I'll make sure to fulfill her wishes."

"Aren't I lucky to have such a caring boyfriend?" I murmur as I lean into his hand. "Do you even know how to skate?"

"No.. But I'm sure it's not that hard."

I narrow my eyes skeptically at him. Now I'm only looking forward to skate just to see him slip on the ice like Bambi.

Suddenly, several knocks are heard from the door. "Hey, lovebirds! Funtime is over!" Areum calls through from the other side.

"We're starving so hurry up!" Yoongi shouts.

"Shut up we're almost finished!" Taehyung shouts back with a sly grin, making me gape at him in shock.

"EW YOU GUYS ARE ACTUALLY DOING IT?!" Jin exclaims in horror to which I almost laughed out loud at if Tae hadn't covered my mouth with his hand.

"I-I'm coming..!" Tae then exclaim breathily while I shoot up from the floor to open the door.

"AAAH!" They all scream and cover their eyes as if they expected me to show up naked.

"You guys are actual perverts," I say while shaking my head. "Tae don't forget the key."

"Got it right here," he says holding it up in the air, smirking at our friends who watches us warily. "Don't look so disappointed."

"W-We're not!" Jimin replies grumpily, appearing to be slightly flustered just like the rest of them.

"Jimin, you're the one that should be least disturbed. Remember that time at Jackson's party-"

"YAYAYA!" Jimin yells in panic, interrupting Tae in the middle of his sentence. "We swore not to talk about it ever again!"

Areum and I exchange curious glances. Wow, I wonder exactly how many stories they have involving Jackson's infamous parties that they haven't shared with us (more rather refused to). But then again, I don't think I even want to know.

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