catch-22.

 sixteen 

Who knows where ends up being the park, one that Taehyung hasn't been to since he started his first year of high school.

If he looks hard enough than he can see a younger version of himself running around with a soccer ball with Hoseok behind him as Yoongi looked at them from under the shade of a tree.

"Alright kiddo, we're here. Now get out."

Hoseok opens the back door and manhandles Taehyung up, pulling the younger around like a puppet.

Taehyung struggles at first, but then sighs in defeat and lets Hoseok do his thing.

"This is my cue to leave." Yoongi says, smiling at Taehyung. "Try not to kill him Seokie."

Hoseok snorts and Taehyung throws Yoongi a pleading look, the older boy just shrugs and walks away.

There's nothing worse than being stuck with Hoseok while Taehyung bottles up all his feelings.

Hoseok leads him to a bench, carvings of names and doodles drawn into the metal touch of it. Taehyung traces a heart with the letter N in it.

He waits for Hoseok to break him apart, get down to business and ask him why he's been ignoring him. What he gets though is:

"So, the dance team is going to perform in two weeks after prom."

Taehyung blinks, confused. "Huh?"

Hoseok, for his part, doesn't seem deterred. "You won't be performing, you haven't been attending practice and even though you're one of our best dancers, the group and I think you don't deserve to perform along with us."

Taehyung isn't looking at Hoseok; he's staring at the cement floor.

The tiny bit of thread holding his heart together has been cut off because now he's losing his place in the dance team right after losing Namjoon.

But he doesn't feel infuriated towards Hoseok, there's no way he could, it's not his right. Hoseok has always been lenient with Taehyung, allows him to skip out on meetings, teaches him the difficult parts of the choreography, encourages and praises him.

Even Taehyung knows that allowing him to perform in two weeks would be taking things past the limit, he doesn't deserve the adrenaline of being up there and dancing, not when he's abandoned it for being stupid.

Still, that doesn't stop the hurt flooding over him.

"I told you not to get yourself involved with Namjoon, I warned you that it'd get messy and you'd mess it up."

Although Hoseok's words are harsh, they're spoken with a soothing softness. It doesn't make Taehyung feel anymore sorrowful than now.

"But you're a stubborn kid, and before I knew it you were all over Namjoon-ah. Skipping school to go out and shop, not attending dance classes so you could hang out with him. It was unavoidable that you'd end up falling for him."

"You know, shockingly, this isn't making me feel any better."

Hoseok sighs out sadly, Taehyung has a feeling he's not going to like what the older boy says next. There's a feeling in his gut, something screaming at him to stop Hoseok's words.

"You can't mess this up even further. You proved your point, whatever that even was in the first place, you got to do some charity work and helped out a nerd who had no hope of talking and getting it with his crush. You've done your work Taehyung, now you need to let him go and not try to sabotage their relationship. There's nothing more you can do."

Hoseok lays one skinny hand over Taehyung frozen one.

His finger hovers over the N and the heart, a thick knot forming in his throat as he feels his chest constrict because Hoseok is right.

The reason why he even did any of this was because he wanted to prove to Hoseok that he could get something right and not get distracted from his original plan.

What he had never fathom though was to fall in love with the shy Junior who enjoyed listening to Seon Leon and Tyler, The Creator.

But he messed up, got distracted with his original intentions and ended up falling for a sweet boy.

"He's not a nerd." Is all Taehyung is saying afterwards, before he slaps Hoseok's hand away from squeezing his palm in reassurance.

He gets up and walks away, grateful that neither Hoseok nor Yoongi chase after him.

The sky is no longer blue, it's a grey color that obscures the sunshine. Someone texts him, he opens his phone and reads it.

Namjoon:

hey, i need ur help with something. mind meeting me at the bubble tea shop?

If anyone asks, it's a spur of the moment thing.

Taehyung:

i'm on my way hyung, see u in ten. uwu