Brighter Days || Taekook

Part 48

Taehyung leans against the rough wall, squishing his almost empty backpack up against it, and waits, one foot propped up and arms crossed in front of his chest. He's chewing on a gum that lost all taste within thirty seconds and watches the cars drive by, waiting for one of them to slow down. It's not warm enough yet at the end of March for Taehyung to not be freezing with the rips in his jeans and only a fake leather jacket over his white shirt, but he knows that a thicker jacket isn't an option because it doesn't make him look as good. There's eyeliner smudged around his eyes. He blows a bubble and pops it nonchalantly as he glares at two women pass him by on the empty sidewalk, their steps speeding up the closer they draw to him.

Time ticks by slowly, and his annoyance builds up with every extra second he wastes at this fucking street corner when there are a hundred more productive things he could be doing at the moment. He knows that his manager, parked in the vehicle across the street, could be doing a hundred better things with his time as well, and yet he's stuck like a babysitter, waiting for Taehyung to be picked up – one safety measure implemented by the company, to not lose Taehyung's location at all times. Taehyung also knows that both Namjoon and Jin are sitting in the backseat and waiting, refusing to leave him alone in this. He feels both comforted and disturbed by that thought at the same time, grateful that his hyungs care about him enough but agitated that he knows they'll be so close when he lets himself get fucked by an old man.

It hasn't been easy to make all the members understand the necessity of the situation over the past two days. Yoongi is wearing a splint for his right broken ring finger, a gift he received as he punched the wall in anger that will stay with him for a few weeks. He's apologized to Taehyung since for his aggressive behaviour towards him and the idiocy of punching an inanimate object over it, but he couldn't make any promises to punch other things in the future over the idea of Taehyung getting hurt.

"But you will never have to fear hyung," he had said. "I promise I'll never touch you like that again. I'm sincerely sorry for that."

Jimin has had a hard time making as much as eye contact ever since. He's disappointed that after everything he went through to help Taehyung out, his friend still has to put himself through the wringer. Hoseok is much the same, having a hard time looking Taehyung in the eyes without feeling guilt, knowing that out of all the members, he's also least close to Taehyung still and, therefore, the least stable pillar of support.

Namjoon and Jin are trying to go for support and normalcy, but even interacting with them feels different these days. They, too, put blame on themselves that it has come this far, but at least they try to pretend that everything is fine. But nothing is, and Taehyung's stomach churns as he thinks that their eyes are most likely on him as if they're birds of prey, nerves frayed, right this very moment.

Surprisingly, the only one who Taehyung feels hasn't changed in the slightest towards him is Jungkook. He's still just Jungkook, wide-eyed and excited, bouncy with energy and affectionate with Taehyung the way he used to be. There hasn't been a change in their relationship at all since his confession. They haven't really talked about it either, and Taehyung's still not sure that he has his mind wrapped around the idea entirely already, not sure if he can believe Jungkook's words to be true.

He had asked Jin about it in a quiet moment, because Jungkook had decided not to make a secret out of having confessed to Taehyung to the others, which had been accepted by the members with a chorus of "finally"s and congratulatory pats on the back. No one really had a clear enough mind to think about what this could actually mean for the future though, too preoccupied with the problem of the present.

"Of course we all knew," Jin had said while scratching the back of his neck, "or do you really think we would have encouraged your crush on him otherwise? He didn't really hide it from us, but he asked us to not tell you once he really accepted it."