ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴘᴜʀᴘʟᴇ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ || ᴋ.ᴛʜ + ᴊ.ᴊᴋ ✔️

sixteen: tender

Even the mere idea of hanging out with someone felt a bit odd to Taehyung. He hadn't spent time with a friend - or, really, with anyone - since he moved to Busan for college. The day before he moved, he and Yoongi had spent the entire day together, from going out for breakfast to staying at Yoongi's for lunch, then heading back out to kill time until dinner, after which the two went to see a movie. They crammed everything into one day, as much as they could, to make up for all the time they wouldn't be able to spend together in the coming years.

Taehyung knew himself well. Which was precisely why he had never imagined himself being able to make friends with another person besides Yoongi. And to an extent, he still believed that, because whatever Jungkook was to him felt vague. He couldn't say friend. But he couldn't not say that, either. More than likely, Tae told himself, it was his own stubborn nature in action.

Whatever the case be, it didn't really matter to him. What mattered was that for a change, Taehyung had been the one to make plans with someone, rather than that someone attempting to do so with him. Yoongi would for sure be astonished once he found out. After all, Taehyung never did tell his dear friend about Jungkook.

At first, it had been a choice. But recently it had just slipped his mind. Jungkook became a part of his life in a strange way and he still didn't know what to think of it.

It wasn't bad. At least he didn't think that way anymore.

Because it happened to fall on a day when the two only had one morning class, both Jungkook and Taehyung went into the Fermata Pavilion at noon at Mr. Oh's request, performed for a couple hours till Taekwoon came in, then set out for their little hangout, which Jungkook had been thinking about the entire time they were on stage. He wasn't good at hiding it, either. That excitement of his. The childish side of him battled with the urge to latch onto Taehyung's arm and jump up and down.

Instead, he showed his enthusiasm through bright smiles and frequent questions.

"So where are we going first?"

They had just stepped out of the cafe. Taehyung turned to the other, lifting his gaze to the sky for a moment as he thought. "Don't know. The mall, I guess. Unless you had another idea-"

"Nope! Mall is fine," Jungkook blurted.

He honestly didn't care where they went. What mattered to him right now was that he actually had this chance to be with Taehyung, and to waste but a second of it was not an option.

That being said, Taehyung made no arguments and drove to the nearest mall, where they both agreed to find some place to eat.

"What do you want?" He asked upon their arrival to the food court. The boys were surrounded by fast-food, pizza, sandwiches, a noodle house, just about everything they could possibly want to eat, all in this one place. Taehyung, for one, already had his eyes set on the Chinese takeout place close by. "If you don't have money on you, it's fine, I'll take care of it."

Jungkook's eyes went wide at the offer. Straightaway he began shaking his head violently in disapproval. "No, no, no, I could never ask you to do that, I just need a minute to think-"

"Aren't you broke?"

He shut his mouth.

"It's fine. If you continue to work at the cafe you'll get paid at the end of next week anyway," Taehyung said. "So if you're insistent on it, you can pay me back then. Now what do you want to eat?"

"...pizza."

"Just pizza? You practically ate a buffet when we had breakfast that one time."

Jungkook shrunk into himself, hands digging into his pockets. "Just pizza is fine."