Sterling

Chapter Fifteen

"How's your shoulder?" Taehyung asked as he looked over at the older man, eyes filled with worry, eyebrows creased with concern. The raven-haired boy looked over at him, chuckling and shaking his head. He would've wrapped an arm around the younger's shoulders and give him a firm side hug, but his current uninjured shoulder had his bag slung over it and hand holding his football gear.

"It's throbbing a little, but nothing I can't handle," Jungkook answered with a small grin, looking ahead so they could see where they were going. It was dark-nine o'clock at night-both males walking home together after a football game that resulted in a player's injury. Taehyung threw the hood over his head just as a cold breeze passed by as he nodded a little.

"Does it hurt?"

Jungkook looked back over at the smaller boy, seeing how the whole hood of his hoodie swallowed his head, and he had to keep himself from melting right then and there, so, instead, he just nodded a little as well. "Well, kinda. The throbbing is a little annoying and it hurts just a little-not as bad as it was out on the field, though. I really thought I dislocated it, it hurt that fucking bad."

"You sure it's just a sprain?"

"I'm positive, Tae," Jungkook reassured the smaller man, looking down at him with a soft and caring smile on his features, but he could see how unsure Taehyung seemed, and it made his heart clench and flutter all at the same time. It clenched because he didn't like seeing the boy worry about him-or worry about anything or anyone in general. It fluttered because of how genuinely caring Taehyung was to him, and it made him feel so many different kinds of feelings he didn't truly understand. "Look, the doctor guy out on the field said that if I can move it without feeling excruciating pain, then I'm fine and there's nothing to worry about."

"I still think you should at least get it checked out at a doctor or at the hospital," Taehyung stated, a little afraid Jungkook would end up getting mad at him for not trusting his word. It wasn't because Taehyung didn't trust him, it was because he was worried the medic out on the field might've accidentally missed something-especially since they couldn't X-ray it out there. His eyes grew wide once he realized what he just said, afraid he was being a little too pushy or pushy in general.

He heard Jungkook sigh, his eyes snapping over and looking at the raven-haired man beside him, "Alright. How about after school tomorrow, I'll go to the doctor and get it checked out-" Taehyung immediately smiled at this, feeling happy he was getting through to Jungkook and that the man wasn't made at him for worrying and caring. "But only if you stop worrying about it and let me take care of the rest, okay?"

Jungkook had stopped walking by now, making Taehyung stop as well as he looked down at the younger brunette boy, eyes holding so much seriousness, but they were soft at the same time. Taehyung bit the inside of his lower lip, slowly nodding his head as a response, their eyes boring into each other's. The atmosphere around them changed, and Taehyung couldn't make out what it was that he suddenly felt.

Their eyes were looked and their gazes were hooked, as if neither one of them could look away. Taehyung didn't even want to look away from this boy, and he took this chance to silently admire and appreciate him. He was beautiful-something Taehyung would admit to-and he was so sweet and caring-always protecting Taehyung from Bogum and whoever else was a part of the whole bullying thing.

He always made sure to make Taehyung feel comfortable, and that was something the small brunette boy appreciated the most about him. He couldn't fight off Bogum and the others, that was for sure, even if he tried he just couldn't do it. He hated the fact that he had to have his own 'personal bodyguards' to always look out for him. He wanted to be able to fight back against the people who were always targeting him, but he didn't think he could possess such a strong power to do so.