Forever By Your Side

24. Rides

"Taehyung, seriously! I'm gonna shoot you with this if you don't stop" Jungkook said as he glanced at the howling guy beside him. Taehyung simply stick his tongue out at Jungkook as he clutched his stomach and continued laughing. 

"H-How do you manage t-to send me into l-laughing fits every single t-time?" Taehyung asked, still sounding like a dying wolf. "Maybe cause you find everything too funny?" Jungkook suggested, seriously considering shooting Taehyung. 

"I d-don't! But winning a plastic water gun in a spin-the-wheel challenge is just too funny" Taehyung said. His eyes had almost disappeared into straight lines as he tried to control his laughter. 

"Heehaw! Now let's go before I dump you into one of those rabbit dustbins over there" Jungkook said, pointing to one of the dustbins on the side. 

"Haha, okay, okay. Shall we for the roller coaster, then?" Taehyung asked. "Yup, let's go" Jungkook said and they went over to the giant roller coaster. They waited in the line for their turn. 

"So you like Iron man" Taehyung said, sounding more like a statement than a question. "Yeah! I am in love with Iron man! But how do you know?" Jungkook asked. 

"You got excited about the Iron man watch back in that stall" Taehyung said. "Ohh, right! It's a shame I didn't get it" Jungkook pouted. 

Taehyung was about to answer, but the guy in front of him got in and it was their turn next. They sat in their seats and the guide pulled down the belt. Jungkook turned towards Taehyung out of excitement, but noticed how Taehyung looked sad as the guide fastened their belts. 

'What's wrong?' Jungkook thought as he kept watching. Taehyung's face fell even more when the guide asked them to hold on tight. 

That was when Jungkook realized what the problem was. He looked down at Taehyung's left hand that was idly resting on his lap while the right one was holding the handle tight. 

Taehyung looked away from Jungkook and took a deep breath. The coaster was just about to start when he suddenly felt Jungkook's hand around his own. Jungkook took hold of his left hand and held it tight even though Taehyung couldn't return the pressure back. 

He looked up at Jungkook, who gave him a warm smile and a firm nod. He smiled back and relaxed. 

"Woohoo!!" they screamed as the coaster made ridiculous turns. They enjoyed the ride to their heart's content.

"What next??" Jungkook asked as they got off the roller coaster. "You say!" Taehyung said. "How about the Columbus?" Jungkook asked. "Yess, let's go!" Taehyung said, grabbing Jungkook's hand and dragging him out of excitement. 

"Ahh, sorry" he harshly let go of Jungkook's hand the second he realized what he was doing. Jungkook grabbed his hand back. "There is no reason for you to be sorry, Taehyung" he said.

That was when he realized that he had hesitated only for the first step. But after that, he became his own self. And he was happy for that. 

He didn't have to hesitate to make moves anymore. It was just the first one that scared him. He wasn't going to hold back anymore. Not when he was this close to it. 

Taehyung stayed silent as the two of them got into the Columbus. Even though Jungkook wasn't scared of the Columbus, he was scared that the height or something might trigger Taehyung. That was something that had scared him during the roller coaster ride too. 

He led Taehyung to the seat that was neither in the corner, not in the middle. "Jungkook-ssi, are you scared of heights?" Taehyung asked. "Nope. Why?" Jungkook asked. 

"Then why are you trying to get in here? Let's go to the top" Taehyung said, pointing to the topmost seat. "Whoa! Are you okay with that?!" Jungkook asked. "Of course!" Taehyung exclaimed and ran towards the topmost seat. Jungkook chuckled and followed him.

Just like the ride on the roller coaster, they held hands and screamed together. This time, they held their hands high as the Columbus moved up and down. "This feels soo great, oh my gaaaawwwwwdddddd" Taehyung yelled. "Yeeesssssssssssssss" Jungkook yelled after him.

"So you wanna have a sugar candy, Jungkook-ssi?" Taehyung asked. "Do you?" Jungkook asked. "Yeah" Taehyung smiled sheepishly. "Okay, then. Let's buy that" Jungkook said and walked towards the stall and bought two sugar candies. 

"Taehyung-ssi!" Jungkook suddenly started as they roamed around the exhibition, eating their sugar candy slowly. 

"Huh?" Taehyung whipped his head around, unused to the honorifics. "It's weird, right? We've known each other for more than two months now. Why do you still insist on using the honorifics?" Jungkook asked. 

Taehyung stared at him for a long moment, thinking on whether or not to explain his ridiculous but understandable reason behind it. 

But he suddenly spotted a bit of candy on Jungkook's cheek. "Aigooooooo! That's so cute" he exclaimed as he wiped the candy off his face and turned the other way. 

"I'm feeling hungry. Let's go and have lunch" he said, walking ahead of Jungkook. Jungkook let out a deep sigh and jogged a bit to catch up with him.