tae often opted to avoid being a third wheel with jin and namjoon.

although both were pleasant enough company, the idea of being surrounded by a happy couple didn't exactly delight him at the moment.

maybe it was toxic, to be so petty, dare tae say jealous, of a successful relationship but, he couldn't help it! his ex was still haunting his head, his heart, and his every move.

as he waited at the restaurant, a light coat next to him in the vacant chair, he wondered if bogum and namjoon would have got on. they would have been the two odd ones out at family get togethers, the plus ones at every dinner- they weren't all that similar as people aside from that.

namjoon seemed far more genuine and down to earth, far more steady, far kinder.

it made taehyung's stomach hurt just thinking of the condescending tone bogum would use while talking, the way his words would drip with pretentiousness. namjoon had never once acted as such. always being humble and generous.

bogum could never.

"sorry we're late!" seokjin sat across from tae, a goofy grin on his face like he had already started drinking.

"no worries." tae sipped at the water in front of him, "how was work?"

that was enough to set the elder off as he toppled over himself in defeat, "exhausting! i had to run potential risk outcomes on an endeavor that needed to be decided before three this afternoon. none of our options were looking ideal so we went with lowest possible percentage if everything were to go according to plan which it never does! i disagreed with the choice but heaven forbid we trust the guy who actually runs the assessment..." he rambled on while flagging down a waiter.

"namjoon, how about you?" tae was grateful his cousin was busied with the wine list. despite all the love between them, he had to admit jin's job was insanely boring to listen too.

"just a lot of contract run-overs, went to a rehearsal where one of my girls sprained her ankle so that isn't ideal..." namjoon adjusted this glasses to get a better sight of the menu, "how was jungkook? he said he wrote a song. said you helped!

tae recalled the magical morning, the sweetest smile as he remembered listening to jungkook play while he picked up the debris left out from the night before, "it was an incredible experience!"

namjoon didn't seem as pleased by that, his body language nervous and abrasive, shifting in his seat as his eyes darted around the restaurant- anywhere but at tae. it wasn't that it didn't have the potential to be something great, it's just that the outcome for it to be awful was more likely.

"tae! that's amazing!" jin poured half a glass of red for his cousin who swirled it around curiously.

"i just don't want you to get your hopes up too high." namjoon felt like a lid that had burst, the aftermath were two kim boys staring at him in horror, "it's just that... jungkook..."

seokjin raised an eyebrow in confusion. his typically articulate boyfriend seemed to be stumbling over what to say.

"jungkook isn't who he once was. his following, his whole essence- i don't want you to get your hopes up for something that isn't feasible." namjoon looked embarrassed as he admitted that jungkook might not make it out of this scandal alive- like by saying anything of the sort he had essentially broken some unspoken bond between the two.

taehyung didn't like the pit that seemed to rot at the bottom of his stomach at that. it wasn't that he was sad that nothing may come from his attribution but he was sad for the man he was getting to know slowly. sad that he was so doubted over something that seemed so common and trivial.

inside of him seemed to hold so much more than whatever was on the cover of all those magazines from months ago. it was evident in the way he wrote so beautifully, so much imagery, the whole world at his finger tips.

tae wanted to defend him, say that he had seen a different side but who was he to overstep on a friendship and business relationship that stemmed years longer than the boy had even known jungkook.