The next day, Jeongguk was back in the theatre hall, spinning a pen around his nimble fingers as he listened to the teacher ramble on the essay they were to write, bored out of his mind. He glanced over to Taehyung who was seated next to him, his chin resting on his palm, looking equally as bored. They were seated on the second row.

Taehyung seemed to notice Jeongguk's gaze on him and turned to look at him right back, flashing a smile which caused Jeongguk to get flustered and turn away, cheeks ablaze. Taehyung let out a silent chuckle, shaking his head at the boy's behaviour.

See, after the long and tiring train ride back to Seoul, Jeongguk practically bolted to his dorm and jumped into bed once he was back in school, wanting to limit his interactions with Taehyung as much as possible.

Why?

Because once Jeongguk realised he had the biggest fucking crush on the boy, it was getting difficult to control himself. He was scared he would do something stupid or dumb, anything that would embarrass him and deter Taehyung from talking to him.

Everything made sense now, why Jeongguk always blushed whenever Taehyung did practically anything or why his stomach did somersaults whenever he gave him his usual sudden kisses. Jeongguk touched his bottom lip with his thumb, tracing over the skin.

Could Taehyung feel the same way?

Jeongguk's insides curled at the mere thought of that, the thought that Taehyung could possibly like him too. Jeongguk didn't have many experiences with crushes, his only relationship being with Namjoon and we all know how that ended.

"-For this essay you will be going into detail of the performance and what you have learnt, channelling your knowledge into the play we will begin to rehearse for shortly." Mr. Han spoke, clapping his hands. Jeongguk inwardly groaned at that, dread already building up.

He felt Taehyung nudge his shoulder, Jeongguk glanced up. "Yeah," Taehyung sighed, picking at his lips. "I don't wanna do this essay either."

Jeongguk let out a giggle, figuring that his annoyed expression was obvious to Taehyung. "I don't think anyone does, Taehyung." He smiled, a light blush coating his cheeks when Taehyung laughed at his response.

"Yeah, you're right." He whispered while the teacher continued to speak, going over the assignment in detail, with some of the students breaking out into conversation like Jeongguk and Taehyung were.

"I always am." Jeongguk giggled, and Taehyung rolled his eyes.

"No, you're not. Stop saying that, Jeongguk." Taehyung playfully shoved his shoulder away and Jeongguk's giggles only grew louder, so loud that it seemed like he was the only one laughing in the hall, oh wait-

Jeongguk felt everyone's gaze on him, including Mr. Han's who had an especially stern gaze at the boy which made his laughter soon waver. Everyone continued to stare at Jeongguk for a couple more seconds before Mr. Han cleared his throat and carried on with the lesson, Jeongguk letting out a sigh of relief with Taehyung stifling a chuckle.

"Fuck off." Jeongguk mouthed, glaring holes into Taehyung which caused the boy to look away, still laughing with his shoulders quivering. Jeongguk scoffed, a pout forming on his face as he decided to pay attention to the lesson, ignoring Taehyung for the remaining amount of it.

The rest of the lesson went as such, Jeongguk trying his best to actually focus with Taehyung trying to desperately get his attention, poking him with his pen to which Jeongguk tried to ignore. It made him smile to see Taehyung joking around with him, it meant that he was feeling even better these days.

Taehyung finally huffed out, giving up after a couple of attempts and went back to paying attention to the lesson, the grin on Jeongguk's face becoming more difficult to conceal.

By the time the class was over, Jeongguk was still ignoring Taehyung, trying to hide his smirk when Taehyung was still trying to grab his attention, loving the power he had over him. Jeongguk was in the middle of packing up, shoving his pens and pencils back into his bag.

"Jeongguk." He ignored him, sorting out the messy piles of paper in his bag.

"Jeongguk!" He ignored him again, zipping his bag up once he was done.

"Jeonggukie?" Taehyung called out, pouting slightly and that's when Jeongguk immensely cringed. With a look of disgust etched onto his face, Jeongguk finally turned to Taehyung.

"Ew, never ever call me that again," Jeongguk said quickly, nose scrunched up in disgust and Taehyung finally laughed, his laughter ringing in Jeongguk's ears. "I think I liked it better when we 'hated' each other." Jeongguk air quoted, sighing out.

"Don't worry, calling you that made me cringe more than it made you." Taehyung chuckled, Jeongguk rolling his eyes again. "Jeon." He added, causing Jeongguk to stifle a giggle.

"Now we're back at square one." He commented, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he stood up. Taehyung did so too, following Jeongguk down the stairs in the middle of the seats.

"I need to go back to my dorm. I'll see you later, Jeongguk." Taehyung smiled before heading out the door with the rest of the students, Jeongguk waving him goodbye.

Jeongguk adjusted his bag on his shoulder before he was about to leave but felt a hand tap his back. Raising a brow, Jeongguk turned around. It was Jennie.

He widened his eyes in surprise, seeing how Jennie donned a casual oversized sweater with her hands at her front as always. "Jennie? What's up?"

Jennie merely smiled, slotting herself beside Jeongguk as they began walking. Her eyes glinted in the theatre light for a second before they stepped out the hall, she inhaled deeply. "I'm really happy for you and Taehyung." She finally spoke, a small smile on her face.

"I didn't think Taehyung would be into someone like you." She continued. Jeongguk's face contorted in confusion, feeling the cool breeze blowing against him as they walked outside. "I'm sorry- what?"

Jennie blinked, bringing a hand up to fiddle with her golden necklace. "You guys are dating, right?" She raised a brow, flicking an ebony strand of hair away from her face before going back to playing with her necklace.

Jeongguk felt his whole face heat up, his stomach erupting in butterflies as a goofy smile crept up his face. "N-no. We're not." He corrected, his words coming out in a stammer.

Jennie's smile turned into a frown, she sighed softly. "Aw, really? That's a shame." She shifted her gaze before looking back up at Jeongguk. "You guys would've been really cute together."

Jeongguk felt the weird fuzzy feeling in his chest again, he smiled warmly at Jennie, giggling. "We- we're just friends." His smile soon faded when he said that, the words making his eyes slightly widen.

"Oh." Jennie let out. "Bummer." She stopped, her hands going back to her front. "Apparently choir's back up. I heard you were forced to switch to theatre because choir didn't have enough people. Do you think you might switch again?"

Jeongguk paused before he shook his head, scratching his temple. "No, I don't think so. I like theatre." He replied, his mind flickering to Taehyung.

Jennie merely nodded at his response, the same unreadable expression on her face as she did so. "I'll get going then. See you, Jeongguk." She waved, and Jeongguk gave a tight-lipped smile, watching how Jennie vanished from his vision when she took a turn.

Jeongguk sighed out, standing in the middle of campus with his hands by his sides. He felt his heart flutter when Jennie assumed that he and Taehyung were dating and he wasn't going to lie-

The idea made him swoon.

Jeongguk hated how he liked the idea of that, the idea of Taehyung and him becoming a thing rather than staying- friends..

The word 'friends' left a weird taste in Jeongguk's mouth, they practically kissed daily with Taehyung calling him pet names all the time. Friends- friends don't do that!

Jeongguk looked down to his feet, his hands balled up into fists. His conversation with Jennie really made him think, made him question what really going on between them.

The boy began walking, he didn't know where he was heading but he just needed to think, maybe he'll do it back in his dorm. Numerous thoughts were flashing past Jeongguk's mind, faster than he could blink but one thought remained in his head about Taehyung, a thought that came back to haunt him and wouldn't leave his head.

What were they?

Jimin stood impatiently in front of Taehyung's dorm, rocking back and forth on his feet. He had knocked on the door a second before and was waiting for the boy to answer.

You see, Taehyung had just texted him before, asking him to come over. Jimin was a bit taken aback since it was always him texting first and pushed everything aside to stand in front of Taehyung's door, waiting.

Secretly, Jimin was hoping Taehyung called him over to hook up like always. He missed Taehyung and was hoping he was trying to rekindle what they had before.

Finally, the door opened, revealing a messy-haired Taehyung, his damp locks brushed past his forehead. It looked as though he had just come back from a shower due to the towel that hung from his neck. "Hey, Chim. Come in." He smiled, and Jimin nodded, stepping into his dorm.

Jimin took a seat on Taehyung's bed, looking up to see the boy drying his hair off with the towel, his broad figure showing through the slightly see-through shirt. Jimin twiddled with his thumbs, chewing the inside of his cheek.

He then saw Taehyung sit down next to him, throwing the towel on the bed and Jimin gulped but he took a deep breath. "So, why'd you call me here?"

Taehyung looked down, chewing on his bottom lip. "Well, there was something there was something I needed to tell you."

Jimin hummed, scooting closer next to Taehyung as he reached out and began toying with Taehyung's collar, the boy tensing up. "What was it?" He asked, hand travelling up to Taehyung's cheek, brushing the pad of his thumb over it, leaning in.

Taehyung swallowed thickly, completely still. "I- It's just-" but the boy couldn't finish his sentence because Jimin had crashed their lips together, causing Taehyung to widen his eyes in shock.

He didn't kiss back, Taehyung merely sat there completely took off by guard before he came to his senses and roughly pushed Jimin away, breathing out heavily. Jimin looked at Taehyung in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed as he felt his stomach turn.

Taehyung noticed Jimin's expression and looked off to the side. "S-sorry, you just startled me with that." He said quickly, wiping off his mouth with his wrist.

Jimin slowly nodded, obviously a bit shocked from Taehyung's harsh reaction to his advances but tried to brush off the feeling of hurt. He glanced over to Taehyung, crawling closer to him to the point that he was straddling the boy as his lips reached his ear.

"Do you wanna fuck me then?" Jimin asked lowly, Taehyung freezing up once more. The boy squirmed away from Jimin's grasp, standing in front of the bed. "No, quite the opposite actually."

Jimin's face fell, a small pit of dread pooling at the bottom of his stomach. "W-what do you mean?"

Taehyung clenched his fists, sucking in a sharp breath as he hung his head low. He finally looked up at Jimin, his lips pursed.

"I want to end things."

Jimin was the one to freeze this time, he skimmed over to see if Taehyung was joking around but he didn't seem to be, the pit only grew larger. "What?"

Taehyung closed his eyes for a moment, opening them again. "I thought that it was time that I should, I've been thinking about it for a while."

Jimin stayed silent, lips slightly parted in shock. For how long was Taehyung thinking about this? A horrible feeling in his chest began to bubble up viciously, it definitely was because he was getting bored of him.

"But don't get me wrong." Taehyung flailed his hands about in defence. "There- there's nothing wrong with you or anything. I just don't want this to go on for any longer and I'd really like to keep you as a friend."

Jimin listened with a crumpled copy of a smile on his face, nodding his head as Taehyung explained that it wasn't his fault and his reasons but none of it stayed in his head. They just went in through one ear and out the other.

"You- you still want to be friends, right?" Taehyung asked, looking at Jimin who seemed to have a relatively blank look on his face. Jimin quickly snapped out of his daze and gave a wide grin. "Yeah, of course, I do."

"Great." He smiled, and Jimin opened his arms for a hug to which Taehyung gladly accepted, leaning down and wrapping his arms around the boy. Jimin sighed softly at the warm embrace but noticed Taehyung's phone hanging out of his trousers' pocket. Biting his lip, Jimin quickly slid his phone out of his pocket, chucking it behind him hastily before Taehyung pulled away from the hug, smiling.

"I'm gonna leave my dorm now, you should head back to yours," Taehyung spoke, and Jimin hummed in agreement, trying to shove Taehyung's phone in his back pocket before getting up.

"Okay, see you." Jimin smiled, walking out of Taehyung's dorm with Taehyung walking behind him, closing the door. Jimin was about to go back to his dorm before he felt Taehyung grab his arm. "Wait." He said sternly.

The boy felt his palms go clammy, inwardly hoping Taehyung didn't notice that his phone was missing. He slowly turned to the boy, who had a hand resting on the metal doorknob, his breathing a little funny.

Taehyung let go of his arm, gazing at Jimin who was scared shitless, eyes a little wide. "Tell Hoseok I said hi." He said after a few seconds.

Jimin let out an inaudible sigh of relief, he nodded slowly. "Yeah, I will."

"Okay, thanks." -Was all Taehyung said before he walked away, leaving Jimin with his racing heart. Jimin sped to his dorm, clearly frazzled with that encounter. He opened the door and let out another sigh of relief when he realised that Hoseok wasn't back yet. Finally, Jimin could relax.

Jimin climbed into bed, adjusting his fluffy pillow against his back as he got out Taehyung's phone, staring hesitantly at it. Deep down, Jimin knew it was wrong to look through someone's phone but he needed to know why Taehyung wanted to end things. His reason was too suspiciously simple so he had to know the actual reason.

Because he knew it definitely was going to start killing him from inside.

Sighing out, Jimin switched on Taehyung's phone, his lock screen being a photo of him and Jeongguk, his friend's smile shining brightly in the picture. Odd.

Jimin shook off the thoughts and proceeded to go to the homepage but let out a sound of frustration when he realised it had a pattern lock. He pursed his lips, not knowing how he was going to get his reasons but soon an idea came to him.

Jimin breathed a little air onto Taehyung's phone, that revealing the previous fingerprints and strokes that laid on the glass screen, including the stroke of his pattern lock. Jimin mentally patted himself on the back, impressed with his own efforts before he entered the password which was a simple '7' figure.

Jimin made it to the home screen and wasted no time going to the messages app, assuming that someone could be responsible for Taehyung's decision to finally stop everything. He then felt a wave of guilt invading his mind, Jimin knew he shouldn't breach someone's privacy like this, he knew it was wrong to forcefully search for answers but he needed to fucking know.

Now's not the time to be feeling guilty, not after Jimin had made it this far.

Jimin raised a brow when he looked at his last sent message, it was a bunch of heart emojis. He didn't take Taehyung to be the loving, romantic type so this took him off guard. Jimin was confused, he didn't know who it was from and was just about to tap the contact name until-

"Yo, Jiminie!" Hoseok cried, slamming the door open, causing Jimin to jump a little. He quickly hid Taehyung's phone under the blankets, hoping it didn't catch Hoseok's eye.

"H-hey." Jimin stammered, looking at Hoseok with a plastered smile on his face. Hoseok sat on his bed, swinging his feet with his weight resting on his palms behind him. "You still up for that movie marathon?"

Jimin blinked for a few seconds before he shook his head. "Ah, sorry. I have an art piece I need to finish by tomorrow. Maybe another time?"

Hoseok frowned, nodding understandably. "That's fine. Does this weekend sound good?" He suggested, smiling warmly and Jimin agreed, giving a thumbs up. "Sounds great, by the way, Taehyung told me to say hi."

"Oh." Hoseok let out, face blank. "Well tell him I said hi back." Hoseok took off his shoes, placing them next to his bed. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom, gotta do my skincare routine."

Jimin giggled, heart still beating rapidly with anticipation as he waited for Hoseok to leave so he could check who the messages could be from. He just had to know!

Hoseok soon left to go to the bathroom, Jimin waiting for a few seconds to see if he would abruptly come back for anything. When he didn't, Jimin retrieved Taehyung's phone from under his blankets, entering his passcode again as he fumbled the device in his hands trying to see who the heart emojis were sent to and oh, Jimin was not prepared for what he was about to see.

Jeongguk.

Jimin immediately knew it was him from the nickname Taehyung had for him on his phone. His eyes were as wide as saucers as he scrolled higher and higher up, seeing all the messages he and Taehyung exchanged.

He didn't even know Jeongguk and Taehyung were that close to the point of sending hearts and kisses to each other. Jimin scrolled back to the recent messages, his brows furrowed in confusion with a hint of shock.

fuck off tae im right

no baby tomato is

definitely a fruit

tHEN WHY DONT THEY

HAVE THEIR OWN MF TREE

how am i supposed

to know????

well u should know if

youre tryna prove me wrong

cute :(

ill go to your dorm soon

just need to do smth quickly

shut up im not cute

u need to stop calling me that

see u!! 💖💘

Jimin felt his stomach turn at the texts, the horrible feeling travelling to his chest. Could Jeongguk be partially responsible for why Taehyung wanted to end things? His own best friend? He just thought it was because Taehyung became bored with him at first but the reason seemed much deeper.

He checked the time when Taehyung's message was last sent which was only fifteen minutes ago, that must mean that Taehyung could possibly be at Jeongguk's dorm. Jimin scrambled to his feet, dashing out of his room with Taehyung's phone still in his hand to see if that could be true.

So, Jimin silently crept to where his friend's dorm could be, pressing himself against the wall to try to be as sneaky as possible. He was able to hide against a wall where the corridor took a turn, being able to take a peek outside Jeongguk's dorm.