When Taehyung woke up the next day, he felt happy. And a bit scared.

Happy because he made up with Jungkook, he hoped it would last. And scared because of the date. And because he didn't know how he should act or what he should do. He feared it would be very awkward.

As he checked the notifications on his phone, he saw a message from a certain someone and his heart skipped a beat.

Sent 10:33 AM

Taehyung smiled brightly.

He's so sweet. He doesn't even like Mark but he's making such an effort to make things right. Holy shit.

Not to mention, the date wasn't for another nine hours, so he had lots of time to overthink and clear his mind afterwards.

To kill some time, he decided to do Maths exercises.

So, he put on his headphones and sat himself on his desk, getting ready to solve some quadratic equations.

°○●○●○°

The time passed surprisingly fast. Before Taehyung knew, Mark was ringing the doorbell, wearing ripped jeans, a tight-fitting, black t-shirt, chunky boots and a bomber jacket.

He couldn't help but be reminded of Jungkook's style, which basically resembled what Mark was wearing right now.

Forcing his stubborn mind off the younger boy, he smiled.

"Hey."

As the other greeted him back, Taehyung got out and closed the front door.

"So, where are we going?"

"I was thinking Starbucks?" The blonde beamed, actually liking the idea of just a chill date instead of something overly fancy since he was dressed pretty casually, anyways.

The two of them walked side by side, quite awkwardly. That was until Mark reached out his arm to suggest linking arms, which Taehyung accepted.

He felt weird. Going out with a boy in an extremely homophobic environment while being in love with another. What a tragic love story.

They arrived faster than he thought, the large Starbucks logo shining brightly in front of them before they entered.

"Did you realize it's the 31st of December today? A new year's coming in a few hours," the brunette spoke, catching Taehyung's attention.

He nodded shyly. "Yes, I did realize. My parents want me to be home before midnight so we can celebrate New Year's Eve together, they think I'm studying at the library. I hope you don't mind." The other smiled.

"God, you're so cute. Of course I don't, same goes for me, by the way.

Let's order, babe."

The younger nodded again, feeling a bit awkward again.

Hearing Mark call him 'babe' sounded weird to him since he was a good friend. It just felt... a bit odd.

(A/N: this reminds me, a guy friend of mine who's not my friend anymore used to call me babe,,, i think i gagged every damn time like ew... anyways on with the story)

All of a sudden, he had a déjà vu:

"I'm so sorry, baby, I'm so sorry. I'm not in a good place nowadays, I always say the wrong shit and fuck everything up. I'm so sorry, please don't cry. Shh."

That unexpected and definetely mindblowing memory made Taehyung blush, why did Jungkook accidentally calling him 'baby' feel so... right to him?

And why was he even thinking about this? He should be focusing on Mark right now since he was on a goddamn date right now.

"Uhh... Let's order," he then spoke, making the other nod and look at the menu.

The two of them then ordered a coffee each and sat back in their seats.

Now Taehyung was starting to feel really out of place, to be honest.

"So, have you ever been on a date before?," Mark asked him.

The blonde shook his head.

"No, I have no idea how any of this works, to be honest. Sorry," he said sheepishly.

The other chuckled. "Don't worry babe, me neither, actually. But there's something i've been meaning to ask you for a while."

"Okay, what is it?" Taehyung gave him a questioning look.

"Are you out to your parents yet?"

The younger froze for a second and then shook his head slowly.

"No, I'm gonna wait until I'm eighteen. My father would definetely kick me out if I ever told him, but then again, he already hates me enough as it is. My mom loves me a lot, though. I feel like she would be supporting but I'm scared she's gonna expose me to my dad so I won't be taking that risk either," he explained calmly, Mark listening to his every word.

"What about you?," he asked back.

The brunette seemed to think for a while, then he answered: "Me neither. My parents wouldn't give a shit, anyways. They would just tell me I'm crazy and I'm wrong in the head and I should change or something. Jimin was the first person I told, and his girlfriend. And then Jimin's mom. And that's all." Taehyung nodded understandingly.

Talking to someone who understood him and went through the same things as himself felt good.

"The first person I told was Jungkook's mom. Then Jungkook and then you guys. It's just, I'm an only child and if my parents find out about me, they're going to be really disappointed and that I'm sorry for." The other sighed and suddenly laid a hand atop of Taehyung's, the latter looking up confused.

"Don't be sorry for something you can't do anything about, it's not really something you need to be ashamed or disappointed about. I used to think that too but now I just don't give a shit anymore. And babe? I have another question."

The blonde looked at him, motioning him to continue.

"Are you ready for a relationship for sure? Because if not, that's okay. You seem to shy away a lot, that's all."

Should I tell him?

Fuck it, I'll just tell him. There's nothing to lose.

"Actually, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about... Mark, I do really like you a lot. A relationship would sound nice aswell. But the problem is... I see you more as... a friend, b-because--," he began but got cut off.

"Because you're in love with someone else?"

Taehyung widened his eyes.

"H-How did you know?!," he stuttered.

"You're being kind of obvious about it, Taehyung. It's Jungkook, isn't it?"

The younger nodded hesintantly, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Uhh... yes. I'm sorry, by the way. I just don't want to lead you on falsely and be dishonest with you. You're a really good friend and if you don't mind, I'd like it to stay that way. It's just... if only you would've come around before I fell for Jungkook, things could've been different."

The brunette looked down, nodding. "I should've figured it out way earlier, the way you look at him compared to the way you look at me. I'm surprised he doesn't know himself, honestly."

Taehyung shook his head abruptly.

"He can never know! That would completely destroy everything we ever had! I'd rather be secretly in love with him but be his friend rather than break our friendship and ending up heartbroken."

Mark raised his eyebrows.

"I understand you. But if you ever change your mind-- or your heart, you know I'll be waiting."

Taehyung actually wanted to tell him to find someone else to be happy with since he really did deserve happiness, but eventually decided against it and just nodded.

They kept talking about random things until their coffee cups were empty and the clock hit 10 PM.

The blonde jumped up with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Mark... it was really nice spending time with you and I'm sorry for all the... inconveniences? Anyways, I've got to go." He grabbed his purse and opened the jingling door on his way out and planned to leave when all of a sudden, his wrist got grabbed tightly.

"Wait, just a moment. Can I have one last kiss before I let you go?" Taehyung sighed, parting his lips.

"Honestly, I don't know about that..."

"You didn't seem to mind last time. Please?" He sighed again.

"I'm sorry but I don't really feel like--"

He got interrupted by a pair of lips on his own.

At first he wanted to push him off, but then he realized that he couldn't stand a chance and just waited until Mark would finish. Nevertheless, he was still shocked, upset and pissed off.

When he finally felt the other's lips leave his own, he immediately opened his mouth to protest but couldn't even utter a single word since the brunette claimed his lips once again.

Now he was definetely starting to get a bit scared.

This time, he tried to push him off but felt himself getting pushed further and further behind, until he felt his back collide against a wall. He gasped in shock. The older boy took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside and to pin Taehyung's wrists above his head.

This time, Taehyung definetely had had enough and gained enough courage ,despite all of his panic, to gather his whole strengh and kick Mark's shin, hard.

While the brunette was groaning in pain and instantly letting him go, the younger screamed a short "What the hell?!" and immediately sprinted away quickly, grabbing his phone as soon as he had reached a certain distance.

He dialled a to him particularly important number while panting and sweating, the other person picking up just after the third ring.

"Hello? Taehyung, are you okay?"

"J-Jungkook..."

(A/N: kids, don't be like mark😃

anyways hii, this is kind of a long chapter i'm sorry

i just wanted to tell y'all i think i'm slowly moving on from my crush (who i met on the internet, by the way, and who doesn't even live in my country, like what?) after being helplessly in love for 4-5 months🤩

btw thanks for always being so nice and sweet i appreciate it sm and ilysm you cute beans uwu💜💜💜)