Topic: Feeling Excluded

You all just got back from filming and eating afterwards at a restaurant. Each of the members went their own ways -- some straight to sleep, some to the shower, and others to their music studios. You, however, weren't quite sleepy yet and decided to plop yourself on the couch and watch old cartoons on television while simultaneously scrolling through your phone.

After a few minutes alone, you heard footsteps enter the kitchen and turn the light on. Then a deep, velvety voice asked: "Do we have any salt'n'vinegar chips left?"

You turn your head to look at Taehyung with his head in the snack cabinet.

"We should. Unless someone ate them all again," you reply, turning your attention back to your cartoons.

You hear a groan and the sound of ruffling plastic before the cabinets are closed shut.

"Ugh. Jungkook-ah."

"Are they gone?"

"Yeah." A frustrated Tae responds, stomping towards the living room.

You chuckle. "He's been having chips and sandwiches every day this week. He's a growing boy, I guess."

Taehyung smacks his teeth and munches on some other kind of chips.

"What're you doing?" He mumbles, and you can hear him pouting as his presence moves behind you on the couch.

"Chillin'. Watching cartoons. Whatchu doin'?"

"I was gonna play a board game. You wanna play with me, hyung?" He leans forward on the couch, making me look at him. His eyes looked sleepy.

"I don't really feel like playing games tonight. But another time," you say, feeling bad for turning down your baby brother. Your heart is crushed even more at the sight of his pout and whine as he stands to his feet and mumbles.

"No one ever has time for me..." He says while walking away.

"What you say?" You pry.

Taehyung huffs and faces you again. "Everyone always blows me off. Like I don't matter."

You frown at his accusation and the hurt tone in his voice. You mute the TV and command: "Come here. Why would you think that? Of course you matter."

"No one listens to me. It doesn't matter... everyone's busy with their own problems."

"I listen to you," you say with empathy.

"Yeah, when you're not hoarding Hobi hyung and obsessing over Jimin-ah," he says with a scoff and an eye-roll, causing you to feel mildly offended. Your jaw drops at his comment and you immediately start to defend yourself.

"I'm not o-obsessed with Jimin, what the heck? And I don't hoard Hobi."

"If that makes you feel better, okay..." 

You chuckle at his snide remark.

"What's wrong, Tae? You're clearly upset over something."

Taehyung doesn't reply, looking down at his feet with one hand in the pocket of his baggy pajama pants. He's usually only this silent when he's reflecting on something, otherwise he's a ball of sunshine. Your mind reflects on this week's past events; your days were filled with nothing but filming content for the fans, interviews for magazines, and photoshoots. You had to do a lot of communicating, a lot more than usual. It was normal for you during these press times to say maybe a word or two, but not Taehyung. You just realized how distant he's been this week. During BTS' interviews, he was more silent than you and not breaking out into his random happy tangents like he usually would. It was shameful that you only now seemed to notice his mood change, but everyone gets a little self-focused every once in a while. 

"Tae... we're 95 line forever, right? You can tell me anything," you say.

You watch as he slowly lifts his head up and walks over to the couch to take a seat next to you. You crunches his bag of chips between his hands a few times in silence.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel... ignored. Like no one wants to be bothered with me."

"Why do you say that?" You frown.

"It's not a big deal... but you don't wanna play with me; and when I suggest to go places, no one ever wants to go," he whines.

"Aw, Tae. It's not that, I think... everyone's just busy."

"But not too busy to do whatever Jungkook says, or go to Hobi's music video shooting."

"Tae~~"

"I'm not done," he spats.

Your eyes widen, not familiar with Tae's dominant tone. He usually sits back and nods, allowing the older members to speak to him without his input.

"And you guys treat me like I'm dumb. Like I can't say anything right--"

"How do we do that?" You ask, with more offense in your voice than planned.

"Constantly making fun of the way I talk. I know I'm not the best with words, and I'm still self-conscious about it. But you guys laugh and joke -- "HAHAHAHAHAHAAH" (he mocks you).-- anyway. It's not funny." 

His eyes dart towards you, and you can feel the frustration behind them.

"Is that all?"

"No." He deadpans.

"We're supposed to be 95 line til death, but we haven't even hung out that much. Ever since Jimin's failed relationship, it's been all about him and you left me out on the curb," he states.

"Nuh-uh!" You argue, pouting yourself.

"Yeah-huh! We haven't hung out as a trio in years! You completely forgot about me and spent the last years trying to make Jimin jealous and arguing day after day over stupid stuff. And now you guys are all close or whatever and having secret talks--"

"Do you think I purposely have been ignoring you?" You ask in a quieter voice. You were only now aware of your passionate conversation and didn't want to bother the other members by being too loud.

He crosses his arms and huffs. "No..."

"Okay! Because I wouldn't!" You let out a sigh and look at your phone. "I can say... maybe I was focused a little too much on Jimin that I didn't think about how you guys felt. I definitely regret those arguments," you say, thinking back to the moments of tension.

"You should regret all the time you lost hanging with me. I'm cooler than him, Milo-ssi. I don't know why you like him so much..." he growls with a disgusted look.

You roll your eyes.

"First of all, I don't like him like that--"

"Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"Tae!" You chuckle.

"Don't lie... I can see through you." He runs his fingers through his hair and smirks at you, catching you off guard. Guess he's not mad anymore?? This boy goes through emotions like he goes through toilet paper: quickly.

"Most importantly... I'm sorry if you felt that way. I promise we will start hanging out more this year. And I won't laugh at your speech," you say with sincerity. 

"Okay..." He nods his head, not sounding too convinced. You lean forward and tap his leg.

"Hey. I said I promise, and I always keep my promises." You reach your pinky finger out to him, tilting your head to the side waiting for his recognition. He eyes your pinky for several seconds, biting on his lower lip in thought. "Don't leave me hanging."

You wiggle your pinky finger at him, cooing his name cutely before he releases another smirk and wraps his own pinky around your smaller one.

"Yay!! Now, can I get a hug?" You hold out your arms, using the small percent of aegyo you have to get Tae to obey. Taehyung was one of the only members, along with Hobi, that you would act cute with without feeling horribly repulsed at yourself. Since they're naturally adorable themselves, you had fun reacting to their cuteness with your own.

He shows his signature box smile and leans toward you with open arms. "Come here."

-----------

"But seriously, you wouldn't consider dating me?" Taehyung randomly asks during a commercial break. Your feet were in each other's laps as a blanket covered your legs on the couch. You each had your own bowl of popcorn.

You chuckled and shook your head. "Is this a proposal?"

"I just wanna know what Jimin has over me. I mean, I may not be mochi, but I can be sexy... is that it?" He lifts his eyebrow and runs his finger along his bottom lip while giving his most manly face. This causes you to laugh.

"Stop it! I don't see you like that, it's weird." You throw popcorn at him.

"Out of 10, what would your rate me?" Tae asks, his devilish smirk still on his lips.

"Rate you on what?"

"How attractive I am..."

You look away as he stares into your soul. KIM TAEHYUNG STOP. You start blushing, not because you enjoy his little "show", but because the whole situation is hilarious. He plays too much.

"Agh.... okay. An 8," you reply without thought.

Suddenly, he claps his hands and shouts from his seat.

"YEAAAAHHHH!!! Ha ha ha!! Beat that, Jimin!!!" He yells with a huge smile.

You bend over with laughter, covering your face. Ah... your weird Tae Tae is back.