It was bad.

After the incident a week ago, Taehyung spared no effort to avoid Jeongguk.

When Hoseok went to check on him that night, Taehyung never opened the door, and he refused to talk about it with anyone the next day.

Taehyung didn’t know if he was scared of him, or pissed at him, or disappointed. He actually believed he could get close to Jeongguk and be his friend. How stupid could he be? Clearly, Jeongguk wanted nothing to do with him. Why would he keep trying then?

Jeongguk made a failed attempt to talk to him three days after the event. He approached him when Taehyung was cooking and basically trapped him since he couldn’t just take off and leave his food burn or overcook.

“Not that you need to know, but I’m not an alcoholic.” Jeongguk perceived how Taehyung flinched the moment he heard his voice and ducked his head, no words leaving his mouth. “It’s just—”

“I don’t care, just leave me alone.”

“Fine,” Jeongguk sighed. He respected his wish and walked away, a weird feeling of guilt nestling against his heart. Guilt? That’s new.

After that, they didn’t say another word to each other since Taehyung kept his distance and Jeongguk didn’t make an effort to talk to him again.

Taehyung was planning to continue with the whole distance thing, but Yoongi forced his way into his room a week later and banged the door closed.

“What the hell?” Taehyung exclaimed.

“Shut it and sit down.”

Taehyung scowled at him but obeyed, folding his arms over his chest and looking away from him.

“This has to stop, okay? You guys live together, and Hoseok and I are in the middle of whatever is going on.”

“He was ready to beat me up!”

“Why the hell did you call him an alcoholic, man? I told you not to piss him off that day, didn’t I?”

Taehyung just gazed at him, mute, keeping his scowl. “But I—”

“Didn’t I?”

“That doesn’t justify—”

“Didn’t I?” Yoongi growled, clearly frustrated.

“Yes, okay? You did.”

“Look.” A quivery sigh leaked out of Yoongi's mouth as he sat next to him. “Jeongguk has some issues. That’s no secret. If you want to help him as you say, just listen to me, okay? Listen when I tell you not to piss him off. Listen when I tell you to leave him alone. It’s that simple. Can you do that?”

“But Yoon, if I know what’s wrong with him, I’ll be able to help him like you.”

“Alright, this is the last time I tell you I can’t say anything, okay? I’m done having this conversation with you every day. Learn when to give up. Because I’m not gonna talk about it, and the same goes for Hoseok.”

“You’re mean, you know that?”

Yoongi’s stern face eased with a faint smile at his deep pout and whiny tone. “I know, but there’s really nothing I can say about it. Remember, though. If you want to help him, don’t provoke him. Accept him.”

“What does that mean?”

“You can figure this out.” Yoongi patted his shoulder before he rose to his feet and gradually disappeared from his eyesight.

🥀

Cozied up on a chair on the balcony with a thick, cottony blanket draped over his body, Jeongguk nipped at his beer as he savored the calming silence, his eyes gleaming under the moonlight.

He sensed movement behind him a while later and glanced over his shoulder, only to see the violet-haired boy creep closer to him. He focused his gaze ahead again, a lopsided smile sprawling over his face unwittingly. “You’re not scared of me anymore?”

“I was never scared of you,” Taehyung snapped back, but his contemptuous attitude dissipated when Jeongguk shot him a loaded glance. “Fine, maybe a little.”

“Yeah.”

Taehyung sank into the chair next to him and grabbed a beer without bothering to seek permission.

The mood surrounding them was heavy, tense, and the silence kept on for a long time, both at a loss about what to do about it.

Did Jeongguk regret the way he acted? Yes. He hated it when he got so infuriated that he couldn’t even control his actions. But apologizing was never his forte, not even when he was at fault.

“I was just having a bad day,” Jeongguk blurted out in a murmur, feeling the need to glimpse at him to check his reaction, but he constricted it.

Taehyung stared at him, his face rigid and his gaze sharp. “All of us have bad days, but we don’t throw beer bottles around our houses.”

“I only threw one. And you shouldn’t have pushed me. It was a really bad day.”

“Is this your apology? Seriously?” Taehyung spat out as his chest flared with irritation.

“No, it’s not. I don’t apologize.”

“You should start. Because you’ll lose all your friends.”

“If you’re talking about Yoon and Hoseokie, they won’t leave me,” he shot back as he gave him a taunting grimace and gulped down the rest of his beer.

“You sure? They won’t leave you no matter what an asshole you are?”

The question had Jeongguk freezing in his seat, and although he tried to seem unfazed, he visibly tensed up. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“You don’t seem so sure.”

“Well, I am. And if you’re here to break my balls, just fuck off. It was better when you didn’t talk to me.”

“Then why did you come to talk to me, huh? Why did you have the need to explain yourself?”

“Because!” Jeongguk exclaimed, the cords in his neck throbbing by his exasperation. Upon detecting the boy’s taken aback look, his scowl melted away, leaving a touch of sadness on his traits. “I hate to be called something I’m not, okay? I’m not an alcoholic. I know alcohol is harmful, but this type of beer has two percent alcohol in it. And I don't even drink the whole six-pack. Having three bottles a day is nothing to me.

“Some people get drunk with just two bottles, but I don’t. I don’t get drunk every day. In fact, I only got drunk four times in my life. And I’m just saying, I don’t get drunk with three bottles. Not even six. It’s not strong like whiskey or vodka. It’s just beer. Two percent alcohol. You understand what I’m saying?”

Taehyung listened closely as he peered at him, and he nodded once he finished. “I understand. And I’m sorry. I didn’t know, and I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

“Yes, you shouldn’t have.”

Taehyung’s jaw dropped in disbelief at his words. “That’s your answer? How about a fucking apology, huh?”

“I’m not gonna apologize. It was your fault.”

“You threw a beer bottle at me!”

“I didn’t throw it at you! I threw it in the complete opposite direction from you. I would never hurt anyone intentionally.”

“What about accidentally? If you continue like this, you will hurt someone, Kook.”

“I don’t need a lecture, Kim, and don’t fucking call me that.”

“Then what do you need?” Taehyung cried out, and it was the first time he saw the younger flinch, but he was too steamed up to fathom it. “What the hell do you need to just talk to me? To let me know what’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about it with you! Can you just respect that?”

“Oh, you suddenly know about respect? You know shit about that!”

“Just because I don’t respect you doesn’t mean I don’t know about respect,” Jeongguk snarled, disdain pouring off his words.

A fierce eye contact began as Taehyung was speechless by his stinging remark, struggling to contain his boisterous nerves. “You know what, I’m done with you. Whether you’re okay or not, I wonʼt care about your problematic ass anymore.”

“It was about time, Kim.”

Taehyung scanned his wooden expression and watched as Jeongguk took a swig, swallowing the bitter liquid with ease. Any fragment of aggression fizzled into understanding when realization thundered down on him. “You’re doing it on purpose.”

A muscle in Jeongguk's jaw twitched, and he tried to mask his unease by shifting in his seat and keeping his disquieted gaze away. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re being an ass on purpose. You talk to me badly on purpose. Why?”

“I am an ass. I don’t do anything on purpose,” the younger retorted with a light, awkward chuckle.

“No, you’re not. You’re doing that intentionally. I just don’t get why,” Taehyung whispered as he slipped into a state of gloom in his attempt to track down the purpose of his behavior.

“Kim, give up,” he uttered with a deep sigh as he ventured to peek at him. “Stop wasting your time.”

“What?” Taehyung breathed out, his extreme confusion shining through his face. “How do I waste my time? What do you mean?”

The younger’s gaze lingered on him as he remained silent for a while, his mind buzzing with the tsunami of thoughts that rushed into his head, but his throat was sealed throughout, rendering him incapable of saying even a word.

His only way out was to get the hell away from him because there was no way he would share such an important piece of his heart with him.

The moment Jeongguk made a move to grab his beers, he felt a tight grip on his hand and immediately jerked back. “Didn’t I tell you to keep your hands close to you and away from me?”

“Do I look like I give a fuck? I’m not letting you go if you don’t answer me.”

“I’m not obligated to talk to you.”

“You’re obligated to finish what you started.” Taehyung sprang up from his seat, paying no mind to his blanket that fell to the floor.

“I’m not obligated to do anything,” Jeongguk challenged as he rose to his feet as well, shooting daggers at him.

“Just tell me!”

“I won’t, and keep your damn voice down,” Jeongguk hissed and spun around, but a grasp on his forearm brought him back where he was. He wrenched his hand away as he inhaled a chest-swelling breath to keep his anger under control, biting his lower lip hard. “This is the last time I warn you to keep your hands away. There will be no words the next time. Only actions. And you won’t like them.”

“What, you’re gonna hit me?” Taehyung goaded with a rather inflammatory smirk as he closed the gap between them.

“Don’t push your luck, Kim, because yes, I will.” Unshaken by his provocative manner, Jeongguk fenced in his boisterous nerves and countered his question with plenty of confidence and a derisive smile.

“Do it then.”

Jeongguk stiffened, his nonchalant expression petering into a solemn one as suddenly his need to gulp overtook him. “I told you not to push me.”

“Well, here I am. Not giving a damn about what you say. You know why?” Taehyung cocked his head to the side, feeling his aplomb hike up by Jeongguk’s set face. “Because you’re all talk. You won’t lay a finger on me, no matter what you say.”

“Try me,” Jeongguk gritted out as he shoved him back, something that caught him off guard, but Taehyung secreted it with a snicker.

“Is this all you’ve got?”

“Kim,” he muttered as he breathed heavily through his flared nostrils, a notch away from surrendering to the chaos raging inside him. “Why are you doing this? Why do you want me to hurt you so badly?”

“I’m trying to show you that you won’t do it. That you’re just pretending to be this obnoxious prick. If you were, you would have already punched me or something by now.”

Jeongguk sensed a sudden burst of fury scorch deep in his gut, as if his insides would melt into a pool of lava at any time now. With a swift move, he pressed his forearm against his neck and pushed him back until Taehyung crashed into the railings behind him.

Taehyung maintained the incisive eye contact as he seized his hand, but didn’t attempt to free himself since the pressure he applied was barely painful.

“The only two reasons I haven’t beat your ass are Yoongi and Hoseok because I’ll never hear the end of it if I touch you.” Jeongguk felt his heart thump hard against his chest as he absorbed the way their bodies were squeezed together and gazed at his relaxed face by this proximity. “You got that?”

“Oh, I get it, don’t you worry,” Taehyung said in a hushed tone as a small smile tugged at his lips, shutting out how his stomach tightened and his heartbeat sped up when he felt their breaths mingle together.

“Good.” The younger withdrew with slow moves, unconsciously checking his neck for any marks, but he saw none.

“You didn’t put so much pressure this time, so don’t look so worried,” Taehyung said, lighthearted teasing laced in his tone.

“As if I would be worried about you,” he scoffed while he took a hold of his beers, but Taehyung flashed up in front of him before he could leave.

“I still want an answer to my question.”

“And I still want you to fuck off.” He quirked a scornful brow at him and then walked past him, feeling spikes of something strange pierce his chest the moment he heard a sweet-tempered chuckle.

“This isn’t over, Jeon. I’ll figure it out myself.”

Jeongguk halted just as he entered the house, unable to understand why the hell he was so stubborn. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you even bother to figure it out?”

Taehyung dried up at his question, his mouth unfolding without words coming across. “I don’t have an answer.”

The younger snorted as he slowly shook his head and turned sideways to glimpse at him. The time seemed to freeze for a few seconds upon meeting his saddened gaze, and his smile faded insensibly as a sullen void flooded every inch of him. “That should tell you something, Kim.”

⚜✳⚜

Hey, you. Thank you for your support, even if you're a silent reader. It means a lot to me💜

Thank you all for your support! Love you💜