"Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall, Everything is changing..."

~Coffee Shop-B.A.P

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The ice cream shop was brightly colored, all the people working there wearing florescent colors of either pink or blue. The floor tiled with white and red tiles, the tables a smooth glossy material, the edges of the table decorated with little depictions of ice cream cones. It was far from empty, they seemed to be getting kind of busy, but the cutesy music in the background distracted from the noise of the ice cream machines. That, and Mrs. Park found them a table by a window, away from the register.

Mrs. Park bought them big bowls of ice cream, insisted that they get every single type of topping, and Jungkook had taken her up on that offer, getting everything from little candies, to cherries, to different kind of syrup, it was almost more topping then ice cream.

Taehyung only felt like putting peanuts and chocolate on his, but Jimin had seemed to get anything that even remotely had the color red. Kyung-mi just absently picked at her plain ice cream.

What are we celebrating? Taehyung asked himself often, but he just kept eating ice cream. Mrs. Park would tell them right? Though Jimin seemed to already know and had been grinning mischievously. Tell me, I want to know. He wondered if they were keeping it from him because he 'wouldn't understand' or something. I'm not crazy, I thought you already knew. The thought of them still thinking he was crazy didn't feel right, it felt like...It felt like a stab to the heart.

Taehyung shivered. I remember stabbing...

"Taehyung?"

He looked up to find Mrs. Park looking at him, concern in her eyes before she reached for his hand. Taehyung hadn't even realized his hands were shaking. I look crazy...

"Taehyung, what's wrong? Are you scared...? You can tell me, I'll understand, I'll always understand..."

Taehyung pulled his hand away and shook his head. You won't understand. Don't lie.

Mrs. Park seemed to be struck awkward, but she cleared her throat, trying to ease said awkwardness "So, how was school?"

Jungkook shoved a big bite of ice cream in his mouth, probably just to avoid talking about it. After a moment of frowning, Jimin smiled big. "Taehyung made Hana blush like a tomato, I'd get ready for the babies if I were you."

"Park Jimin!" Mrs. Park started, her voice higher in octave for a moment, looking at her son wide-eyed. "That's...Jimin, we don't talk about that in public!"

Taehyung just ended up staring down at the bowl of ice cream in front of him. Stop saying that. Why do you keep saying that? That's not true... Jungkook literally choked on ice cream, grabbing his throat for a second until the ice cream melted.

"Jimin, your mom is right there!" Jungkook said when he recovered. Seeing Mrs. Park frown, he put his hands up. "Mrs. P, I swear, we don't normally talk about that, it's just...yeah, okay, I'm making it worse..." Jungkook shoved ice cream in his mouth to stop himself from talking. Mrs. Park sighed. Kyung-mi just rolled her eyes.

"It's okay." She said, smiling. "Boys will be boys, I know you're going through a lot of hormonal cha--"

"MOM, please, god no." Jimin said, looking around briefly to see who was listening. By now, everyone in the ice cream shop was looking, they had to be the strangest group of people in the building.

Jungkook hit Jimin on the shoulder lightly when Mrs. Park wasn't looking, "Hyung, seriously? You're worried about that being heard?"

Mrs. Park cleared her throat and pushed her bowl of ice cream a bit away from her and rested her chin in her hands and her elbows on the table, looking at everyone at the table, a grin on her face that reminded Taehyung of Jimin's mischievous smile. "So, who wants to do the honors--Jimin? Kyung-mi?"

Kyung-mi glanced at Taehyung and shook her head and continued on with her ice cream. What's wrong, Kyung-mi? He could understand her emotions going back and forth when it came to him, that was just how her mind worked, but it seemed like whatever it was bothered her more then usual.

"Well, you should, Eomma," Jimin said, grinning mischievously at Taehyung again.

Taehyung frowned and bit his lip. Honors? Honors for what? What is this about? Please don't let it be bad, please don't say you want me gone, please don't do something you think is good for me that will only kill me slowly...

Jungkook raised an eyebrow. He didn't know either, whatever it was. And that made it seem all the more like it was something that would normally be kept a secret. Jimin told Jungkook everything, didn't he?

Mrs. Park cleared her throat, then sat up straighter, looking Taehyung straight in the eye, and the eye contact scared him almost, her gaze seemed so serious so suddenly. "Taehyung, we have something important to tell you. But I want you to know first, how much we love you being around, and how very well you're doing, since leaving that godforsaken place, you've been wonderful, and you haven't needed even one pill."

Taehyung swallowed, this seemed like a goodbye, like she was apologizing already, but he nodded. He could feel tears starting to burn behind his eyes, threatening to spill.

"So--gosh it's almost hard to say." Mrs. Park took Taehyung's hand again, and he didn't stop her. Her eyes had a glint to them like she was about to cry too, along with a few other emotions Taehyung couldn't place. "Tae, I think you know what I'm going to say, maybe you've heard this a few times because of your background...but I mean this, this is permanent, I mean it."

Taehyung bit his lip so hard he thought it would bleed from the pressure. Please... I'm begging you, don't put me through this... Please...

"Eomma!" Jimin groaned, annoyed. "Can you stop beating around the bush and just tell him!"

Mrs. Park gave Jimin a look that spoke more then anything she would have said, then she turned back to Taehyung. "We're adopting you, honey."

Adopt....

Adopt...

What? You're what? Taehyung's mouth fell open. He couldn't think. He must have heard it wrong. She couldn't have said that, no one ever liked him around, why would she say that? He'd heard that whispered between couples at the orphanage some days, they would see him, and the wife would whisper to her husband, 'Let's adopt him.' but that was before they talked with anyone there, before they knew about him, about what his life had been like before, they always said he was high maintenance or something, that he wasn't right for anyone that couldn't give him attention. I'm not a dog, I don't need attention. He just wanted love, that was all he wanted, wanted someone to kiss him goodnight, wanted someone to hug him, someone to like him for who he was.

No one ever loves me, what's to love about me? Everything about me is weird. He must have heard wrong. "What?" He asked.

"We're adopting you, Taehyung. You're going to be part of our family." Mrs. Park repeated.

Taehyung waited for a moment, just looking at her in disbelief. "Wh-what?" He couldn't have heard that wrong twice, could he? Adopt... Adopt... Adopt... I don't understand.

"TaeTae, I meant it, you're going to be my brother." Jimin said, grinning.

Jungkook looked confused for a second, then smiled. "Ah, I told you, hyung!" Then clapped to himself, a big gummy smile on his face. "Makes total sense now."

"I don't..." Taehyung started, feeling a tear or two escape. "But..." More tears came, a flood of tears. You want me? You actually...You like me? He couldn't see he was crying so much now. "What do you...m-mean?" He rubbed at the tears with the back of his hand. With all the eyes of everyone in the ice cream shop on him, he felt insecure. I look crazy...

"Oh, Taehyung..." Mrs. Park said before getting up to hug him. She hugged him tight from the side, and it was really the first time he actually felt like she wasn't scared to touch him, that it was completely on purpose and not an accident, that she meant this. Her touch surprised him, and he flinched.

He couldn't understand why she'd want him to stay, but it made him happy, despite the tears, he was the happiest he's ever been, the happiest he'd ever felt in his whole life. And he couldn't stop crying, the tears pooling on the table and a little bit on his uniform. He felt like his heart was torn open. but something else too...

"B-but...Mrs. Park...I..." He started, it being especially hard to speak while crying, it was barely recognizable as words, more like just noises that came out deep and half choked.

Mrs. Park went through his hair absently, rubbing tufts of hair between her fingers. "It's alright, sweetheart, and you can call me Eomma if you want, it's alright..Shh..." It sounded like she was trying to calm a baby, but in reality, though he minded, when she said that, Taehyung buried his face in her shoulder, getting up and hugging her back. Eomma...Eomma...I've always wanted a Eomma.

Part of him was sure he was dreaming, that all of this in a second when he woke up. But Jimin punching Taehyung's shoulder playfully brought him out of that thought. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, that I killed my Appa in cold blood. Are you sure? Are you sure you want me and not...

"Dude, don't cry in public." Jimin said. But came over and hugged Taehyung anyway.

After crying for a bit more, mostly in disbelief. This was too good to be true, no one ever...no one... It hurt in a way. It hurt in a way that he felt like his heart was going to explode. If this was a joke, he'd never recover from it, if this was a lie, he wouldn't be able to take it. But after crying for a bit, he ended up smiling, that ridiculous, weird, boxy grin, he couldn't help it. If he was honest with himself, he'd never been so happy.

"Better...better..." Jimin said, seeing him smile.

Jungkook got up and hugged Taehyung too, "Let me get in on this, it's not considered a group hug until there's 4 or more people involved." Jungkook said, hugging Taehyung from behind him.

Kyung-mi just sat, quiet, mixing her melting ice cream around. She didn't like this. She still didn't really like him, not this other side of her anyway, this other, sad lonely side that felt like she was losing her mother to a killer. Taehyung stopped smiling, just biting his lip while he watched her. It's not like that, I'm not taking her, she can't love me nearly as much as she does you, Kyung-mi, don't think that...please love me too, I want you to like me too.

~~~

Taehyung looked out the window the whole time in the car, while Mrs. Park explained she was going to try and convince the mental hospital to give her custody of him. He knew what custody was, it was ownership, but...he wanted her to get that, he wanted this to be permanent, he wanted to wake up every morning and know it was permanent, that he'd stay, that he could always wake up with Marshmallow at the end of the bed, that he wouldn't have to say goodbye.

He stared out the window, expression blank, just watching the world. Dad's playing with their kids, the sight made his lip twitch, wanting to smile, he'd never felt that way about that. He just leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes for a second. Was that what the celebration was about? He hoped this worked out.

He took a deep breath, wincing when the sore feeling from that punch earlier flared, the pain from it still feeling fairly fresh and the image of Yoongi came to mind.

If he can do that, shouldn't I fight back? If he can do that for Jae-hwa, shouldn't I still stick up for Hana? Maybe he couldn't physically, but he couldn't let Yoongi and Jae-hwa have their way. Just because Hana didn't fight back, just because she didn't know how to tell anyone about what they did to her, or she was scared.

If he liked her, couldn't he find some way to throw away how scared he was? And then... Maybe...Hana does like me. He fingered the charm she'd given him. Maybe I make her feel the same way...

"Thinking about making out with Hana?" Jimin whispered in Taehyung's ear.

"N-no... Jiminie pabo..." Taehyung mumbled.

Jimin just giggled and whispered something else to Jungkook.

Why did I say that?

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A/N:

I'm sorry if this is nonsense, or boring with a CAP B~ I tried to make it good, and decent, but I'm very much looking forward to writing what Taehyung does next and what happens next, so maybe I got excited~ I don't know, and I feel like my writing is slowly turning into crap, so I'm trying very hard to make it better if possible and explain more, and improve and write longer chapters. I don't think they will get longer then 2000 words by much though, because I like that length for chapters ^-^

almost 5k reads, over 800 votes, and 1k comments~ Thank you so much for supporting and reading :) I read every single comment and I wanna hug your faceu~

Do girl group dances with me to celebrate? Hmm?

~Neri~