A/N: FIRST OF ALL I KNOW THE GIF ISNT TAEKOOK BUT UM LOOK AT PARK JIMIN I REPEAT L O O K  ok enjoy this hell of a chapter ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

When Jungkook and Jimin returned to the cafe, Kim Taehyung was seated in the far right corner, feet resting on the chair opposite him.  Jungkook didn't recognize him at first in the least bit; he carried on with Jimin popping mints in their mouth after a mouthwatering breakfast had been devoured.

"See anyone you recognize?" Jimin whispered.

"I haven't seen him in four years. . . he's probably changed."  Jungkook went from face to face in the shop, but didn't catch any familiar faces. "Maybe he changed his hair color or something."

Now Kim Taehyung was clearly staring at Jungkook while holding The New York Times in his hands.  A Macbook was carefully propped up on the table, with a hot drink in an ivory mug.  In addition, a binder encased with many papers had been scattered on the wooden table.  He peeped at him through his dark shades and prayed he would see him.  Taehyung, of all people, knew Jungkook was one of the most oblivious guys to exist. And of course Taehyung remembered Jungkook; he couldn't forget the only guy he ever dated in high school.

"Excuse me," Taehyung said, cleary inaudible to Jungkook. Jimin glanced over at him eyeing the two of them, but didn't say anything to Jungkook.  And truly the idiot doesn't hear me, but his friend does, Taehyung thought, carefully closing The New York Times. 

"Are you two looking for a table?"  He croaked, a bit louder this time around.  Jungkook turned towards him now, and Jimin followed.  His voice was so low and raspy that Jungkook didn't think for a second it could be Taehyung.

"No sir, but thank you," Jimin thanked, nodding his head.

"I'm serious, take this table," Taehyung insisted, suddenly packing up his laptop and chugging the hot drink.  He could feel the coffee scorch and scald his throat, even so, he placed the laptop in his bag and gestured at his former table.  Jimin shook his head, nervously smiling but Jungkook suddenly intervened.

"Sir, really," he assured.  "We'll be okay."  He was looking at Taehyung with certainty, and Taehyung was sure that his heart dropped in that instant.  Those were the eyes.  "Please, sit down."  All of a sudden, Taehyung dropped his binder, letting the papers disperse on the floor.  "Shit, I'm so sorry," Jungkook apologized, and he bent down to help. 

"It's not your fault."  Now Taehyung was the one reassuring him, and he didn't remember a second in high school where he was the good guy.  I'd always been the bad one.  "I'm fine thank you," he said, giving Jungkook a nod.  Taehyung gathered the papers from the floor, stashing them in his binder.  As he did, he didn't even bother to notice the sunglasses slip from his face, causing a clatter to echo throughout the shop.

"Oh my God," Jungkook breathed, rendered speechless.  "No way. . . Taehyung?"  Taehyung glanced up from floor and forced his rectangular smile.  "Taehyung!"  Jungkook pulled him up and let him stand a few feet away.  Taehyung was nervous, no, he was dreading this.  He knew Jungkook would be furious and desire an apology and anything else.   But Jungkook just stood with his arms folded across his chest and Taehyung's smile was as bright as a thousand suns.  "You're actually here.  I thought that when Nari brought you up, she was a bit crazy or maybe confusing you with someone else. but you're here.  You're actually here in New York.  Here.  In my ci-"

"You're giving him anxiety, Jesus!"  Jimin exclaimed, dragging Jungkook back.  "Sorry, er, Taehyung right?" 

"Yeah," Taehyung was slow to respond.  He clearly didn't know Jimin, but from the looks of the boy's spunky orange waves, he concluded his wild behavior.  "Jimin, if I'm not mistaken."

"You right," Jimin agreed, sticking out his hand for a shake.  He was smiling too, and Taehyung didn't accept the boy's happiness.  Taehyung barely reciprocated, carefully extending his hand.  "A pleasure."

Jungkook knew that he should some friendliness.  It was courteous.  There was no civility in being disrespectful.  But this was the same boy who had left him to walk home in the middle of their high school years.  The same boy who'd let him cry every single night for months to follow; the same boy who'd driven him to insanity and made his mother question her son's wellbeing. In the moment of Jimin and Taehyung's small side conversations, Jungkook couldn't grasp his feelings.

"We have to talk," Taehyung mumbled.  He actually choked out the words.  "Jungkook, that is.  No offense, Jumin."

"Jimin," he corrected.  "And yeah, no harm taken."  He just shows up and wants to talk to Jungkook right away?  Sketchy. . .

Taehyung slipped his hand in Jungkook's and led him outside, to be greeted by a gust of the bitter cold in New York.  Jungkook shivered, even in his winter coat.  Taehyung shyly handed him his large, wool scarf and Jungkook took it, and wrapped it around his neck.  The sun was now at its highest in the sky, illuminating the faint specs of snow on the ground.  New York had yet to have their first true snowfall, but had been faintly sprinkled with fairy dusts of it. 

"What's this about?"  Jungkook asked.  He could guess, but he knew he'd be way off.  "You just came back, and something's already on your mind."

"Actually it's always been on my mind," Taehyung corrected.  "Us, that is."  Jungkook felt the world around them freeze, and intently listened.  "Listen, I need to apologize."  Jungkook's chest tightened.

"Taehyung, that was years ag-"

"No, I need to," he interrupted.  "I sound like an asshole, but this isn't for you.  It's for me.  First of all, I felt like shit after I just left you there and drove home.  It wasn't even shitty, it was absolute shit.  I got home and didn't know what the hell I'd done.  I wanted to call, but I didn't.  I wanted to speak, but I couldn't."  He paused and let out a deep sigh.  However, he wasn't frustrated at Jungkook for once, but with himself.

"I was hurt," Jungkook began.  Taehyung looked up, his eyes grief-stricken.  Jungkook clenched his fists and let out a deep sigh as well.  If I've only got now, might as well.  "I mean, I don't even want to mention the thoughts I had back then, because the past is what it is.  It can't be changed, so don't tell me how you would go back in time and fix everything, because you can't. Everything that's done is done, and nothing's going to be the same.  We can still talk, but I can't say we're friends."

"I can try to understand where this is all coming fro-"

"No, Taehyung, you won't try to understand.  You will understand.  You will understand the despair you put me through in my senior year of high school.  I still managed to be valedictorian, even after those endless nights of wondering what I did wrong.  You will understand that after I graduated, I waited for a phone call, a card, or even a text message of congratulations.  Not one. You disappeared, just like you said you would."  Jungkook was sweating, shaking, and unaware of the words spilling out of his mouth.  He was conscious, but letting the locked-up emotions flow never felt better.

"You know why I left," Taehyung retorted.  "You wanted a career and I didn't.  You said I was a mess.  Do you remember that?  I don't recall your family calling you fucking trash every night of your life because you couldn't make the food they wanted.  I also don't recall you struggling for food and money."

"Your family were millionaires," Jungkook pointed out.  Taehyung's eye twitched and a faint tear slipped clear from his the iris.

"Didn't help Dad was an alcoholic.  All the money was for the bottles, and the bottles only."

"Family life shouldn't affect your grades," Jungkook shot back.  "You were a failure in school and you didn't even give a shit about what the teachers had to offer.  Tae, the teachers offered help! They were ready to provide a home for you in the local shelter and you cursed at them.   That was your first suspension."

"Shut up," he muttered. 

"Then you got drunk and came to school.  Second suspension."

"I'm serious, shut the fuck up."

"You're no better than your dad, y'know that?"  Taehyung's eyes widened and he suddenly pushed Jungkook against the concrete wall of the coffee shop.  It was on the alley side, and Jungkook felt his back crack, and his jaw shake.  He tried to swallow, but Taehyung's arm was around his neck, clutching it tighter than ever.

"Do not call me my father," he warned.  "I am nothing like him, and you wouldn't even know and couldn't even imagine or understand the things he did to me as a kid."

"Woah guys?"  The door to the coffee shop swung open and Jimin came out, ruffling his hair.  "I couldn't see you guys for a second. . . what's going on?"  He saw Taehyung's grasp around Jungkook's throat and then looked at Jungkook.

"It's fine Park," Taehyung scoffed, releasing Jungkook.  "An argument, that's all."

"Stay the hell away from here," Jungkook spat.  Taehyung went back inside the shop to collect his things as Jungkook straightened out his jacket.

"Wanna tell me what happened between you two?" Jimin asked.  But Jungkook was deep in thought, glaring at the brown-haired menace through the windows of the shop.  "Jungkook!"

"It doesn't concern you," he said, ending the conversation.

When Taehyung stepped back outside wearing his shadowy shades, clinging to his briefcase, he nodded at Jimin, turned on his heels, and started in the opposite direction.

***

HoW WAS IT????? please tell me you felt some kind of tension in this chapter bc I tried SO hard to make it suspenseful and scary!! I guess the story will start to take its course in the next few chapters, as we learn more about Taehyung and Jungkook's background hehe also a little side ship is presenT OHOHOHOHO u wont see it coming tho it's 50% unexpected

please let me know how this chapter went in the comments! Leave a comment of prediction or happiness!! DONT FORGET TO VOTE I SEE YALL NOT VOTING GIVE ME SOME STARS CHINGOS

also lemme know your holiday plans!! Im dyING to know hehe (im going to NC to see my cousins)

Stay Tuned and Happy Holidays!

-Monty