This time around, Yoongi didn't have to convince Taehyung to leave the house. The boy did so willingly, still suffering the aftertaste of that agonizing guilt he was struck with from talking to Jimin. But he couldn't blame Jimin. Nor could he apologize - he already had, and Jimin had already insisted there was nothing to apologize for, anyway. Needless to say this only made Taehyung feel worse about the situation.

He didn't want to bother Jimin. Maybe he could sort things out later, apologize more properly, say how he truly felt rather than remaining silent as though he agreed with the cruel things Jimin had to say about himself. But for now, Taehyung just wanted him to rest. Getting hit by a car was enough. He had been through enough.

With Jungkook's gentle encouragement as usual, Taehyung went to class the next morning, quiet and still a bit upset from last night, but he managed. Holding Jungkook's hand really did make a difference.

They entered the classroom about twenty minutes before the class started, choosing their usual seats and sitting.

About five minutes passed and Seokjin entered the classroom, also choosing his usual seat. Right beside Taehyung, who tensed noticeably.

"Ya look down, Tae," Seokjin commented, scanning his seatmate's expression. "You okay?"

Taehyung didn't say anything. He gave a brief nod, throwing uncertain glances at Seokjin, who mimicked the action curiously before leaning back and releasing a puff of air. His pleasant disposition dissipated.

"It's about yesterday, isn't it?"

This question earned him a vague glance from Jungkook which in a way acted as confirmation.

Seokjin sighed again. "I swear I'm not lying to you, Tae," he said in a soft, somewhat sympathetic voice. "I...I don't have any loyalty to my dad, I don't owe him any favors, and I mean I know I'm a college student with an average-paying part-time job but I'm not desperate enough for money that I'd do something extreme, you know? Besides, we're friends, aren't we, Tae?"

The obvious hesitation that followed the question made Seokjin's expression sink. A frown took form upon his lips and he turned to face forward.

"We...are..." Taehyung said in late reply. Jin faced him immediately.

"Yeah??"

Just like that, his smile had returned in full, and he even had the nerve to laugh at Taehyung's displeased reaction. Jungkook even cracked a smile - though of course he hid it when Taehyung turned to him.

"C'mon, lighten up, Tae." Still chuckling, Seokjin put his arm around the boy's shoulders. "Don't like it when my friends are being Negative Nancy's."

Taehyung furrowed his brow at this. "Negative...who?"

"Say, tomorrow's Saturday, we should do something."

"What about your boyfriend?" Tae muttered. Jin clicked his tongue against his teeth and waved his hand dismissively.

"Joonie works tomorrow," he said. "Besides, even if he didn't work, friends are just as important as boyfriends. So, you wanna do something?"

Jungkook leaned forward with beady eyes so that there was no possible way Seokjin could ignore him.

"-yes, and you, too, of course, Kook." His laugh sounded almost nervous now. "I wouldn't dream of leaving you out after you practically threatened me yesterday."

Taehyung shifted his gaze over to his boyfriend. "You threatened him?"

"Not threatened, per say," Seokjin said, "maybe more like a sternly worded warning. Which is completely understandable. If I were in your place I'd think I was suspicious, too. But really, I'm just a party animal who wants to play mini-golf with some cool dudes." He gave both Taehyung's and Jungkook's shoulders a bump with his fist. "So what do ya say, fellas? Churros and mini-golf tomorrow? I've got coupoooonnnsss."

Taehyung thought to himself, contemplated the idea for a moment, but as he haphazardly laid eyes on Jungkook and the clear as day, childlike excitement in his face, he knew he didn't have the heart to decline. Taehyung could practically hear him chanting, churros and games, churros and games.

"Fine, we can hang out."

"Yes, okay, so let's just agree now that the overall loser has to pay for the churros, yeah?"

"...you're ridiculous..."

"-ly handsome. Thank you, Tae. Here, give me your phone, we gotta exchange numbers."

Jungkook leaned forward.

"...and yours, Jungkook."

—

"Is it too late to cancel?"

"Tae, you're driving, and we're already halfway to the course."

At a stoplight, Taehyung exhaled deeply and checked his phone, the few overly-excited text messages Seokjin had sent him not long ago, using way more emoticons than any person should ever need to use.

In those messages, Seokjin had also included the location of the mini-golf course, which was roughly twenty-five minutes from Taehyung's apartment. It was around the fifteen minute mark that he began to have second thoughts, but with Jungkook seeming so set on winning mini-golf and making Jin pay for their churros, Tae couldn't bring himself to turn back around and head home.

So they eventually made their arrival, and surely enough outside the small building where the equipment and customer service desk was, there stood Seokjin, in the process of shoving his phone into his jeans pocket so that he could enthusiastically wave at his friends pulling into a parking spot. Jungkook grinned and waved back.

"He looks so happy to see us. I'll bet he already plans to buy us churros."

"Or," Taehyung countered, opening his car door, "he doesn't have any money, and this was a set-up to get us to buy him churros."

"Ooh, that would be smart."

"Sure, if that's what you wanna call it..."

Bracing himself for whatever madness was to come, Taehyung stepped out of the car, joining hands with Jungkook as the two approached the brilliantly beaming Seokjin, who now eagerly waved in their faces two tickets of some kind.

"Two free games!" he chirped.

"There are three of us," Taehyung said obviously.

"Yes, so one of us is gonna have to pay for their own. Any takers?"

The look that Tae gave him at that moment could have stopped a bull in its tracks.

"Me, I'm the taker, I'll pay." Seokjin handed the tickets to the other boys, laughing - whether in amusement or fear, Jungkook couldn't tell. But he laughed, too.

And with that, the three entered the building with Jin in the lead. He marched up proudly to the reception desk, spun around to pluck the 'free game' tickets from his friends' hands and held them out to the man in front of them. "These are for my pals," he announced, then dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled up bill. "This is for me."

The man at the desk examined what Seokjin had just placed counter.

"Wait, that's my grocery shopping receipt. I need that."

He snatched it up again and shoved it back into the depths of his pockets.

"Here it is—nope, Target receipt."

"For a guy with an average-paying part-time job and college and living expenses to pay for you sure do you shop a lot."

"Shh, Tae, this takes concentration."

After pulling around five more receipts out of various pockets, Seokjin finally found the money he swore he had on him and paid the small fee for his game. The man at the desk handed the boys three colored golf balls and pointed them in the direction of the door, beside which were the putters they could choose from.

After choosing their putters, the three boys stepped onto the first course and started their friendly little game of miniature golf.

To Taehyung, it wasn't a game that required much skill - you aim, you tap the ball with the putter, and that's it. Seokjin, on the other hand, went on various spiels and over-analyzed the different courses, explaining in what Jungkook would describe as impressive detail about every aspect that needed to be taken into consideration in order to fully utilize said courses to one's advantage.

He was weird.

Surprisingly fun, Taehyung hated to admit at first, but less so once he noticed the brightness of Jungkook's smiles while they were playing.

His heart fluttered. Amidst the goings-on Taehyung allowed the fact be pushed to the back of his mind, but in truth he was in love with this boy. Last night, he had fully realized and accepted it, too. But not just that he was in love with him. But that he loved him.

Seeing Jungkook smile made his heart feel at ease. Happy.

At the beginning of the eighth hole of the game, as Seokjin was, once again, dramatically and verbally laying out his strategy for how he would dominate this round, Taehyung found the time to wrap his arms around Jungkook's waist from behind, rest his chin on the boy's shoulder, then kiss his cheek. And he whispered softly, "Are you having a good time, Kookie?"

"Y-yeah, I am." Jungkook scratched his other cheek, red as a cherry, as Taehyung kissed him again.

"Mm. Then I'm glad I decided to go after all."

"Jin's really fun, isn't he?"

"He's odd," Tae permitted himself the quietest of laughs. "But then again so are you. But...I love you."

"AWWW, YEAAAAAH, HOLE-IN-ONE, BABY, DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT MADNESS??!! TIGER WOODS WHO???"

Seokjin's ear-piercing victory cry rang throughout all eighteen of the courses and beyond, alarming the two other groups of people here who were on different courses, but still well within the range of the boy's voice. Oblivious or uncaring, he cried out again with a loud 'woohoo!!' before spinning around to look at his friends.

"You guys saw that, right??"

"Amazing, Seokjin."

"I KNOW. I'M SO GOOD."

He cleared his throat, took a step backwards, then gestured for one of the two to take their turn.

"It's easy," he said and brushed imaginary dirt off his broad shoulders. "If you were paying attention to my breakdown of the terrain, you should have this one down. Good luck, fellas. But also bad luck, my free churros are riding on this game."

Stifling his chuckles, Jungkook stepped up to the challenge and set his golf ball down on the green, preparing to go for a hole-in-one in hopes he could impress his boyfriend.

Sadly, the ringing of Taehyung's phone stole his attention away from the course, so Jungkook's motivation lessened.

It wasn't that Tae was looking for a distraction - at this point, he certainly was not bored. But he checked the caller ID - it was Yoongi. Taehyung could never ignore Yoongi.

"Hello?"

"Sorry, I know you're out trying to enjoy your weekend, I just wanted to call-"

"Yoongi, it's okay," Taehyung interrupted. "Something wrong?"

"Not really," Yoongi began, though sounding a bit exhausted for some reason, "just that, Jimin kind of vomited a little on the floor, and I didn't want you to be alarmed at the slightly blue stain on the carpet when you came home. But he's okay, though, so don't worry-"

"H-how do you know he's okay??"

"Tiger, relax, he said he's been feeling off and on nauseous since the accident, it's normal," Yoongi said reassuringly. At least it was supposed to be reassuring. "Look, Jimin said so himself, and I trust him. He actually said he's feeling a lot better after he threw up, the nausea's gone, so it's good."

"Does he want anything to eat or drink?" Tae blurted. "I can pick up something on the way back. You know what, I'll just head back now. Ask Jimin what he wants and send me a text."

"Tae, you don't have to-"

He hung up before Yoongi could argue any more. By this point Jungkook and Seokjin were both gazing at him with worry.

"Is everything alright, Tae?" Jin asked.

"Yeah," the boy replied, nodding, though it was clear something was bothering him. "I'm sorry, Jin, I have to leave, my friend's been sick, I just-"

"It's okay, Tae, you don't need to apologize," Seokjin assured him. "Is he okay?"

"Considering he survived getting hit by a car, I'd say he's fine, but I think I've been neglecting him too much. Jungkook, let's go."

He grabbed Jungkook's hand and started to pull the boy along back to the car. But he called back at the last second.

"Sorry again, Jin, I'll make it up to you some time."

And Seokjin smiled a sad but understanding smile. "No worries, Tae. Take care."

"Bye, Jin!"

"Bye, Kook! See you guys Monday!"

*
*
*

end of chapter thirty-one.