Ⓣaehyung was sure the world just stopped moving for a split second; when he finally glanced over his shoulder, Jungkook was standing behind Hoseok with his sweetest smile.

“Oh, hey Jungkook-ah! Didn’t see you coming,” Hoseok greeted him as he spotted him behind him.

“Hey Hoseok,” he smiled back, but his attention remained on Taehyung.

“He - hey,” he muttered. How long had he been close by? Did he catch onto what we talked about?

Jungkook’s smile grew wider. “Hi!” he said. “Bad time?”

Taehyung shook his head. “No. You guys should sit down and I’ll come and serve you in a minute.” Luckily, they listened to him and sat down at an available table and waited for him to be done with another customer before them.

“Have you been here for long?” Taehyung heard Jungkook ask his friend.

“I came for around ten minutes ago or so,” Hoseok answered. “Did you hear our conversation?”

Taehyung waited nervously for Jungkook’s reply in silence. He had to listen before heading towards their direction.

“No, only that he told you something you already knew, but I didn’t hear what,” he explained. “Was it a secret?” Jungkook didn’t even try to hide his smirk on his face.

Hoseok just chuckled back. “Maybe.”

“See? He’s really opening up.”

Taehyung frowned. Had they talked about him before?

“Hush,” Hoseok whispered as he nervously glanced in Taehyung direction. He realised he had been listening to them, and that’s when he decided to just walk up to them.

“Have you decided what you want?” he asked, not even bothering to smile. He wasn’t exactly happy realising they had been talking about him when he wasn’t around. What exactly did they say? What did Jungkook say about him? Did he think he was hard to get close to? It may be true, but not necessarily for him. He could open Taehyung just like that without even trying. The browned haired boy already knew his mother was in coma, something Hoseok didn’t know at all.

“Yeah, an ice coffee please,” Hoseok ordered, a naughty smirk forming on his lips.

It made Taehyung roll his eyes, but shifted his gaze onto Jungkook this time. “And you?”

Jungkook stared at him for about five seconds before he spoke anything at all, which made Taehyung slightly flush. “Coffee mocha please.”

Taehyung nodded as he walked back behind the counter as he started making the drinks ready. As he was about to walk back to give them their orders, Taehyung had completely forgotten about the time, and now another colleague would enter.

Through the door appeared Park Jimin, and he immediately went up to Taehyung to greet him, but before he could, Taehyung was already by his friend’s table and giving them their drinks.

Taehyung literally felt the burning glare on him, and therefore forced out a polite smile. “I hope you’ll enjoy your drinks. Thank you for ordering at Jin’s Diner,” he forced out.

By the looks of Hoseok and Jungkook, the blond one just wanted to sink down and bury himself out of embarrassment. His friends didn’t even try to hold back their giggles.

“Good work Taehyung,” Jimin complimented him, now finally revealing himself to his friends. “Even though they’re your friends, they’re still customers here at the diner.”

Jimin’s gaze went from Taehyung and onto Hoseok, which made his eye-smile even prettier. “Welcome. I hope your drinks are drinkable,” he joked, which caused Hoseok to laugh loudly. “I just arrived, so you can take a break now Taehyung.” He then disappeared in the back to get his apron and start his work, whilst Taehyung sat down with his friends.

“Your friend is hilarious Taehyung,” Hoseok commented, still struggling to stop giggling.

“Give me a break,” Taehyung muttered irritated, but as Jungkook sat beside him, he had nudged him and threw his arm around his shoulder.

“Come on Taehyung, they’re only joking. It’s funny,” he grinned. But Taehyung couldn’t help but to think that Jungkook said it just to defend Jimin. He was nervous by suspecting Jungkook fancied Jimin, even just the slightest.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, not in the mood to genuinely smile nor laugh.

“What’s the matter?” he asked worriedly. “Did it bother you that much?”

Taehyung didn’t look at him. He couldn’t bear looking at his face right now. “I don’t care what Jimin says.” It came out way harsher than Taehyung intended it to be, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t mad about Jimin joking, or they laughing at it; he was used to Hoseok making fun of him. Jimin even more than, believe it or not. But he didn’t want Jungkook to defend him. He didn’t want Jungkook to even look at him.

He knew he was greedy. What right did Taehyung exactly have? He couldn’t decide whom Jungkook would like or not. But he wasn’t denying the fact that it made him jealous. Incredibly jealous to be precise.

“Taehyung?” Jungkook called him again. “Taehyung, what’s wrong?”

The blond male caught Hoseok staring at him with a frown from the other side of the table. He must already be aware of Taehyung feelings towards Jungkook, although he didn’t say anything. How could he not know? He already knew he was gay for some reason, so he’d probably know by now he had someone he liked.

“I need to get back to work,” he excused himself as he stood up.

“But Jimin said you could take a break!” Jungkook called after him, but the male only ignored and escaped into the private room for employees only. At the exact same time Taehyung was opening the door to the lockers room, Jimin did the exact same on the other side at the same time, and the door hit the smaller one and made him stumble backwards and grunting in pain.

“Ji - Jimin hyung! Are you okay?” Taehyung panicked as he quickly ran up to check on him.

The other male groaned in pain as he covered his face with his hands. “Ugh, my nose!” he grumbled, quickly finding his balance and shutting his eyes tight in pain. “What the hell were you doing? Why did you run at the door and push it so hard?”

Taehyung panicked even more. He had just slammed the door in his colleague’s face. He was lucky enough it wasn’t his boss. Or more precisely, he was lucky it was Jimin and that they were friends, and that the elder literally had an angel-like personality. “I’m so sorry hyung! I didn’t know you were still in here! I’m really sorry!” Taehyung kept on apologising, but Jimin had stopped groaning long time ago now.

“Taehyung-ah, I’m fine. See?” The sight of blood on Jimin’s nose made Taehyung dizzy and almost faint for a split second. He absolutely despised the sight of blood. It made him feel so weak and afraid; his fear only grew after what happened this summer.

“B - bl…” He swallowed hard to get himself together and speak. “Bl - Blo - blood!”

“Huh?” Jimin frowned. “Blood?” He lightly touched under his nose and stared at his hand where some blood drops had gotten onto. His eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t panic like Taehyung. “Relax Tae, it’s only a slight nosebleed, it’s not dangerous,” he comforted, but it was too late; Taehyung was already passing out from the sigh and landed in a pair of arms that was behind him and caught him.

The next thing Taehyung knew, he was laying on the cold hard floor; when he opened his eyes again, he saw a couple of dreamy eyes staring right back at him. It gobsmacked him for a second, but his eyes softened. They’re looking at me. They’re looking into mine.

That’s when Taehyung realised who these dreamy eyes belonged to. “Ju - Jungkook,” he stuttered, immediately sitting up and backing away so he wouldn’t be so close anymore.

“Are you okay?”

Taehyung ignored his question and searched for Jimin right away. “Jimin hyung!” he yelled as he spotted the mentioned male a bit further back in the room. “Your nose! Are you okay?” he asked as he noticed his patched up nose.

“I’m all right Taehyung. Hoseok patched it up for me,” he said with a shy smile. Taehyung also noticed he was blushing a lot, and it only made him relax more and reassured him that his hurt friend was okay.

Jungkook, however, looked pissed. “I assume you’re fine since you worry about others rather than yourself first,” he said, almost through gritted teeth.

It made Taehyung flinch for a second, but it rather confused him instead. “Why wouldn’t I be fine?” he asked.

Jungkook’s frown deepened. “You just passed out,” he said.

“From the sight of bl - blo - blood!” Hoseok teased the same way Taehyung reacted earlier as he witnessed it, adding a teasing grin. Both he and Jimin giggled silently in the background, but Jungkook was the only one who was serious.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, still looking worried like Taehyung had been in an accident. Passing out didn’t exactly cause a big accident.

When Taehyung thought about it, he remembered passing out, and he did remember that he didn’t hit the ground.

“How did I pass out?” he asked.

“I told you,” Hoseok said, “you passed out from blood.”

“No!” Taehyung muttered with a glare directed towards him. “I meant, how did I fall? I don’t feel any pain on my head or something.”

Jungkook approached him as he helped him standing up again. “That’s because I caught you,” he smiled, not looking irritated anymore, but rather happy.

Taehyung immediately pushed him away to hide his face, as he knew he was blushing hard. “Y - yo - you what?” he stuttered with eyes wide open.

“I. Caught. You,” he smirked. If Taehyung didn’t know any better, he’d think the male in front of him was flirting. But that’s impossible.

“Oh,” he said stupidly. “Er, thanks.”

Jungkook chuckled sweetly. “No problem. Glad you didn’t get hurt.”

“What are you doing? Flirting?” Jimin joked as he broke the little awkward silence that was following along. “Let’s get back to work Taehyung. Seokjin hyung is here already.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen and quickly ran out of the door, where he met Seokjin on the other side. “Boss!” he automatically said as he spotted him.

“Come on Taehyung,” he said, “I told you to just use my name.” He smiled at Taehyung and ruffled his hair like he was a child, which he was compared to the elder one.

“Seokjin hyung,” Taehyung corrected himself, which made his boss seem happier. “I’m sorry about - “

“It’s okay Taehyung,” he said as he waved with his hand. “Many people don’t like the sight of blood, and that’s totally understanding.”

“But you did seem like a ing ,” said a sudden voice behind his boss.

“Namjoon! That is not the language you’re supposed to use!” Seokjin scolded at him.

“Sorry,” he muttered, but his grin towards Taehyung was definitely not an apologetic one.

“It’s okay Seokjin hyung,” he said, “I’ll get back to work.”