Chapter 7: Stay By My Side

    _{When you grow up, it means you have to worry about a lot more than you did when you were, say in high school. You end up worrying about what you’re going to do with your life, and making sure you’re staying with this specific career. Love became a subject that was easiest to deal with.}

    _{I followed behind Taehyung, thinking hard about all these things, and how I have been lagging behind in your projects. My face was scrunched up, concentrated, not realizing Taehyung was rambling on until I faceplanted into his back. I groaned, hitting his back in frustration, even if it wasn't his back's fault.}

    _{“Yah” I complained, “tell me when you’re gonna stop”}

    _{He chuckled, “I’m guessing you had a deep-in-thought moment..”}

    _{“..aka a 4D moment” I chuckled, helping him spread the blanket out over the grass.}

_{The park was pretty big; a large lake, and a few playgrounds spread around the area. We sat by the lake, where a near path lead to the playground, so there were many kids running down the path, screaming. Our blanket was red and white, which was probably tablecloth auntie gave them, or it was Jimin's blanket Taehyung decided to use, and I wonder if they do these things to each other as revenge or as an act of bromance..}

    _{“Sorry” I said meekly.}

    _{We sat down, and he pulled the basket over, handing me a sandwich.}

    _{“That’s okay, we have more complicated stuff to think about compared to high school, you know?” I knew he was thinking about something specific, but I didn’t want to keep probing him about it unless he really wanted to tell me.}

    _{I nodded and took the sandwich. It was pretty dry - assuming he was in too much of a hurry to put mayonnaise in. I took a bite anyway, and we were met with a little awkward silence when our eyes met, and I looked away, embarrassed. I heard him let out a little chuckle, which probably made me redder. If it was even possible, Taehyung got handsomer - probably because he’s growing up. He definitely got buffer, and it the orange dye in his hair faded or grew out into a brown. He got his ears pierced, and I felt like he was biting his lip and flexing his biceps on purpose.}

    _{Taehyung was never wildly popular because he never acted the part. If he was arrogant or more open to talking to people, Taehyung and I wouldn’t have been friends at all. He was dorky and really sweet, so I still don’t see why he wasn’t at least popular with some groups of girls in our grade. Well, now that I think about it, it can just be me who’s very biased.}

    _{“Do you like me?” he says suddenly. His sandwich had only one bite out of it, so I assumed he realized how dry the sandwiches were.}

_{His sudden question makes me choke on slice of tomato I was trying to swallow. He hands me a water bottle, but I can tell he’s serious - no evidence of joking or teasing on his face, so I hurry to swallow the food.}

    _{“Yes, I do. Do you like me?” I shoot back, embarrassed.}

    _{Instead of answering, he says: “Nowadays, I really cannot stop thinking about this girl. I miss her like crazy, and at first, I thought it was because she’s my close friend, and I thought it was because I liked her, but it wasn’t because of that, but because of something much more.”}

    _{My face heats up. We both knew he was talking about, and I wasn’t going to be those clueless girls, because who else was he talking about?}

    _{“However, I won’t say anything yet, because I probably said the stupidest thing a guy says to a girl he likes..a lot.” He’s not looking at me, but observing the kids playing on the playground.}

_{There was a little girl running by, specifically. She was smaller compared to the other kids, and she was trying hard to keep up with her group. However, she got left behind, falling on the ground, crying. One of the boys of the group stopped, helping her up and pulling her along. They were cute - reminding me about how I was as kids (me being the boy and Hyuk being the girl..)}

    _{“What a cute couple” Taehyung muttered, probably not meaning to say it out loud, but he does.}

    _{“Taehyung” I said, “at our age, we worry a lot about love, right? I’m worried a lot about it. Like, if you waited a little while longer, you wouldn’t feel..the same”}

    _{He hummed, “I see what you mean, because it’s not impossible of a situation, to be honest. I think we both know both of our minds can change over a year or two away from each other, but I don’t want that to happen. I don’t think I can possibly do that unless you don’t feel the same way as I do”}

    _{“So… now what?”}

    _{“So, now, we wait. We wait until we are done with school. If we are still feeling the same way, then we’ll talk.”}

    _{I don’t want to lie to him. “I’m scared”}

    _{“Me too” he admitted, “but I’m willing to wait, if you are. I’m waiting for a wife~!"}

    _{I laugh, because the last part has evidence of him joking.}

  “Yah, Han Hyun Jae, this is a serious talk!” he laughs, poking my side.

I giggled, grabbing his hands. “Stop! That tickles!!”

    _{“..and a house” he continues}

    _{“Stop! That’s embarrassing”}

    _{“..and a kid or 30 of ‘em”}

    _{“30?! Taehyung!” I whined, covering my face with his hands.}

    _{He’s laughing. “Awww you love me~! Admit it!”}

    _{“That’s obviously the problem” I complain, and he helps me sit up next to him.}

    _{We’re still holding hands, but he doesn’t say anything. I get a little confident, so I adjusted it so that our hands are intertwined. He has a super pokerface on, so I rested my head on his shoulder.}

_{In a second or two, he grabs both of my hands and makes me face him, his eyes staring into my soul. He notices my freaked out expression, so his glare softens and he lets go, burying his flushed face in his hands.}

    _{“You are going to make it really hard to say bye” he muttered, and I softened, scooting closer.}

    _{I leaned against his figure, and rested my head on his shoulder, sighing softly.}

    _{“Nobody said love was easy, right?” I said, as we stared at the ducks floating across the lake surface.}

    _{“True” he says, reaching over to intertwine our hands again.}

_{There was silence once again, which was nothing to complain about. The kids laughing and screaming was filling that gap in as we continued to collect our thoughts.}

    _{“Being an adult ” I said.}

    _{“Good thing we’re not adults” he said, with a dorky grin, “we’re like adults with a child’s spirit.”}

    _{I laughed and nodded.}

_{We stay until it turns dark - talking and catching up on the randomest stuff. He tells me he’s planning to dye his hair again, and he’d love it if I went with him, because Jimin might tip the hair stylist to make his hair green or something. After a while, we pack up and leave, and I insisted I had a strong urge to drive today.}

    _{“Well, here we are” he says, walking me to the door.}

    _{“Yeah, thanks Taehyung”}

    _{As I turn to leave, I hear him whisper: “I wish you'd stay with me forever”}

    _{He turns to leave automatically, so he probably thought I didn’t hear a word. However, I didn’t him to leave, when I knew something he didn’t, so I spun around, and ran, grabbing his jacket.}

    _{“I will” I said, breathlessly.}

    _{He stared at me, dumbfounded.}

    _{“I’ll stay by your side forever” I said.}

_{Despite all we talked about, I didn’t want our feelings to fade, and I don’t think they will at all. I wanted a future with this boy, compared to all the others. I didn’t feel unconfident about how much he liked me, or about how much I liked him. Our feelings matched up, and that was something I was confident about. We’re afraid about what will happen, because that’s how scary love it.}

_{It’s not scary now. Not at this moment.}

    _{He leaned down.}

    _{And kissed me.}

    _{My heart was pounding so hard, I felt like the neighbors would call and complain.}

_{Our kiss wasn’t hot and heated.}

_{Our kiss wasn’t short and shy.}

_{Our kiss… was just right.}

_A/N:

_{HELLO MY SUBBIES~~}

_{Yes, I know, I took forever, and I'm taking forever to update my other fanfics like} 

Our Weird Little Story (On going) ~ SugaXOC

Sparks Fly, and I Wish Cancer did too (On going) ~ JungkookXOC

I Wish... (On going oneshot) ~ JiminXOC

Birthdays (On Going) ~ JungkookXOC

Now that all my projects and tests are done and breaks are now coming, I HAVE TIME TO UPDATE!!!

YAAAY

I'm planning on making a J-hope fanfic too lol..

ANYWAYY 

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Thanks guys love youu

-- Megan --