Jungkook’s sock covered feet made no noise as he padded down the stairs, pausing at the bottom and peeking into the dinner room, relieved to see that his aunt and uncle were still in the kitchen. His uncles back was to him, so he wasn’t worried about them seeing him. 

He snuck past the dining room doorway and into the living room, he spotted the top of Jimin’s snapback and he sighed in relief. He walked over to the back of the couch and chewed on his lip before he spoke, “Hey Jimin?”

Jimin jumped a little in surprise and tipped his head back, looking up at Jungkook with a smile. “Hey, everything alright?” He asked, his smile replaced quickly by a look of concern. He was playing a gameboy DS, it looked like one of the new pokemon games, but Jungkook wasn’t sure. 

“Uh yeah, everything’s just fine. I was just wondering... umm earlier at school when you found me with Taehyung. Did you happen to see a notebook on the ground after I left?” Jungkook asked, playing with a loose thread on the seam of the couch to give himself something to focus on that wasn’t Jimin.

“A notebook? No, I don’t think so, why are you missing one?” Jimin asked, and Jungkook could see the frown on his face from the corners of his eyes, it only made his cheeks burn again and he firmly kept his eyes on the thread he had almost torn out of the couch.

“I don’t know, I think so. I couldn’t find it.” Jungkook admitted, shrugging one shoulder and trying to be as casual as he could be, his cheeks felt so hot though and he was sure Jimin had to have noticed by now.

“Do you want me to take you back to school and see if we can find it?” Jimin asked ,already moving to stand up from the couch and Jungkook reached out without thinking to grab his shoulder.

“Ah! N-no! It’s fine, we don’t have to d-do that, I’m sure I just misplaced it in the locker or something!” Jungkook said quickly, shaking his head and letting go of Jimin’s shoulder like it was burning him when he realized they were still touching. He was being so awkward and he couldn’t believe how ridiculous he felt. 

“Are you sure? It’s really no big deal.” Jimin assured him, but he slowly moved to sit back down, shifting so he was facing Jungkook a little more. “Are you feeling alright Jungkook? You seem a little shaky or something.”

“W-what? Uh I’m f-fine!” Jungkook squeaked, his cheeks flaming as he took a few steps away from the couch. “I’m g-gonna go back upstairs, s-sorry.” He stuttered quickly, turning and nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to get back up the stairs and into the safety of his own room.

His heart was beating a mile a minute by the time he closed the door behind himself and slowly sank down onto the floor. He couldn’t believe how hard this crush had hit him, he couldn’t even look at Jimin now. He wished so badly he could call up his Mom and ask her what he should do, she was always so good at helping him through situations like these.

He was horribly awkward with all his crushes and his mom used to make fun of him all the time, but she always had the best advice. She could calm him down from any red-faced, jittery, embarrassing situation and she had helped him get his first date to a school dance. 

He stood up and slowly walked over to his bed, sitting down and reaching out to grab the picture sitting at the edge of the stand. He smiled sadly down at the happy picture and gently touched the smiling face of his mother, “Umma, I wish you were here. I miss you so much, and I don’t know what to do. Is it really okay for me to feel this way about someone already? Even this distraction doesn’t make the pain stop...” He whispered, feeling tears burning his eyes and he hugged the picture to his chest. He could still remember his mother’s teasing laugh and that knowing smile that always made him whine and blush. 

Even when she found out he was gay, she had always been supportive. She didn’t care who he loved, just so long as he loved and was happy. She about cute boys as easily as she about cute girls, and he was always her baby even when he insisted he was practically an adult. 

She was the best mother he could have asked for, even if she wasn’t perfect. She wasn’t always there, she had to work long hours to support them. But she made up for it with unconditional love and ridiculous family ‘outings’ that usually involved Jungkook getting dragged into the car and driving around arguing with each other over which movie to watch where and what they should get for dinner afterwards. His mother loved scary movies, he hated them. He loved spicy food, she hated it. It usually came down to quick games of rock, paper, scissors, at stop lights. 

Their relationship was a little whacky and unorthodox but he was happy, he loved his mother more than anyone in the world. She was his best friend, and now that she was gone he couldn’t recognize his own life. He didn’t know who he was, he couldn’t even recognize the world around him and he felt like he was utterly lost and disoriented constantly. Unable to find his footing and constantly floundering for some kind of solid ground to cling to. 

It was wearing him down mentally, physically, and emotionally and this sudden whiplash from his feelings for Jimin wasn’t helping. He just felt even more drained now that he was alone, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do anymore.

He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, holding the picture of his mother tightly and deciding to just try to stop thinking and maybe nap before it was time for dinner.

~.-.-.~

The next morning at school Jungkook was both relieved and slightly frustrated to see that the hallways in front of his shared locker with Jin was almost completely empty. He dumped his stuff inside quickly and left out the door to the student parking lot before the bell even rang.

Finding Taehyung wasn’t as difficult as he was worried it might be, he spotted him at the same place they’d met the day before smoking a cigarette and talking to a group of guys who looked older and were covered in facial piercings and tattoos.

As Jungkook got closer he could make out hushed conversation and he noticed when Taehyung passed one of the guys something and he handed back a wad of cash. They spoke for a few more seconds before the group left, leaving Taehyung by himself, slipping the money into his front pocket.

Jungkook hung back for a few seconds before he finally gathered up the courage to approach Taehyung, “Hey um.. do you have my notebook?” He asked, he’d meant to sound stern and confident, it hadn’t come out that way at all.

Taehyung flicked ashes onto the ground and looked at Jungkook with a slightly amused expression, “Maybe, depends I guess.”

“On what?” Jungkook asked, trying very hard not to pout but he was pretty sure he was failing at it. He always was bad at hiding his emotions, he wore his heart on his sleeve apparently. 

“On what you just saw.” Taehyung answered without skipping a beat, “I saw you standing over there, and I really don’t need your over protective cousin giving me a new bruise.”

“I...wait what?” Jungkook blinked and frowned, “What do you mean a new bruise? Did Jimin hurt you?” He asked, starting to feel a little guilty. Taehyung might have scared him a little but he hadn’t been being mean when Jimin found them the other day, the scene had probably looked a lot worse than it had been.

Taehyung just lifted up the hem of his shirt, revealing a rather ugly deep purple bruise on his rib cage, “I think he damn near cracked a few.” He said, dropping his shirt back down and taking a drag of the cigarette. 

“Oh my god, I’m sorry I d-didn’t, he... he meant well I guess?” Jungkook bit his lip, trying and failing to both apologize and defend his cousin. He felt so lost trying to do this social thing, he used to be good with people, but now he felt like a fish out of water.

“Chill, I’ve had worse.” Taehyung rolled his eyes and dropped the cigarette, crushing it out. “Now what exactly did you see?”

“Umm nothing much, you gave those guys something and they paid you for it.” Jungkook explained a little nervously, shrugging one shoulder. “I don’t know what you gave them, I didn’t see, and I couldn’t hear you guys.”

“Good, keep it that way.” Taehyung said, nodding and bending down to pick up his bag, ping one of he pockets and pulling out Jungkook’s notebook. “Here, you left it when you took off the other day.”

Jungkook reached out to take it back but Taehyung quickly pulled it away, “Ah-ah, not so fast.” He grinned and Jungkook actually squirmed as he felt that strange new awkwardness creeping up on him again. “You can have it back, only if I can check it out again after you finish this poem. I showed it to my brother, he thinks you could be a talented song writer.”

Jungkook blushed and snatched up the notebook, hugging it tightly and ducking his head down. “I..m-maybe.” He mumbled, deciding to make no promises right then. He wasn’t convinced he wanted Taehyung to read his writing, it was supposed to be private. 

He heard Taehyung chuckle and he felt fingers ruffling up his hair, “You’re pretty cute for a sophomore.” Taehyung told him, leaning back against the wall and glancing towards the doors when the bell rang. “You going to class?”

Jungkook bit his lip and weighted the options before he finally shook his head, he didn’t care what kind of scolding he got from his aunt and uncle when he got back to their house later, he just wasn’t ready to try to be normal. He didn’t feel normal, he needed to find his footing again before he tried to go to class. 

“Cool, me either. Come on.” Taehyung grabbed his wrist and Jungkook was being pulled towards the parking lot, “I don’t have anything as fancy Jimin’s mustang but the thing runs. My brother gave it to me. We can ditch out and go to my favorite pizza joint across town.”

“W-what? But...” Jungkook trailed off, following obediently behind Taehyung when he gave him a stern ‘don’t argue with me’ look. The same kind of look his mother used to give him and it almost made him smile, until the ache in his chest snuffed out the slight spark of warmth. 

Taehyung card was an older ford, a little rusted and the front end was slightly damaged.  It was definitely a hand-me-down and Jungkook wrinkled his nose at the strange smell when he climbed in and buckled his seatbelt.

“Sorry, my brother and his band were potheads.” Taehyung explained as he climbed into the drivers seat, “I’ve cleaned this thing a hundred times and can’t get the smell out.” He tapped the strawberry shaped air freshener and chuckled.  “I don’t think this thing does to be honest.”

“I don’t think so either.” Jungkook admitted, cracking the window a little bit and resting his head back. He didn’t know what he was doing, he shouldn’t have been ditching school with a kid who may or may not be a drug dealer, and may or may not hate him. Taehyung was a complicated person and Jungkook couldn’t figure him out at all. 

“So um.. why did you bring me along?” He finally asked after a few seconds of awkward silence on his part. Taehyung was fiddling with the radio and trying to convince the CD player to read the CD he kept shoving into it. 

“Huh? Oh, I dunno. Why not?” Taehyung flashed him a grin as he forced the CD back into the player again, it finally worked and started reading it and Taehyung fondly patted the dash board, “Good job you piece of . This is my brother’s first CD, it’s set to release in a week.” He explained, adjusting the volume so they could hear it but it wasn’t loud enough to stop conversation. 

“Well... I didn’t figure you liked me much after yesterday morning.” Jungkook admitted, shrugging one shoulder and focusing his gaze out the window because he felt slightly less awkward that way. 

“What? Oh that thing with Jin? Nah, don’t worry about it.” Taehyung laughed and took a turn a little too sharply, nearly making Jungkook’s head crack against the window. 

“Are you dating Jin or something?” Jungkook asked, trying to keep the conversation going, but he was also a little curious. The way those girls had talked the other morning it certainly made it sound that way. 

“Hell no, Jin isn’t dating anyone. I think he has too much fun toying with us.” Taehyung admitted, frustrating lacing his tone and a little bit of what sounded to Jungkook like defeat. 

“‘Us’? Does Jin have a lot of people who like him then?” Jungkook asked, Jin had seemed nice, and he was very attractive but Jungkook wasn’t really head over heels for him at first sight or anything.

“Only every gay guy at school, but it’s mostly me and Jimin.” Taehyung explained, shrugging as he took another corner a little too sharply. He was not a very cautious driver, he nearly rear ended someone at a stop light trying to adjust the radio volume again. 

“Jimin? Is that why you two don’t like each other?” Jungkook asked, a few pieces falling into place now. That would make sense, and it would explain some of the teasing those girls had given Taehyung yesterday morning. 

“Part of the reason.” Taehyung sighed and finally pulled into a parking lot, whipping into the first open space he found. 

“What do you mean?” Jungkook questioned, fiddling with the spiral ring on his notebook. He glanced up when the parked and quickly scrambled out of the car when Taehyung stepped out.

“It’s a long ing story.” Taehyung chuckled and headed into the restaurant with Jungkook tagging along behind him. “We used to be really close you know? We were best friends growing up.”

“Really?” Jungkook blinked in surprise and looked up at Taehyung, blushing when he noticed the other was watching him. “I w-wouldn’t have guessed...” He finished rather lamely, his lip was going to start bleeding from how much he’d been chewing on it the past day and a half. 

Taehyung lead them to the counter and paid for the lunch buffet for both of them, handing over some of the money he had been given that morning. He was handed two plates and gave one to Jungkook before he spoke again, “Yeah, happened and things changed. My parents are super stupid strict, well my mother is. She’s a marketing manager for some pretty up there clients. She makes a lot of money, and she’s very business oriented. Her children were investments, nothing more. When my brother started that band she went ballistic. Started demanding he give up those silly dreams and start thinking about university. My brother refused and chose the band over school, so she disowned him. I supported him and refused to cut off contact with him so now she resents me.” He explained as he piled pizza onto his plate, occasionally grabbing an extra piece and putting it on Jungkook’s as well. In the end Jungkook only picked out one piece for himself but his plate was nearly as full as Taehyung’s. 

“So why did that affect your relationship with Jimin?” Junkgook asked in confusion, if anything he would have thought something like that would have strengthened their relationship. Jimin seemed like too much of a caring person to let something like that push him away.

“Well, I didn’t tell him any of that. I didn’t want him pulling that ‘I’ll be your hero’ crap. After my mom got pissed at me she stopped paying for anything for me, food, school fees, clothes, anything. She would have kicked me out but legally she can’t yet. When I turn eighteen I’m ed though.” Taehyung sighed and walked over to an empty booth in the back corner of the restaurant and sat down. “Anyway, I kinda had to do what I could to make money, so I got a job working crappy hours in the evenings, my school work started slipping, then my brother tried to help. He gives me the drugs that I pawn off to people either at school or around town. It’s not great but it makes me enough money to get by. Jimin just thought I was going through a phase, he tried to put up with it for a while but once I started selling drugs he lost his temper with me and we started fighting. We stopped talking to each other and things kind of cooled off for a bit, then Jin showed up and the fighting started up all over again.”

Jungkook listened to the story and nibbled at a slice of pizza, it was rather surprising to  realize that Taehyung had been through all this. He really was an enigma, so much deeper than Jungkook had realized at first. He was more than over bright smiles and mood swings that left Jungkook just a little dizzy. “Why are you telling me all this?” He finally asked, looking up at Taehyung and blushing lightly at the intensity of Taehyung’s gaze. He couldn’t read most of the emotions he saw there, but for a split second there was a flash of pure heat that had Jungkook ducking his head. A stirring of something deep in his gut left him shifting in his seat to try to get comfortable again.

“Because I want to, I don’t know what happened to you, but I know that look you get. You know what it’s like to lose everything, and have no ing idea why it happened.” 

A/N: This chapter worked on Taehyung and Jungkook's relationship, we're starting to see a new side of Jungkook and learning a bit more about Taehyung and Jin too. I hope you guys liked it! <3