"Taehyung, how do you feel?"

"About?"

"Life..."

The music blared in the studio as Taehyung took a large gulp of his ice-cold water bottle. "Yah, yah, yah," Hoseok motioned at Taehyung to take a seat beside him. Taehyung obeyed the demand and looked at Hoseok with child-like curiousity. "They say love is a beautiful thing. Love is only beautiful when you have something to gain from it."

"Hyung--"

"Be safe. Be happy, Taehyung," Hoseok patted his shoulder as he stood up. Hoseok didn't look like he was feeling on top of the world like he usually does. His shoulders were heavy. His eyes flooded with exhaustion and sorrow. His aura was a solemn blue that didn't sit well with Taehyung, but he didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. He was left frozen in his spot. Were Hoseok's words meant for him? Does he know? Impossible, unless... Taehyung looked up at Jimin, who was chattering away with Seokjin and Jungkook. Jimin looked over at Taehyung with an unreadable expression. Taehyung's heart dropped as he began to feel like an outsider amongst his group of "brothers." Yoongi dropped a towel on Taehyung's head. Taehyung looked up at him in surprise, then he tensed up as Yoongi took Hoseok's spot.

"What's up, punk?" Yoongi rubbed his back soothingly; Taehyung was able to relieve some the tension he felt, but not all of it.

"Everyone hates me." Taehyung kicked off one of his shoes while pouting a little.

"Who is everyone?" Yoongi's eyebrows furrowed.

"The guys, especially Jimin and Hoseok," Taehyung let out a sigh full of frustration and sadness.

"Tch, they don't hate you," Yoongi laughed a little. "The choreographer gave Hoseok a challenge to be sad and miserable all day for a bit of money and food. Jimin is just salty because he lost a bet to Namjoon."

"A bet?"

"Who could get into the practice room faster. They both put 20,000 in each. Namjoon won by half a second, but nearly broke the door."

"Oh, so, he's not mad at me anymore?"

"About?"

"Well, he kind of, sort of found out..." Taehyung scratched the back of his head while releasing a heistant sigh.

"I thought you weren't going to tell him until Ash got his--"

"He doesn't know that much," Taehyung interrupted quickly before anyone could hear the rest.

Yoongi nodded a bit in understanding. "Oh. Just the dating stuff then... Well, you knew that was going to happen regardless. Did you talk to him about it all?"

"I did last night," Taehyung paused for a bit. "He cried."

"Why? What exactly happened?" Yoongi looked at Taehyung in concern.

"Well, it started after my call with Ash last night. I took Jimin out for a walk to the store, so we could grab some ice cream and talk for bit about the issue. He agreed, thankfully. I started out with a simple conversation starter."

"Bros until we die, right?" Taehyung flashed his signature smile as he held out his open popsicle towards Jimin.

Jimin smiled back and chuckled a bit as he tapped the tip of his popsicle to Taehyung's, "Bros until we die."

"Actually, what if we could be like ghostly bros, man?" Taehyung looked up at the sky.

"I'd be cool with that, man. I mean, regardless, you're my best friend," Jimin nudged him a bit.

"Then we will be ghostly bros. Since we are going to be that close, man, I need to be honest with you," Taehyung looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact with Jimin. "Yes, I'm dating Ash. When I lived in Daegu, we met. We have known each other since. His family is from America, but they moved here to give him a different outcome in life. He and I went to school together. We are inseprable and I would never want to lose him. I started dating him while we were in America for American Hustle Life and KCON because he came out to see me. It was a opportunity I couldn't miss out on."

"Do you love him?" Jimin stared at his popsicle as a little bit of it dripped onto the concrete below him.

"I mean... I don't know what love is," Taehyung confessed. "Is it what I feel when I miss Ash or when I see his bright, beautiful smile when he posts a little selca on his Instagram? I don't know. All I know is that without him... my life is . You remember when I was just about to give up being in BTS?"

"Yeah." Jimin finally looked over at Taehyung.

"Well, at that same time, Ash was going through some at home. It forced him to move to Los Angeles and I thought I would never see him again. The stresses from barely making the cut into BTS and just wanting to give up later on because of the tension amongst us. It tore me apart," Taehyung's voice shook a little as he began to think about that dark time in his life. "I would go to the store late at night and just eat my sorrows away with some ice cream. I would look at the night sky and hoping that Ash was okay. That sense of worry and fear... I never want to feel it again. If that's love, then, man, life is ed up.

I want love to be the feeling that I felt when I first asked Ash out while we were in Los Angeles. The movement I saw his profile at that cafe in Koreatown... my heart was pounding. It was driving me nuts and I just wanted to run and tackle him to the ground." Taehyung chuckled softly to himself, "I remember it clearly. The booth seat at Koffea... he was on his laptop and his headphones carefully covered his cute ears. He was staring at the screen with such drive and intensity that I wanted to just stand and watch him from afar, but I couldn't. Time was of the essence. I sat across from him and patiently waited for him to look up. When his eyes met mine... there was a sparkle. The same exact sparkle that I saw when we first met in the lavender years before. We began to catch up and talk as if we had never been apart, as if I had never left for Seoul to join Big Hit, and as if he had never left Korea. It was a beautiful moment and I remember taking his hand in mine. I looked him dead in the eye and with the remaining bits of sanity and manners that I had, I asked him the five words that had been lodged in my throat for years.

Will you be my boyfriend?" Taehyung began to eat his melting popsicle while he looked up at the night sky once more.

Jimin had been quietly at the popsicle while listening to his story. The tears began to well in his eyes as he felt blinded and selfish. "Why couldn't you trust me to tell me sooner?"

"What did you tell me when we first became close, man?" Taehyung sighed with frustration.

"That... That..." Jimin immediately broke down. "I'm sorry, Taehyung. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a ing brat. I'm sorry, man." 

A long and stressed sigh exited Yoongi's lips and he patted Taehyung's knee as a sign of comfort. "Taehyung, I'm happy you told Jimin. He's going to have to deal for the next few... how ever ing long it's going to take him to get over this . I'll have a talk with him if you want me to. Everything is going to be okay. Ash will be fine. You will be fine. Bangtan will be fine. Everything will be great."

"Thanks, Yoongi. That means a lot to me." Taehyung gave him a half smile.

"You know... you're going to miss your date." Yoongi pointed at the clock hanging on the studio wall as he stood up, smoothing out his clothes. Taehyung's eyes followed his finger, then they widened as they read the time.

", thanks! I'll see you later, okay?" Taehyung scrambled to grab all of his things. As he was about to bolt out the door, Yoongi grabbed the back of Taehyung's shirt and carefully placed his phone on pile of his things. "Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot that. Thanks, man!" Taehyung flashed an embarrassed grin to Yoongi. "Okay! Bye, everyone! I need to go! I am meeting up with an old friend!" Taehyung announced while he rushed out the door with a giant smile on his face. As he ran out of the building, he noticed a butterfly bush growing along the sidewalk. As a monarch butterfly gently landed onto the beautiful hues of purple, Taehyung felt his heart and stress ease completely. The purple reminded him of home and happiness and the butterfly... 

Everything is going to be okay. Ash will be fine. You will be fine. Bangtan will be fine. Everything will be great.