A/N: AAAyyyyeeeee whaddup y'all?! Today I grace you with no other than Kim Taehyung, professional deep voice iness inducer and also giggly immature child who talks too much lmao 

Enjoy! xoxo

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“The zoo?”

It was as if Taehyung was deliberately trying to surprise you at every chance that he could get.

When you had finally changed out of your uniform into something much more favorable—a breezy, long-sleeved romper and sandals—Taehyung had kept his lips sealed. No matter how much you pestered him, he had the integrity of a child, never once slipping the location that he was taking you.

Though you had to say, you didn’t completely mind.

Something about Taehyung’s presence made you much more comfortable compared to the other members. True, the others did all that they could to make sure you were as relaxed as possible, but something about the fancy limos and overpriced menu never failed to make you squirm, regardless of which host that you were with.

The first thing that you noticed was that there was no excessive transportation. Taehyung led you out of the elevator and proceeded to walk both of you to the nearest bus stop. He paid for your fare the way a gentleman would and found seats for the both of you, though he ended giving his up to a pregnant woman with a baby in her arms.

The second was that other than the bus fare, he chose to pay everything with cash. When you said that you were hungry, not having eaten breakfast that morning, he immediately proposed that the two of you find somewhere to sit down and eat. He didn’t order for you, didn’t feed you, just paid for whatever you both ordered—which turned out to be the cheapest things on the menu.

And the third—well, you couldn’t really complain.

All of the courting spots the rest of the hosts had taken you to were high class, uberly fancy. Restaurants and patisseries and even the coffee bar that Yoongi had courted you at—all of them were a part of the high-class society, an interlocking code of people that only certain citizens had membership to.

But Taehyung, bless his heart.

“We’re at the zoo?” You practically shrieked in his ear. You clutched onto his arm, waiting in line to buy tickets with him.

“The zoo. You’re taking me to the zoo.”

“Yes,” Taehyung said, laughing at the way you were bouncing up and down in excitement. “This is the zoo, babe. Where did you think I was going to take you to? Some sort of A-list restaurant?”

He wagged his wallet in front of you, nearly hitting the tip of your nose. “I’m not like the others, babe. I don’t have money like that.”

There was a pain in his face, even though he had voluntarily said the sentence himself. He pulled back suddenly, busying himself with paying for the tickets.

Seeing that out of nowhere, it occurred to you how out-of-place Taehyung must have felt when he first joined the Host Club. He was like you, a scholarship student, therefore meaning that he must come from the same world that you do—a world where coupons were saved as holy grail tickets and eating leftovers from the night before was a regular occurrence.

What was it like, to be suddenly surrounded by boys so pure and elegant with the finesse of never knowing what having a part-time job felt like?

His grip on your arm startled you out of your thoughts.

“You hanging in there?” Taehyung asked as he started towards the zoo entrance. “Don’t die, please.”

At his comment, you just laughed. Smiled. The bright sun illuminated both the golden tan of his face and the firetruck red of his hair, and you loved it.

“I won’t,” you assured him. “Trust me, I love the zoo.”

The rest of the morning was spent clutching onto Taehyung’s arm, running away from Taehyung in a flurry of giddiness, and taunting and teasing with Taehyung in a way that was so natural that you didn’t have to think twice. You learned that he had a thing for animals, no matter how small or how large. The aquariums were fascinating, the pandas so round and fluffy you nearly demanded Taehyung steal one for you to put in your apartment.

The weather was hot, but you couldn’t care less.

In the months that you had spent in this new city, you had never once found the time to treat yourself. Most days were spent locked up in the apartment, painting over and over again. Sure, you went out once in awhile just for a breather or a break, but you never grasped the chance to truly explore your new surroundings, preferring to stay inside your safe bubble. Or at least, as safe as it could be.

And additionally, Junmyeon’s lingering presence never failed to deter you from the times that you did want to leave the apartment. You were, in no other words, scared. Scared that he would somehow find you, somehow realize that you had done something without his watch and would ultimately trigger the worst side of him that you knew.

But being with Taehyung…

You took a deep breath, breathing in the oxygen, soaking in the Vitamin D.

With Taehyung, it was different.

Rather than treat you like a princess or a fragile flower, Taehyung merely treated you like an equal, a schoolmate. The two of you bickered loudly like kids, even going so far as to induce dirty looks from strangers around you. Racing and running and panting, but delicious, happy smiles littered your faces regardless of what sort of trouble the two of you got into.

But that didn’t mean that he didn’t touch you at all, because he did. He touched you a lot. Touched you at every chance that he could get, whether it be a hand on your waist, or untangling a strand of hair from your sunglasses. He may or may not have stolen a back hug too, when you had been enraptured by the adorable penguins in the Ice Habitat.

And the photos.

“Attached” was not a strong enough word to describe the way Taehyung almost always had his camera in hand. He took various pictures of everything: the monkeys, the wolves, the fish. Absolutely everything. And nearly whenever he could, he would pull you aside and give you both an impromptu selfie that you did not exactly appreciate.

“Put it down,” you told him once. “Enjoy what’s in front of you.”

He just shook his head, snapping a quick photo of you in your gloomy state. “I can’t. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

You should have known better than to tell a photographer, of all people, to put down their camera. They were an inseparable pair, and while you were slightly annoyed by its presence—you wanted Taehyung to enjoy the day as well, after all—you soon realized that you were being paranoid. An artist always has an artist’s way.

It was after lunch, when the sun was beginning its pink and red descent, that the two of you finally managed to talk.

Really talk.

You sat down at a small picnic table, sighed. The day had all been fun and games, which you had thoroughly enjoyed, but now that everything was dying down, reality was beginning to seep back in.

Taehyung was in front of you, his hands laced together. He pursed his lips, both of you knowing that the conversation had to take place. You deserved to know the truth, and you knew it. He knew it.

“What do you want to know?”

His voice was deep, a tinge hoarse. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, eyes darting away from you.

“Do you even have to ask that question?” you scoffed incredulously. “I want to know why you lied to me. To my face. I’ve spent so much time here, alone, when somebody just like me was living in the same goddamn apartment complex.”

He didn’t need you to tell him twice that you were talking about him.

You didn’t know how to explain how disappointed you felt—how upset you were.

You knew that a part of you was being irrational. It didn’t matter whether or not he talked to you, didn’t matter if he wanted you to know that he was a scholarship student or not. But you couldn’t help but keep thinking that it was more than that. It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to talk to you; his confession from the day before told you otherwise.

So if he really liked you, why did he lie?

You glanced up at Taehyung, his face bathed in the vibrant sunset colors, his red hair choosing to blend in as well.  

“I keep thinking about how much time we could have spent together.”

Brown orbs. Staring straight at you.

“Yeah,” you said. “Yeah. We could have done all these things together, but you chose to lie to me. So of course, I’m mad at you! I-I didn’t have to be alone, and you had the choice to tell me the truth, but you still didn’t. I don’t get it!”

You threw your hands up. You couldn’t even look at him.

“I don’t get it all!”

Taking a deep breath, you swallowed thickly. It was true—you didn’t have any friends that you could really talk to. Since the months before school started when you had moved in, other than Junmyeon, you had nobody.

Nobody.

“Alone” didn’t cut it.

“Alone” was coming back to the apartment after a girl’s night out with friends.

“Alone” was being in the restroom while your buddies were still outside, waiting for you to come back to them.

You weren’t “alone”.

You were, in no other words, human deprived.

Because Junmyeon wasn’t even really human, was he?

Inhumane, that’s what Junmyeon was.

You were biting back tears, forcing yourself to not cry, when you heard Taehyung finally speak.

“Jungkook.”

Jungkook? What did he have to do with this?

You quietly watched Taehyung, unspeaking, unmoving, only letting your eyes survey him from head to toe.

His head was bowed, eyebrows tilted downwards. There was a slight crinkle in the middle of his forehead—worry, stress. Managing to show itself just the tiniest bit.

“What about Jungkook?”

An inhale, exhale left his lips. His tongue ran across them, and then, clenching his hands together tightly, he finally spoke.

“I lied to you because of Jungkook.”

You slammed a hand down onto the table.

“You’re kidding me, right? You’re blaming this on Jungkook, of all people?” A sort of fiery frenzy whipped into your words. “Jungkook has been nothing but kind and sweet and caring, and you—”

“I lied to you,” Taehyung said firmly, his jaw flexed prominently, “because I thought you…”

“I what?”

He shut his eyes for a second, face tightened with a sort of pain that you couldn’t understand.

“I thought you liked guys like Jungkook.”

He began speaking you before you had the chance to ask, What do you mean?

“Rich, educated, high class,” Taehyung continued, unable to convey the agony that he had undergone when you had first stumbled upon the Host Club. “All the things that I’m not. Why wouldn’t you like someone like Jungkook? Better than me, right? Just a measly scholarship student.”

He shook his head, biting back words he thought too harsh, able to make him burst at any minute.

“In my mind, I thought the only way I could get you to like me, was if I pretended that I was one of them. You have to understand—when you tripped? The way that you looked at Jungkook, like he was your savior or your hero or some prince—”

Taehyung was too caught up now, a flurry of words blurring off the tip of tongue.

“That was the way I wanted you to look at me.”

You didn’t know how to explain the rush of emotions that overwhelmed you.

The minute he finished his sentence, so passionate and yet angry, but also sweet at the same time…

His big, round eyes, never for a minute leaving you. Never for a minute shying away.

Because everything that he said, he believed wholeheartedly.

He wanted you, wholeheartedly.

You gulped, his words repeating in your mind over and over again, like a track that refused to stop looping. Your blood pumped faster, the sound of your frantic heartbeat filling your ears, heat blooming in your cheeks.

“T-Taehyung…” You attempted to form a coherent sentence, and failed.

How long had you been alone?

Your father, off on a business trip.

Junmyeon, not even a real presence in your life.

You suddenly realized just how upset you were. Ever since Piper…

No.

Don’t go there.

Taehyung sat up, walked over to you. Pulled you out of your seat.

He forced a smile at you, and this you knew, because the happiness of his lips didn’t seem to quite reach his eyes.

“I’m very sorry that I upset you so much. But really, I hope that we can just start fresh. I like you a lot, but I understand if it will take some time for you.”

He was a liar, yes.

But then again, so were you.

You lied every minute you existed. When you forced the cheerfulness out of your mouth, hiding bruises, swollen faces, puffy eyes…

You weren’t that much better than Taehyung, were you?

And when you thought about it that way, the two of you were practically identical.

You lied for love.

He lied for love.

Both of you, lying because—

You both thought you weren’t good enough.

At that thought, something seemed to clear in your heart.

“Start fresh.”

You looked up at him, heart swelling.

He was so handsome—red and pink and orange sunset colors dancing upon the side of his face, eyes lighting up at your choice. Brown orbs deepening into the most gorgeous coffee espresso you had ever seen.

Call you stupid, call you foolish.

You didn’t care.

You were a big girl.

You could make your own decisions.

A smile.

“I think I’d like that.”

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A/N: My aesthetic is Kim Taehyung and animals, I'm not even gonna lie. I love him so much :3 If you enjoyed this chapter, make sure to upvote, comment, and SUBSCRIBE! Fluff and angst and then fluff again? Wowza, sounds as crazy as Taehyung's personality am i right or am i right??? Thanks for reading, y'all. I truly appreciate it. Kisses and hugs for all of you! MUAH! *wraps you up in a bear hug, squeezes until you can't breath and ur s hurt* xoxo