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Jimin looks horrified.

"You didn't. Tell me you didn't..."

The entire stadium erupts with laughter and whistles as Taehyung smirks at his conquest. "Oh, but I did."

Jungkook is red from the tips of his toes to his ears. He scrambles to his laptop, wildly pressing on keys for the video to stop playing as his teammates demand that he shut it off. Coach looks so angry he could combust at any moment, and he just might if he continues to watch Yongsaeng laugh at his creation like they were proudly doing at the moment. Jungkook is so embarrassed that his hands are shaking violently and he can barely get a grasp on his computer. Jungkook can feel the hundreds of pairs of eyes on him for a reason he never wanted to imagine. His palms sweat profusely and he curses under his breath when he realizes there's no stopping it until it's finished. He wants to cry, he wants to scream, but most of all he wants to disappear.

He decides he would do just that. He backs away from the laptop as the audio from the video and the laughter from the audience begins to blur in his ears. His blunt nails are raking his palms and his hair is covering his eyes. With clenched fists he breaks into a sprint and runs off of the field, his heart racing with every step.

Taehyung is giddy in his seat, the satisfaction filling his body so exquisitely he can't take it. Jimin is glaring at his best friend, whom he is almost ashamed to call his best friend. "I really can't believe you. That was way too far." 

Taehyung rolls his eyes at the impending lecture. "Oh knock it off. Like I said before, you're the one who came up with this whole thing. You can't be a Mother Theresa now. You might as well just enjoy the show or stay for the laughs." Taehyung crunches on peanuts with a big dumb grin on his face.

"I didn't think you'd have the balls! I thought you'd give in from your unconfessed love for him and surrender your heart! This isn't a game anymore, this is just pure evil. I'm calling off the bet." Jimin pouts like the hopeless romantic he is, folding arms across his chest.

Taehyung's heart lurches and he tries not to react so suddenly. He calmly sits up from his previously-relaxed position and looks Jimin square in the face, preparing to reason with him. "You know, Yoongi will never notice you if you don't ask him on a date. You've blown all of your part-time job money on charcoal masks and black bean paste noodles," Taehyung rests his chin on his hand. "I never actually got to say what I get if I win. I think I want your allowance and twenty percent of your pay for six months. No money, no date, right?" He punctuates his sentence with a wink and Jimin wants to self-destruct. "You...you! You may be sweet, but you have a seriously vindictive side." Jimin is pouting again and he grabs his coat and puts it on, about to storm off. "My good heart can't take this right now. I'll see you tomorrow." With that he's off, getting on his bike and riding home in the brisk wind. 

Tae is still basking in the uproar of the stadium until they decide to start the game without Jungkook, and Coach who ran after him in a panicked state. Taehyung packs his things in his knapsack like a secret agent, congratulating himself on yet another job well done and anticipating his next job for tomorrow.

This is too easy.

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With everyone at the game the halls of Pyeongsaeng are eerily quiet as Taehyung retrieves books from his locker. He closes it and leans against it, enjoying the dead silence. It intrigued him; the fact that in about twelve more hours the place he was standing would be full of pretty mean-girls, charming student athletes, preppy kids and a plethora of misunderstood teenagers. Life seemed short to him, limited but sweet in its ways. It offered so many different emotions that you didn't get to pick to feel -- love-sickness, happiness, sadness, anger, jealousy-- as for the negative emotions, Tae knew he was no stranger to them. He knew of his habit and he loved that he was able to do such a thing. Whatever bad memory he had haunting his every thought, he'd simply forget.

Lessen the pain by training yourself to forget.

Forget, forget, forget.

However, Tae's technique of running from his past mistakes did not work on the memory of losing his tooth. Sure, he could forget the entirety of how he lost it because the details were pretty complex. The who still remained, and he had to see this particular who every day of his primary and secondary education. The who of him losing it was what could never be erased, and he hated that. That's why he needed this. That's why it was a necessary evil, this plot to ruin his ex-childhood friend. He would see him crumble, as he crumbled from the frustration of not being able to forget that special tooth and a broken friendship. If he could not see him crumble, he could not heal. His gums may have healed from the impact of what he remembered as Jungkook's fist, but his pride wouldn't.

Tae is scared out of his thoughts when he hears yelling pierce the silence of the halls.  He peeks his head around the corner where his locker resides, looking for the source. He can see two males: one is screaming mercilessly at the latter while he simply has his head in his hands submissively, taking it all. Taehyung comes closer, trying his best not to call attention to himself and leans against a classroom door in a nook. 

"Because of your little prank, Pyeongsaeng is going to be the laughing stock of every school in Korea! They're going to publish this. Do you know what this means for our team?! What kind of captain are you? We're ! We're finished, Jungkook! You've ruined it all!"

Taehyung's heart sinks at the name as he struggles to keep quiet and listen. "C-Coach, I had nothing to do with this. I know what it looks like but please believe me, my team means everything to me. I would never...n-never ever even dream--"

"Save the bull and go home. I'm going to deal with you tomorrow. I don't want to see your face until then." Coach storms off with fire in his eyes and Taehyung is almost afraid to turn his head and see what lies beyond the corner of his vision. It's quiet for a while before he hears banging against the lockers and he emerges from his hiding place impulsively. 

Jungkook is punching the locker with so much fervor, so much vigor and rage his knuckles burst into a bloody mess. He grunts in pain each time his fists make contact with the hard metallic surface and his teeth show through his lips which are usually accustomed to a soft, beautiful grin. When he's had his fill his chest heaves excessively as he gasps for air, his vision blanketed in red. He clutches the straps of his bag and is still, staring at the floor as his knuckles drip silent droplets of blood on the marble floors. He then grabs his things and begins walking fast in Taehyung's direction.

It's as if he can't even see him, because Jungkook roughly passes by Tae almost knocking him over in the process. Taehyung swallows a lump in his throat as he watches the boy leave a trail of droplets of blood. He associates this lump with being thirsty, and completely ignores the possibility of it being derived from a thing called guilt.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Day 3

Tae prepares hard boiled eggs in the morning, afraid he' won't get a chance to eat a full breakfast for the second time in a row. He sits at the table and sighs as he begins to peel them, save for one lone egg sitting at the edge of the island counter. His eyes roam over to the navy blue journal peeking out from his knapsack which he had dubbed his "Revenge Diary". Taehyung was fully aware his memory was horrid because he purposely trained it to be so, save for memorizing the Arrhenius equation or  the derivative chain rule of a function. He lucked out as an intellectual, able to soak up any book smarts he could.

As for street smarts, Taehyung was an idiot.

He happily recognized it, too. As scatterbrained as he was he still managed to have perfect grades, but didn't know when to cross the street or how much one should tip at a restaurant. He was fine with that and it made him special; Jungkook was the other half that was responsible for "that stuff". Or used to be, rather, Jungkook sheltered Taehyung so much when they were children, Taehyung found that even at his ripe age of nineteen he still felt like a small child. He was still learning things that should already be sewn into his brain. Being independent came natural to him, but he never wanted to admit he was incapable of doing so. Jungkook tied his shoes, showed him how to ride a bike, taught him how to round...

Despite being younger Jungkook was the one who knew everything. Taehyung's pride would only allow him to say that in his head. Under lock and key where no one else could hear. Except for Jungkook, who seemed to read right through him whenever they made eye contact. For a seven-year old boy, he was much more mature than he should've been. All he ever cared about was protecting Taehyung and making sure his smile never left his face.

"The irony." Taehyung finds that his lips are forming a soft smile as his mind takes him back. He's dizzily rolling the egg around the counter when his mother scares him out of his pants. "Why are you still here? I can't watch my dramas if you're sticking around. Hurry up and go to school so I can have my me-time." She smiles while she bites into an apple and is pleased to see her son despite her silly attitude. He rolls his eyes and kisses her cheek, grabbing his breakfast and speeding out of the door.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Taehyung tells himself that he can't fall asleep in his first class of the day because there's too much president- for him to do, including making sure no one dies at the blood drive today. Propping his head up on his arm, he struggles to stay awake. He has about twenty-five more minutes left and he's free.

But he feels his lids betray him and flicker over his eyeballs. Before he knows it he's drooling all over the desk and the bell has long since rung. He wakes up to a soft, strong hand on the back of his neck urging him to get up. Taehyung snuggles into the warmth of that hand, begging for five more minutes of serene sleep. "Class president-ssi..it's lunch time. What time did you go to bed last night?"

"How is that any of your business?"

For a second Jungkook looks hurt, but his expression is then replaced with a smile just as quickly as it vanished. "I was just wondering because it's not like you to sleep in class. Is everything okay?" 

Tae ignores the boy, getting up from his desk and attempting to wipe away drool in the process. He swings his bag over his shoulder and begins to walk to the Teacher's Lounge to heat up his lunch. If being sleepy was one thing, starving to death was another. He doesn't get very far before his hand is nestled comfortably in Jungkook's and all the blood in his body is rushing to his face. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I was..very angry. If  I hurt you, I deeply apologize."

He flashes back to the memory of yesterday evening, recollecting a bump of shoulders, but nothing nearly so life-threatening as Jungkook was making it seem. The remorse in his deep dark eyes is hard to turn away from, and Tae rotates his body to face the slightly taller male. He wishes he hadn't, because Jungkook's hand is still steadfast around his before he slides down to carefully grasp Tae's wrist. Jungkook has this mind-numbing beauty that twists your stomach and makes it flutter at the same time, Taehyung thinks. He also thinks that Jungkook' will apologize for anything, even when he's the victim.  "I don't want you to see me like that ever again."

Tae just wants to go heat up his lunch before the bell rings, but this menace, this nuisance, this perfection that Taehyung only confesses in his brain is staring into him. Staring through him as he always did when they were children, with the deep brown eyes that could pull everything out of you with one look.

Taehyung is weak.

He can barely formulate a coherent sentence, before he settles on. "It's okay, I'm fine" much to the younger's delight. "So can I take you out for coffee after school? As an apology."

"But you just apologized.."

"I know, and I want to apologize again. Properly."

Taehyung rubs his temples in frustration. "Don't you have practice after school?"

Jungkook is smiling, but his eyes contradict the rest of his expression. "Actually I've been suspended from the team until further notice. A nice way for saying I've been kicked off the team." Jungkook laughs, embarrassed.

Tae's eyes widen and his thoughts constrict him as he bites his lip. He never thought his prank would hit that hard and his palms get clammy. "I'm..sorry to hear that. I know how much your team means to you."  Taehyung feels like a saying that, knowing all too well he was the reason for it. "W-Well I um...I have to go to my part-time job after school, so I can't." Jungkook stifles a pout as Taehyung turns to walk away but notices he is still following him, much to his confusion. "What are you doing?"

"I was going to buy you lunch instead."

"That won't be necessary. I bought soondae-guk." Tae rounds the corner and places his stew in the microwave, closing the door. Jungkook is still beside him waiting patiently, and his eyes drift down to Jungkook's lunch bag which iis dangling open.

An evil smirk spreads across his face.

He reaches in his knapsack, pulling one of his breakfast eggs out and placing it in the microwave. He nukes it and quickly slides the egg into Jungkook's bag while his back is turned and they walk to the cafeteria wordlessly, Jungkook smiling softly the entire way. Taehyung separates from him and makes a bee-line for Jimin, while Jungkook sits at the table with his girlfriend and a band of popular kids. He's getting whistles from girls and little jabs from the guys, and he ducks his head down as he takes out his rice, clearly embarrassed.

"Hey Kookie...I've heard the rumors, but I didnt know you were that big. Share the wealth!" Namjoon jokes and the table erupts into giggles and loud laughter, and Namjoon is laughing too until Jungkook kicks him in his cast under the table and knocks the laughter right out of him. He shoots him an evil stare, and Namjoon swallows a lump of rice instead of saying anything else, smiling apologetically. 

A smiling bubbly Jimin greets Tae when he gets to the table, who is frowning miserably. "Your face looks like an old woman's . Lighten up!" Jimin throws a grape at him and when he still doesn't respond, he stares into his face. "Excuse me~hello~?" Taehyung is just watching and waiting, waiting and watching for that sound, that sound that would confirm his victory. Just a few more seconds and...

Boom.

Taehyung the Terrible hears the sound of paradise: the explosion of a boiled egg and laughter. He gets his confirmation when he sees Jungkook storm out of the lunchroom with egg in his hair and all over his blazer. Jimin just rolls his eyes right on out of his head, sticking his tongue out at Tae. "Asshat."

Day 3: Complete.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Tae is humming happily to a song on the radio while he arranges the candy bars and cigarettes at the back of the store. It's surprisingly quiet at night, and he enjoys the night shift for that reason. He can pull out homework without the fear of getting robbed since no one really comes around this time anyway. He glances at his watch, eager to go home and surrender to his bed. "Aigoo. It's only 9? One more hour Taetae." He reassures himself with a smile, singing much louder since he's alone. "They call me~baepsae~" Taehyung spins and twirls, singing on a lollipop that he loved to sport on his shift. Taehyung is almost done rearranging the cigarettes when he hears the bell on the door in the front of the store ring, followed by a loud crash. The cans of dog food are rolling in every which direction and Taehyung is almost afraid to go and investigate the source.

A figure stumbles to the counter and rings the service bell obnoxiously. "Hey...hey." Tae is fully aware that this guy is drunk, and is nervously approaching him with a broom in his hand. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave.."

He stands at the counter, hanging over it impatiently. When he hears Tae's footsteps behind him, he whirls around and stares Tae down. "Taetae..I didn't know you worked here." Taehyung's worst enemy is smiling back at him, so drunk he can barely stand. "Jungkook...who gave you alcohol?"  Jungkook smiles lazily, slumping up against the counter. "I used my older brother's ID. That's about all he's good for." Jungkook begins to come towards him in intoxicated bliss, and Taehyung avoids him effectively. "I'll get you some stomach medicine. In the meantime, no more soju." Taehyung is walking towards the first aid section when he stops, consumed by his thoughts.

Why am I helping this idiot? I should call his mom. She would kill him!

Taehyung turns to Jungkook, who is dancing and singing nursery rhymes. "Here is my handle, here is my spout~"

God. He's so far gone. I can't possibly sabotage him right now. Taehyung realizes he sounds like his angel Jimin, and sighs. Go to hell, Chimchim.

He comes back with a cold water and a medicine packet between his fingers and Jungkook relaxes with his hands in his pockets. He's wearing a white hoodie and work boots with dark jeans, and the white complements the rose gold tones in his hair flawlessly. Tae realizes that they're just staring at each other, until Jungkook almost breaks another lamp and he sits him down on a bench and watches him from the register. 

"Let me buy another."

"No. You're not even legal."

"Aigoo. Break the rules once in a while...you only live once. Don't be such a boring ." Jungkook punctuates his sentence by shooting a fist up in the air. His words are so dizzy and slurred it sounds like a weird rendition of Korean that Tae is struggling to understand. " My life has been a pile of lately, a little soju never hurt anybody."

Taehyung leans to Jungkook's level, trying to be patient given his condition. "I know, just drink. It'll help flush out the alcohol."

"Why though? Being piss-drunk and beligerent helps me forget that I lost my soccer scholarship to Seoul National University and my dignity. I'm probably going to lose my girlfriend next," Jungkook chuckles as he reflects, running a hand roughly through his hair. "Ah well. I suppose it happens to the best of us. She was a anyway." Taehyung is shocked at the boy's profanity and his confession; he isn't used to Jungkook speaking this way and it's certainly new. He had no idea Jungkook had such plans for college, especially at one of the most prestigious universities in Korea. If he didn't feel like before, he definitely did now. He looks up at the clock and it's almost ten, and he rushes to get the medicine down Jungkook's throat so he can get the hell out. "C'mon, Kookie. Work with me here?"

"Kookie...you haven't called me that since grade school." Jungkook's eyes are low and his pupils are dilated visibly. The boy is so drunk he can barely keep his head up, but he manages to look into Tae's eyes as he freezes and realizes he used a nickname.

"I gave you my chocolate chip cookies because the cafeteria ran out and you were sad," Jungkook smiles at his amazing memory despite his intoxication, his lips. He swallows as he tries to process his words and his brows furrow cutely. "I really hated seeing you sad...you told me I was sweet, just like my cookies. From then on, you called me Kookie...and you were Taetae." Jungkook's face is beet red from the alcohol in his system, and his white teeth are shining through his lazy smile as his eyes close in bliss. 

"If only I could go back to when we were younger...I'd do it all over again. We would have never gotten into that fight, and I'd be able to see your pretty smile again." Tae blushes while he is convinced that Jungkook is just rambling in a drunken stupor, and raises the bottle of water to his lips. Jungkook complies, guzzling the cold liquid like a baby. He takes a large breath when he's done, slumping against the aisle once more. "I miss it, Tae. I miss us; I miss you." 

The bottle of water quakes in Taehyung's hands and his face is a pretty hue of strawberry milk. Tae can hear his own heartbeat in his ears as he gazes into the lazy chocolate-brown eyes of the younger, his mussed hair tickling his forehead and his red lips fixed into a crooked smile.

Taehyung's heart seems to get so loud that it washes out his brain's motor signals, because within a second his lips are placed chastely on Jungkook's.

Jungkook's intoxication doesn't stop him from wrapping a large, gentle hand around the back of Tae's neck, accepting the kiss wholeheartedly.

It seems the butterflies in Tae's stomach only take flight when Jungkook is around.

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A/N: Oh gosh. I know you guys hate me because it's been eons since I updated but COLLEGE is like really hard? No one told me it'd be this hard so like I feel betrayed ANYWHO! Guys I just need to say I went to the WINGS tour in Newark and cried before during and after I'm not ashamed. If you loved this chapter drop a comment, subscribe or vote it up! I always welcome constructive criticism and I hope you loved it! See you in the next one lovelies~