Jungkook thought about that bartender all day. He did not know why he could not get the man out of his head. He was not nice to him, in fact he was the exact opposite. So why was he crawling around his brain. He decided he was going to go back again today like he promised but he did not want to go alone. He texted Jin.

JK: Hey wanna eat again after class?

Jin: You want to see your nameless bartending boyfriend again?

JK: you! I just like the restaurant.

Jin: I actually can’t today, my mom asked me to tutor some boy after school. :/

JK: Oh come on! I don’t have anyone else to go with!

Jin: Why don’t you ask Taehyung? I know he would love to go on a date with you! ;)

JK: Taehyung? Is he back out of the hospital?

Jin: Yeah, he has been doing good. He was sad cause you don’t come to see him as much anymore.

JK: I just thought it would be awkward after what happened. Does he really miss me?

Jin: Of course. Ask him to come with you. It would make him really happy.

JK: Ok. But not for you for him.

Jin: Whatever.

Jin: .

 

Taehyung was a really sweet boy that Jin and Jungkook used to be best friends with. Jin was still very close to the boy but Jungkook had distanced himself a little. The boys used to eat lunch together everyday but about halfway through the year Taehyung had started missing a lot of school. This was back when they were oblivious 10 year olds. Neither knew the reason why he had stopped coming until their parents told them the boy had developed a disorder. It was a heart disorder that kept bringing him in and out of the hospital. He was still the same mentally though, he always kept a bright smile and was really adorable. Even through everything he was still very positive and Jungkook really admired him for that. He just couldn’t bring himself to come see him in the hospital anymore because of what happened a few years ago. He had called and texted but he never actually went to see him. It was right before him and Jin were going back for the first day of 11th grade that it occurred. Jungkook went to the room he always went to to find his smiley friend. Only that day he was a little more smiley than usual.

“Hey Taehyung, what’s got you looking so happy today?” He had asked.

“I wanted to tell you something.” He said grinning

“Ok. What is it?” He asked smiling back.

“For a while now I have liked you and…..”

“Well I would hope so. We are friends so-”

“No, I mean like you in a different way.” He said looking down at his hands. It took Jungkook a solid 2 minutes before he realized what the other was saying. Once he did his face went pale.

“Wha- I- I’m not- I don’t-’’ Jungkook could not find the words to tell him he did not feel the same way. He could not stand to break the other’s little heart. The older realized at that moment how uncomfortable he was and that he did not feel the same. The boys suddenly heard the heart rate monitor start making loud beeping sounds. Jungkook saw the boy start laboring to breathe and realized something was wrong. He stood up only to have doctors and nurses flooding into the room. One of them gently pushed him out of the room and closed a curtain so he could not see. Jungkook felt tears rush to his eyes. This was all his fault. He LITERALLY broke the other boy’s heart. He quickly ran home and dropped to his knees in front of his mother with tears falling. He grabbed her hands and she got down on the floor next to him as he told her what happened. She hated to see her son in tears like this. Absolutely hated it. She told him it wasn’t his fault and he couldn’t have possibly stopped it. He had a bad heart already and he had nothing to do with it. In some way he knew it wasn’t his fault but he felt a pang of guilt every time he thought about him. Later, his mother got a call from Taehyung’s mother saying he was fine now. He had had a little complication but was doing ok now. Jungkook did not know if the other boy would ever want to talk to him again after rejecting him so he just did not go to see him anymore. He eventually got texts from him saying that he was not upset and missed him but Jungkook just couldn’t look at him again. Not without feeling guilty.

 

That was a whole year ago and now they texted once or twice every few weeks. Jungkook knew it was about time he invite the boy to do something. It would make him really happy and he owed him. He switched from texting Jin to text Taehyung.

JK: Hey Tae. :)

V: Well hello stranger. :)

JK: Are you hungry?

V: You don’t text in two weeks and that’s what you ask?

JK: I wanted to ask if you wanted go eat together.

V: For real? We have not seen each other since…..

JK: I know and i’m sorry. I just did not know how to act around you.

V: You act the same lol. I fell for you because I like who you are. Just cause you feel different doesn’t mean you should act any different.

JK: Sorry.

V: Don’t say sorry. I am happy you finally want to hang out! Where do you want to go eat?

JK: I have a place in mind just meet me by the school at 3.

V: Ok! :D :D :D

He forgot how cute this kid is.

~

Jin’s life was rather simple. He went to school and did homework like all other kids. He was a good kid. It was only him and his mom at home since his dad passed away. When he died his mother was destroyed and did not even get out of bed for the first few months. During that time he would cook for her and do the laundry and make sure the house was clean. He took care of her in this dark time in her life. His mother was so distraught that she did not even consider Jin’s pain. All she thought is that her husband was gone. She did not once consider to console her son. Regardless, he held all that pain in and helped his mother slowly but surely get back on her feet. She was back to being a great mom but she would not talk about Jin’s father. Never. Jin had no choice but to let go of his memories of the man who raised him. Jin distracted himself from thinking about him by doing homework and extra credit and cooking. He had really grown to love cooking so whenever his mother brought her friends over to chat he would insist that they stay for dinner and he would cook for them. The last friend his mother brought over was Mrs. Jung. She absolutely adored Jin and knew he did quite well in school so she asked his mother if he could tutor her son. Her son was struggling in school and she could not afford a tutor so he was her last resort. Jin graciously agreed because he simply couldn’t say no. So, now here he was waiting for the son of his mother’s friend. It was about 15 minutes past when he was supposed to be there and Jin was getting annoyed. He is doing him a favor and he has the balls to be late. Jin decided he was done waiting when he hears a knock on the door. ‘Finally.’ he thought. He opened the door to find a boy with the biggest smile he’d ever seen. He tried to find words for the smiling boy but could not speak.

“Hello! I am Hoseok but you can call me Hobi! Are you Jin?” The boy said quite loudly keeping that big smile. Jin gave a little nod and moved so he could come inside.

“My mother told me that you are a good cook!” Hoseok said. “Is that true?”

“I- I guess.” Jin said quietly. Hoseok looked at him and Jin looked the other direction.

“She did not say you were so shy.”

“I’m not shy.” Jin said. Jin waited for a response but Hoseok said nothing. He watched as Hoseok looked around at the unfamiliar house. “..........So, what subject do you need help in?”

“Basically everything.”

“Ok, so where do you want to start?” Jin asks. A shrug.

“How about physics? Sound good?” Hoseok just stared at him. “Ok, then. Follow me.” Jin went up the stairs to his room with the other boy following. He grabbed his textbook from his shelf and told the other to get out some of his work he was having trouble on. Jin was more than surprised when he pulled out an entire binder filled with incomplete papers with question marks as answers.

“What the hell is that?” Jin asked with wide eyes.

“The stuff I don’t understand.”

“Are you serious?” Jin asked. “Did you even try any of it?”

“Kinda.” Jin took the binder out of the boy’s hand and opened it. He flipped through all the papers with wide eyes. Once he had made it through the stack he looked at the other boy with anger in his eyes. “These are all blank!”

“No, they have my name on them.” Jin couldn’t believe it. Was this kid serious?

“Damn, you have a lot of nerve! First you show up late and now you want me to tutor you in not one but EVERY subject and you haven’t even tried to do the work they give you!” Jin scoffed and shook his head. Jin thought of himself as a nice person but this kid was just trying to piss him off. “Tell your mom I am sorry but I am not helpi-”

“Please!” Hoseok interrupted. He looked like he had been hurt. He really needed this. Jin was a er for sad faces.

“Fine. But you better work your off when you’re here!” Jin caved.

“Deal!” Hoseok said with that huge smile and two thumbs up. Jin took out one of the uncompleted papers and they started. To Jin’s surprise throughout most the lesson Hoseok paid his full attention. It wasn’t until the end he lost focus.

“Ok next is atomic physics, which is the the study of matter and light matter interact-”

“Hey, can I ask you an unrelated question really quick?” Hoseok interrupted. Jin looked up at him with a curious look.

“I guess.” Jin said.

“Who is that?” Hoseok asked pointing to a framed picture of Jin and his father on his dresser. Jin quickly turned back to the textbook and pretended to write something. Jin didn’t say a word. He couldn’t say a word. He has not said one word about his father since his death.

“Is it your dad?” Hoseok asked gently. Jin looked up for just a second before looking back at the textbook in his lap. He gave the slightest nod.

“How long has he been gone?” Hoseok asked. Jin slowly turned his head toward the boy.

“How did you-”

“I guess one fatherless boy can recognize another.” Hoseok said with a sad smile. “My dad committed suicide when I was 15. How old were you when…...you know?”

“I can’t talk about it.”

“Why not?”

“My mom won’t let me.”

“What do you mean?”

“After it happened she fell into the biggest depression. It was horrible. She didn’t get out of bed for months. So, I had to cook and clean and go to school and do the shopping. And she wasn’t working so the only money I had to spend on groceries was my college fund she had saved. She eventually came back to life and became a real mom again but if I tried to talk about my dad she would either ignore me or change the subject or something. She just could not bare to think about how she lost him so she ignored it.” Jin looked up at Hoseok. Hoseok gave the taller boy a sympathetic look.

“If you ever want to tell me about him, I’ll listen. I mean I know we don’t really know each other that well but I know what it’s like to lose your dad.” Jin didn’t say anything to this. “Do you have a phone?” Jin looked taken aback by the sudden question but pulled out his phone. Hoseok grabbed it before typing something into it. He handed it back and said “Now you have my number, if you ever want to talk or just hang out or whatever. I put it under J-Hope because I am your hope!” He said before standing up, grabbing his backpack and saying goodbye. Once he was gone Jin wondered why he had told this stranger about what it was like after his father’s death. The only person that knew about it was Jungkook and it had taken him a long time to tell him. So why so quickly to this boy?