Star Crossed | Taekook

Four

Jungkook kept his hood down as he held out his ticket, trying not to meet the man's eyes. It helped that he seemed to be bored out of his mind, and shoved the ticket back unceremoniously, without unnecessary complications, like being recognised at Jungkook's sworn-arch-nemisis's-group's concert, that being posted all over social media, Jin finding out (which would be suicide anyways), never seeing Taehyung again, and being held in eternal shame by the rest of his group. Jungkook shook his head.

It was safe to say that he was over thinking this slightly.

He made his way to his seat slowly, trying to take in as much of the vibe as possible. There had been a lot of empty spaces even though he had only booked a week in advance, so he had managed to get one in the front row.

Obviously not doing that well then. He thought, sniffing like a house-proud old woman. BTS's rivals my foot.

By the time he reached his seat, he had decided that the venue was boring, the posters were tacky, and Jin had been absolutely right about Psych. Five minutes later, on top of everything, they were late.

Jungkook squeezed into the corner of his seat, trying not to get jostled by a bunch of giggling girls. He had a clear view of the stage from where he was, and no one ridiculously tall was heading in his direction, so spotting Taehyung wasn't going to be a problem.

The lights dimmed, and one by one, they strode onto the stage - like overconfident idiots - in Jungkook's opinion, all except Taehyung. He came on last, and he walked slower than the others, keeping his head down, even though the screaming noticeably upped in volume when he entered. His red hair matched his suit which was sparkling gently, and he seemed to glow even in the harsh lighting.

He stayed away from the rest of the group, actually smiling and waving at the crowd once he started the set.

The songs came and went, and Jungkook couldn't tear his gaze away from Taehyung. His voice was ethereal; beautiful and haunting. He managed to block out the surrounding chaos, and focus solely on the boy, who seemed to be searching the crowd, much like Jungkook did during concerts. Once, his eyes roved over the area that Jungkook was sitting in. When he was sweeping the crowd once again, on impulse, Jungkook stood up, smiling softly.

Taehyung met his eyes and faltered, stuttering into silence. He gaped for a moment and his eyes lit up for the first time in the entire evening. Jungkook winked, and Taehyung's smile widened. Then he seemed to snap out of a daze, when one of the other boys elbowed him rather sharply. He picked up the song quickly, and Jungkook sat down, rather pleased with that reaction.

Of course that's the real you.

The rest of the concert flew by. It was a free opportunity to openly stare at Taehyung, and Jungkook couldn't help noticing that there were a good few boys sitting near him that seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Of course it didn't matter in the end, because Taehyung kept glancing at him, not them, and every time he did, Jungkook's heart sped up.

Afterwards, he snuck backstage. Being part of a band similar to Psych, he knew a few tricks that enabled him to wander around basically invisible. Hadn't his own group basically lost him not a week ago? That was talent.

The dressing rooms were labelled on the outside, which was extremely useful. Even Jungkook wasn't confident enough in his own abilities to magically sense which room Taehyung was in, and so he passed the unfamiliar names, scanning for a familiar one. Finally, stuck on the last door was a post-it note, with 'V' scrawled on it in black marker. He recognised the stage name, and was about to knock, when he heard raised voices - in fact, one raised voice - coming from inside.

"Can you not get anything right?! You've only been here a month and already you're ruining performances, letting the whole band down! What the hell was that out there?!"

There was silence, and then Jungkook heard Taehyung speaking quietly.

"I'm really sorry, I don't know what happened."

"That's no excuse! You should consider yourself lucky that you're even here - you're not talented, and you'd be crawling in the dirt without us. I'm warning you--"

Jungkook felt anger flare up. He pushed the door open, and saw Taehyung backing up against the wall, staring a taller man who was gripping the collar of his suit in the face unblinkingly.

"What's going on?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light. He knew the man - the lead singer of the band, who had been rather pitchy earlier on.

"Nothing that concerns you. Get out." said the taller man, not even looking at him.

But at the sound of his voice, Taehyung glanced away, breaking the man's gaze. He stared at Jungkook and shook his head infinitesimally.

Jungkook folded his arms over his chest and planted himself in the doorway. "I said, what's going on?"

The man let go of Taehyung's collar, and turned to face him. "I told you to leave."

"I don't like the way you're speaking to him. Your show would have been a car crash if he hadn't been in it."

"Jungkook--" started Taehyung, "it's fine, just leave it. Come on."

He pushed past the taller man and grabbed Jungkook's elbow as he went past, pulling him out of the doorway.

"What was that?" asked Jungkook, "how often does that happen?"

"Often enough. No, don't, we're leaving." he tightened his grip on Jungkook's elbow, and steered him in the direction of the exit - the younger boy had tried to turn around and march back.

Jungkook gave up. The anger he had felt was melting rapidly when faced with the red-haired boy in front of him. All he wanted to do now was stay with him for as long as was humanly possible.

"Okay - to make up for that, I'm going to take you out."

Taehyung smiled. "That sounds good."

Jungkook tried to ignore his hammering heart, and looked away. He was sure he was blushing, and looking at him just made it worse. He tried to take a couple of deep breaths and clear his head. He had met someone nice, and he wanted to be friends. It wasn't complicated. 

People who want to be friends don't look at each other like that. Said a tell-tale voice in the back of his head. Jungkook pushed the thought out of his head.

"So where do you want to go?" he asked, meeting Taehyung's eyes again.

The other boy shrugged. "Anywhere to get away from here." 

"You got it." 

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a/n: hi guys! chapter four :) sorry, it's quite short, please comment/vote/tell me what you think it really means the world. glad to know that some people are reading this XD, so if you enjoy it, let me know! i'm a sucker for compliments ;) 

chapter 5 should be up shortly so stay tuned, there's lots more to come... 

Kalliope x