Eternally (In the Way) | Taegyu

Part Six

"Beomgyu."

"What?"

"I'm going to kill you." Yeonjun stood up.

"Hyung, no!" Taehyun grabbed Yeonjun's arm. "He hasn't done anything wrong!"

"He's just sixteen, Beomgyu!" Yeonjun shrugged the younger boy off.

Beomgyu shrieked, dashing behind Soobin. "That's not fair; I'm only seventeen!"

Soobin grimaced, trying to stop the fighting as Yeonjun and Beomgyu pivoted around him. Kai shook his head, picking up his laptop and moving to the bedroom to work.

"You're about to turn eighteen," Yeonjun snapped. "You stay away from Taehyun; he's just a baby."

"I'm not a baby, and I turned seventeen nine days ago." Taehyun pushed Beomgyu behind him, staring Yeonjun in the eye. "Hyung. I appreciate your concern, but I'm almost an adult. I can make my own choices now."

"Let the baby bird go..." Soobin sang quietly, making small flapping motions with his fingers. "I'm making up a song, and it's about letting baby birds go..."

The three boys turned to stare at him.

"Jun," Soobin sighed after he'd gotten their attention. "They're just kids. Let them have a little fun before their debut. Besides, I'd rather them spend Valentine's Day here, safe in the dorms, then someplace else."

Beomgyu frantically nodded, gesturing at Soobin. "Yeah. Listen to him."

Soobin hooked arms with Yeonjun, softly gazing at the older boy. "Why don't we go out and have dinner at a nice restaurant, okay?"

Yeonjun begrudgingly grabbed his winter jacket. "Fine. Beomgyu, don't call or text unless someone's dying. Taehyun, call and text us if he looks at you weird."

Once the two eldest boys left, Beomgyu collapsed into a chair, rubbing his eyes in exasperation. "Why does he hate me so much?!"

Taehyun quietly giggled as he took a seat on the other side of the kitchen table. "I think he's warming up to you."

"How can you say that? He just tried to kill me!"

"Nah, he let me hold him back for a second. If he really wanted to hurt you, I would've been tossed aside like a rag doll and you'd be dead." Taehyun stared at Beomgyu, grinning. "One day, I'm going to be stronger than him. And you. And all of TXT."

"Agh, I hate this place," Beomgyu groaned, leaning back in his chair. "You all are so weird."

Taehyun laughed. "You'll get used to it. Thanks again for all of this, Gyu. The decorations are really nice."

The corners of Beomgyu's lips twitched into a smile. He quickly scowled, crossing his arms. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You said you wanted to experience a 'real Valentine's Day,' so here you go. Eat your stupid dinner."

--t-x-t--

March 2019

"Sunghoon ah, come inside!"

"Oh, no, thank you," Sunghoon gushed. "I don't really know your son—I was just walking Heeseung here."

"Nonsense." Yeonjun's mom yanked Sunghoon through the doorway. "I've heard all about you from Heeseung."

"You talk about me?" Sunghoon's face lit up as he turned towards the older boy.

Heeseung tilted his head, eyes squinting and mouth opening in a pointless denial.

"Yeah, he does," Taehyun grinned, grabbing an empty coke bottle from the counter. "Heeseung hyung, Sunghoon, let's go. We're in the basement. Unless, of course, you want to hang out with all of our parents upstairs."