Our Memories of The Past | Taekook ✔️

Chapter Two: A New Beginning

 
  Taehyung sat nervously under the tarp, the fire blazing and finger foods laid out in front of him.

  The night sky was too nice and it was the perfect temperature outside. The fire was nice and so was the food, which was perfect— if Taehyung hadn't been too nervous to eat any of it or too nervous to care about the fire for now.

  He had sent Jimin to help him gather Jungkook and bring him outside, though he didn't exactly know why other than Taehyung's want to have a conversation with him because they hadn't spoken much lately.

  He wasn't sure what exactly Jimin was going to say to Jungkook, but he was quick as he went to the main house and Taehyung could see from the window, Jungkook's confused expression and Jimin's urgent one. Jungkook was unwrapping his hands from where he'd been boxing earlier, but he was pretty quick as he stood up and made his way out the door with Jimin.

  "What... What?" Jungkook questioned as Jimin brought him towards the tarp and fire. "Ah, I knew a leak didn't make sense." He seemed to finally notice what Jimin was bringing him outside for.

  Jimin laughed. "I told him there was a leak in his room," he told Taehyung, "but he's out here now." He eventually walked away as Jungkook sat down, but Jungkook's eyes were wide in confusion.

  "What..?"

  After clearing his throat, Taehyung played it off as a bit of a joke, "Jungkook-ssi." He held his hand out to Jungkook, knowing good and well that they were still being filmed. Jungkook held his hand out as well, playing along and shaking hands with him. "There's food." He gestured to the food.

  To no surprise, Jungkook quickly started eating. He didn't seem as nervous as Taehyung. Great.

  "You texted me a while back and asked if I wanted to have drinks," Taehyung muttered out. He tried to ignore Seokjin and Jimin who were messing around too close to them. "I... never had a proper drink with you."

  He hoped Jungkook would get the message.

  Jungkook simply nodded, though. He didn't say much at all.

  "I just wanted to talk with you."

  The maknae's eyes met his, the fire reflecting on his round doe eyes. His eyes averted just as quickly. "We haven't really talked much since... we were trainees." Since they broke up, is probably what Jungkook wanted to say, but they were being filmed.

  "I know. That's why I wanted to talk."

  "We were like partners in crime," Jungkook continued, eyes still averted. "We had such a special bond back then." Special bond. They had ruined that special bond because they were curious teenagers. "Um. What do you want to talk about? What's on your mind?"

  Taehyung gulped. What was on his mind was the fact that they'd screwed up. "ARMY." That was sort of a lie. Their conversation went on for a little bit before Taehyung turned to the cameraman. "Stop filming us now, please." The cameraman lowered his camera and from what he could see out the corner of his eye, Jungkook stared at him.

  "You're done filming for the night?"

  Taehyung shook his head. "Just didn't want to be recorded." He took a sip from his drink, then sighed as he watched the fire blaze. "Are you surprised that I called you out here or something?" Jungkook was chewing at his lip and seemed a bit different, being alone with Taehyung like so.

  "A bit."

  He figured. Taehyung lifted his head to set his gaze on the younger, the fire's light still glowing in his chocolatey eyes. It also created a shadow on his jaw, reminding Taehyung just how grown he is now— how grown they are now. They're no longer teenagers.

  "Well?" he questioned. Jungkook's eyes met his, confusion drawn in them. "Jungkook-ah, it's been years since we were in high school." Jungkook averted his eyes again at the mention of school. "We've been too awkward since then. Don't you think so?"

  Lightly, Jungkook huffed. "I know what you mean." He was playing with his own fingers as he spoke, seeming awkward even then. Do you want to talk about that? Is that why you called me out here?"

  "I want to fix it," Taehyung muttered. He ignored Jungkook's eyes as well. Talking about something from so long ago and something that changed their relationship completely just felt odd to them. "I don't want to be awkward anymore." Again, Jungkook started to chew at his lower lip. He does that when he doesn't know what to say. "Well? We can forget the past and start over or—"

  "No," Jungkook cut him off. He was still chewing his lip as Taehyung looked up at him. "What you're talking about.. I won't just forget. I can't."

  Oh.

  Taehyung wouldn't be able to forget either. The reason he'd always been so awkward around Jungkook was because he couldn't forget. So, he nodded in agreement. "Okay. Then how do we fix... us?" It sounded weird to say, because there hardly was an 'us' to begin with. It was just two teenagers fooling around and it backfired.

  "Just don't think too much about the past," Jungkook told him. It wouldn't be easy to do that. "You can forget, but I'll just push it back into my mind and we can be close again, right hyung?"

  Jungkook seemed to think it was so easy. Maybe Taehyung did too.

  "Yeah. Yeah, we can do that."

  The conversation went better than Taehyung thought it would and judging by Jungkook's smile, the youngest seemed glad to have settled things after so long. Maybe he had thought the same way as Taehyung— that they should've fixed this years ago before it went on too long.

  Taehyung just wasn't so sure as to how they were going to act with each other now. He'd try his best to pretend like nothing ever happened back then. He'd try to be the perfect friend to Jungkook again.

~

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