"You guys are getting too disgusting," Hoseok commented one fine afternoon and Jimin, Jeongyeon and Yoongi didn't even miss a beat to nod vigorously.
But did Taehyung and Jeongguk care?
Of course not.
What with Taehyung's constant absences from school, Jeongguk was determined to use his limited time with him as much as he could.
The exchange of 'I love you's, even though made Jeongguk panic and lose his mind, opened a new door of confidence for him. He wasn't that shy and an awkward mess around Taehyung anymore. He became confident enough to steal half a cutlet from his boyfriend's chopsticks right when the other half was inside the said boy's mouth.
It was going to be winter vacation from the next day and Taehyung had already told Jeongguk that he was going to be super busy with training and the most they were going to be able to do was late-night calls.
There was a match after the vacation, and it was offering scholarships for entrance to a famous sports university. So both of them knew how important it was for Taehyung.
Of course, Taehyung was still a junior and still had another year of high school to go, but Taehyung didn't want to take any chances with the deal that his brother had made with his parents. The earlier he tried, the better it was. As it was, he only had one chance left to get into the national team. If not for at least the scholarships, he didn't know what he would do to convince his parents to let him pursue basketball.
"It's okay, hyung," Jeongguk said, placing a hand on Taehyung's thigh and giving it a light squeeze, "you are thinking too much about it," he said, knowing exactly what was making Taehyung space out once again. "Everything will be alright. If not, we'll figure something out. We have a lot of time for that anyway. Just focus on this match for now," he said.
Taehyung gave him a weak smile for the encouragement. He was thankful for Jeongguk's efforts, he really was, but what he actually wanted was his brother's reassurances. Nothing else worked as well as they did.
He took a deep breath and took his phone out to call his brother. He excused himself from the table and walked out of the canteen to talk to his brother.
"Hello, Tae?"
"Hey, hyung."
"Hey, you sound dull, what's wrong? Are you nervous about the coming match?"
Taehyung huffed with a sad smile. His brother knew him too well. "Yeah," he whispered into the phone. "Sorry for bothering you, but I just needed to talk to you," he said.
"Hey, it's okay. You wanna come and spend the night with me? I'll call and let Eomma know about it," his brother offered.
"Do that, please."
"Hmm...we still have more chances, Tae, this is not the only university that's gonna come. If not this, something else. You just get a scholarship and leave all the convincing to me. No matter how small the university is, I'll convince them. If you get into the national team, well and good, we don't have much to worry about.
But if nothing works, you remember my offer, right? Run away and live with me instead. You are not gonna do anything other than play basketball all your life and that's a promise to you from me. Trust me, I'll do whatever I can to keep my word. So relax and just play that match like it's just another match. Forget about the university people being present over there to judge your performance, okay? You do best when you are just playing, so do just that. Okay?"
Taehyung had tears running down his face from the relief that spread in his heart from his brother's words. But what had more relief spreading through him was the pair of arms that slipped around his waist from behind and the feeling of a cheek silently pressing into his back.
"Thanks, hyung, I will. I'll see you tonight," he said.
"Yeah, see you. Go and have lunch now."
"Yeah, I will. Bye."
He stayed the way he was for a while, basking in the warmth of the embrace his boyfriend was providing him.
After a while, he felt his boyfriend try to turn him around and he cooperated after wiping his tears away. Jeongguk grabbed his face and gave him a small peck. "It'll be fine. Trust me," he said.
Taehyung gave him a small smile. "Thanks. Let's get back in now. Our food's waiting," he said and Jeongguk nodded, grabbing his wrist to drag him back in.
"You talked to your brother?" Jimin asked when they got back to their table. "Yeah," Taehyung said and grabbed his chopsticks, "I'm gonna spend tonight at his flat."
"Oh, great. Isn't his boyfriend going to be over for tonight, though?"
"I think not. Even if he is, I'm sure hyung would tell him that I'm going to his flat tonight. They spend so many nights together, it's okay if I snatch my brother away for one night," Taehyung said with a small childish huff that had Jeongguk laughing at his boyfriend.
Who knew the almighty god Kim Taehyung could behave lik-
"Oh!! Mr Kim is here with Dae Shin sir!! Is he cheating on Seokjin oppa?!" Jeongyeon exclaimed, cutting Jeongguk's thoughts off.
"Really?!" Jeongguk exclaimed and turned around to narrow his eyes at his bully, only to scramble back after realizing that the bully was looking directly at their table.
"Shit, I'm gonna take a picture of this and send it to Seokjin oppa," Jeongyeon said and opened her phone after the two teachers settled down at a table with grins wider than the earth's diameter.
"Chill, Jeongie," Hoseok chuckled. "They are just really good friends. It would be like Jiminie thinking you are cheating on him if you went out for lunch with Yoongs or Gguk," he said.
"How come we didn't know that they are good friends?!" Yoongi asked.
Hoseok tensed up at that, throwing a glance at Jimin and Taehyung. "Umm...Dae Shin sir mentioned it in c-class once, yeah....." he said, looking proud of himself for covering his words up perfectly.
"Whatever," Jeongyeon rolled her eyes and proceeded to steal noodles from her boyfriend's tray.
"Okay, let's go to our spot, Gguk, I'm done eating too," Taehyung said and got up.
Jeongguk shrugged and followed him, feeling glad to escape the sudden tension that formed out of nowhere between the three seniors.
