But I Still Want You {Taekook}

4. Taehyung

Jeongguk, when he was still Gukkie to Taehyung, had been the cutest, most adorable thing Taehyung had ever had the good fortune of laying his eyes on.

At sixteen, he'd been in his first year of high school while Taehyung, nearing eighteen, was in his last. Despite having an adorable baby face that made girls swoon and big black doe eyes constantly wide open, despite being naturally talented at sports and, generally speaking, at everything he tried his hand at, high schooler Jeonggukie was painfully, cripplingly shy. As a result, landing fresh from seaside Busan in a massive city where he didn't know anyone, thanks to his dad being transferred to Seoul for his job, he was having a hard time making friends.

Whenever Taehyung caught sight of him, he was always alone, looking nervously at the groups of people that passed him by, eating on his own in a remote corner of the schoolyard, or tensing up whenever someone was walking too close to him. Those were the details Taehyung remembered about Jeonggukie, but the biggest, most unforgettable one, was the massive crush the boy harbored for him.

It was obvious to practically everyone in the school that Jeon Jeongguk was completely gone for Kim Taehyung. As soon as his sunbae passed him by in a hallway, or stood next to him waiting to buy his lunch, or barely looked in his general direction, Jeongguk immediately turned crimson, or dropped something, or both.

The first few times, Taehyung didn't think much about it, but once, Jeongguk dropped his library card and Taehyung tried (try being the operative word here) handing it back to him. He dropped it in the cafeteria while grabbing his money to pay for his two samgak gimbap and tea bottle, just as Taehyung was passing by.

The place was packed with students -in other words, the whole school had a ringside seat to see Jeongguk completely freeze when Taehyung extended his hand holding the card while saying, "Hey, kid, you dropped this". He stood there, motionless, face beet-red, gaping at Taehyung, eyes as wide as saucers, until Taehyung lost patience, took two steps forward, and shoved the card in Jeongguk's uniform vest pocket before walking away with a wink.

After that, he paid attention to him and quickly noticed that Jeongguk's gaze was following him wherever he went, trying to be discreet but failing spectacularly. It was a bit bewildering, but mostly, Taehyung thought it was endearing, having these beautiful doe eyes continuously searching for him, admiration and adoration so clearly written over his cute face.

Now, though, there was no trace of admiration or adoration left, and the beautiful doe eyes were very carefully ensuring that they didn't meet Taehyung's, scanning everything and everyone in the room except him.

Taehyung, truthfully, had had a bad feeling when Jimin had told him that Yoongi was having a party at his place on Saturday. He hadn't dared ask if Jeongguk was going to be there, first because he didn't want Jimin to suspect anything was amiss, and secondly because of course Jeongguk was going to be there, being one of Yoongi's closest friends.

But he had chosen to brush it off, because he stupidly thought that being in the bigger space of an apartment's living room, instead of being confined around a table in a tiny, crowded bar, would give him some leeway, so to speak, in order not to bump into Jeongguk too often.

Unfortunately, it turned out the living room wasn't that big, and there was no surrounding chatter nor loud music and thumping basses to drown their voices, and, worst of all, Jeongguk wasn't alone.

Taehyung wasn't an idiot. He knew it was very unlikely for someone like Jeongguk to be single, because he was like a wet dream. Especially tonight, black hair styled in soft waves, dressed in tight black jeans ripped at the knees and a black button-up shirt with yellowish dots, sleeves rolled at the elbows.