moon dust, stars in your eyes

to the moon and back

☾

Taehyung

No, Taehyung didn't jump out his back window at two am to meet Jungkook, as anyone would have expected based on various teen dramas available nowadays on Netflix. He did however sneak out of the house, trying to use utmost silence as he did not want his father to notice his midnight escapade.

To his surprise, Jungkook was waiting for him in a car, a couple of yards away from his house music blasting through the speakers. At least he had the common decency to stay away from his house, to avoid waking the rest of the family.

Taehyung approached his car with a confused frown between his eyebrows. He double-checked it because he was convinced Jungkook didn't have a car of his own, and opened the door tentatively with skepticism written all over his face.

Jungkook turned the volume down as soon as he got inside.

"My dad's car," Jungkook explained, already figuring out Taehyung's confusion. Taehyung took a glance at his face before putting his seatbelt on, and had a pretty difficult time reading him. Was he mad? Sad? He looked too serious for the Jungkook Taehyung was used to.

Truthfully, Taehyung was just confused at that point. After whatever had happened at Namjoon's house, he tried to just think of it as if nothing had happened, hoping Jungkook wouldn't mention it either. But what if Jungkook remembered, and that's specifically why he hadn't texted ever since?

There was no actual need for them to interact, as it was summer vacation. Jungkook was busy with his own job, Taehyung barely spoke to his parents, and he had no idea what to say to Jungkook, either way. Still, it felt like they should have interacted more. As friends, perhaps.

Were they friends, though? Or were they just trying to be?

They might have agreed to start a friendship, and Taehyung was unexpectedly ready to dedicate himself to it, through and through, after all, he wanted to spend more time with him. However, since Jungkook hadn't been in touch for days, Taehyung changed his opinion. Maybe, a friendship wouldn't work for them. They were in a fake relationship, that was all they had ever had after all. And it was quite hard to go past that as neither of them could deny the ever-present tension between them.

He didn't make a move, he didn't text Jungkook either, and he hadn't intended to do so, yet, here he was, in Jungkook's car, at two freaking am in the morning. He couldn't say no to him. There was a maddening feeling pulling him towards Jungkook and his mystery. Maybe Jungkook was the clear, fresh intake of air he desperately needed. Taehyung had never felt like that before, so... to make himself feel better, he decided not to deny himself that feeling.

He had given himself permission to explore it.

And as he promised Jungkook some time ago, he was ready to make a couple of changes, live a little, and let go of past inhibitions. Jungkook promised to help him, didn't he?

Yet Taehyung felt like something wasn't adding up. Something was wrong with Jungkook, there was something going on with him and Taehyung had no idea where Jungkook's limits were. There certainly were some boundaries he wasn't allowed to cross, therefore, yet again, Taehyung was reticent in asking. He was convinced Jungkook hadn't been the same person since he returned from Daegu, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

But Jungkook reached out to him this time, and maybe, just maybe, there was the smallest chance Taehyung would get to know if something happened.