Philia [Taegi]

11.2 New friends

"Fuck off." Yoongi's mom gasped. "You can not talk to your parents like that." she scolded him. "He," Yoongi looked at Jitae "is not a parent to me." The old man scoffed. "I raised your ungrateful ass, so how about you show some respect." He said and stuffed more rice in his mouth. That was exactly why Yoongi avoided eating with his family, somehow it would always end up like this. Jitea would nag him until he lost his cool and then Yoongi was painted as the bad guy.
"Can we not have a single meal without you two being like this? Seriously, is this a kindergarten or what?" Jennie chimed in. Funny enough, his little sister would always be the one to stay calm during these situations. She was a force to be recond with even at seventeen. Jitae continued to shove food down his throat but Yoongi had lost his appetite, without another word he put down his chopsticks and stood up from the table. "Where are you going?" his mom yelled after him as he made his way to the front door. "Out!" was all he answered and quickly put on his shoes before storming out the house.
He didn't take anything with him, not even a jacket. Luckily, it was midsummer, so the weather was still warm, even late in the evening. Since he had no phone on him, Yoongi wasn't able to call Hoseok to pick him up, which he usually did when he fled home. He contemplated walking to his friend's house, but ultimately decided against it, figuring Hoseok would already be asleep by the time he arrived. Instead, Yoongi walked around the blocks.

He lit up a cigarette. After Xiumin had told him off the other day, he had bought his own and kept them in the pocket of his sweatpants. Lately, Yoongi had been smoking a lot, mostly when he was stressed. He had to be careful to not let it become a habit. For a moment, Yoongi tried to remember the last day he had gone without smoking at all but he couldn't remember. It must have been weeks ago - shit - maybe it had already become a habit.

Yoongi stopped in his trace as he walked past the playground at the end of his street. He used to spend so much time there, playing with Jennie and other kids. Life had been so carefree back then. How much he missed those times, he couldn't describe in words.
Suddenly, Yoongi spotted a small silhouette sitting on the swings. The light was dim since the sun was already setting but he figured that the person couldn't be an adult, a teenager at best. What were they doing here all alone? Considering how late it was Yoongi couldn't help but feel concerned so he didn't think twice and passed through the already opened gate, then marched towards the teen. "Hello." he called out while trying to make his voice sound as soft and non-threatening as possible. "Hello?" sniffled the other. As Yoongi stepped closer, he could see it was indeed a teenage-boy who sat on the swing. His eyes were red and puffy, clearly, he had been crying. The older promptly recognised him, the boy had shortish, black hair just like Yoongi and wore a bright red t-shirt paired with ridiculous looking shorts. It was the neighbours' son. "Why are you crying on a dark playground?" usually Yoongi wasn't as bold, but for some reason, he felt daring this evening. The boy didn't respond, instead he lowered his gaze. Of course he didn't, who would just randomly tell a stranger his sorrows? Yoongi tried to play it cool, so he lit up a cigarette while he waited for the other to speak. "You are my neighbour." the boy finally said with a small voice. Yoongi nodded. "I'm Yoongi, and you?" "Jungkook." chilped the other. Yoongi hadn't dared so far but now he felt comfortable to sit down on the other swing beside Jungkook's. "And why are you crying on a playground?" Jungkook started to figit with his fingers. "Because... I have no other place to." Jungkook spoke softly, almost whispering,  like he was worried somebody else could be listening. "Why?" Yoongi was genuinely confused. Did that mean, the boy had been kicked out of his home? "I don't want to talk about it." Yoongi threw his cigarette on the ground and stombed it out. "Fair enough." he said. "Do you have a place to sleep?" From the corner of his eye he could see Jungkook's frightened expression. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not some pedo. All I'm saying is that you can crash on my couch if you have no other place to stay at." Jungkook's face relaxed but he shook his head nonetheless. "It's okay, I will go home once everything cooled off." Yoongi nodded in understanding. "Me too." A moment of silence arose. The older didn't know what else to say but he couldn't just leave the kid here, right? He had to at least stay until Jungkook could go back home, especially since it was almost dark outside. "How old are you, kid?" he finally asked, figuring it would be less akward if they kept talking. "Fifteen, but I'm turning sixteen soon." he quickly added the last part. "And you?" "I'm twenty." "So you aren't in school anymore?" Jungkook's voice had a hint of admiration in it. The same tone Yoongi used to have when he had been sure all his problems would go away once he graduated. Yoongi shook his head. "Which grade are you in?" "I'm enrolling in grade ten next week." Jungkook sounded proud. To Yoongi it seemed odd how childlike he still was, when thinking back on himself at fifteen, he had been very different. Nevertheless, it was very endearing to him how Jungkook talked, and it made him feel at peace. "Wow, so you are in highschool now? Are you nervous?" he continued their conversation.  "Yeah, I'm not that good at making friends." Yoongi started chewing on his lip. How should he respond? "Well, you got me now, so I'm sure you'll be fine." he cringed at what he was saying but Jungkook started beaming. "You want to be my friend?" Yoongi felt weird about this situation, obviously he did not want to be friends with a child, and Jungkook was nothing but that to him. He lit up another cigarette. "Sure, let's be friends." Yoongi shrugged. Jungkook let out a happy noise and slightly swung back and forth. The older chuckeled to himself. Jungkook was really cute. "By the way, Yoongi, do you always smoke this much?" He frowned at the question. "I don't smoke much." "Oh," Jungkook looked embaressed, "yeah, sorry and I mean, it's not really any of my business. I just wondered..." "About what?" asked Yoongi. "I know you are an adult and everything, but do your parents know? Don't they care?" "my mom and her husband don't know but even if they found out there is nothing they can do about it, so I'm just keeping it a secret to avoid the judgement." Jungkook nodded, seemingly deep in his own thoughts. "Why do you ask? Would you be in trouble?" The younger hummed while thinking about Yoongi's question. "Nope, I doubt they would even notice." Somehow that stung right into Yoongi's heart, but he tried to figure out more before drawing wrong conclusions. "Parents notice a lot more than you think." he said, barely believing himself. "Not mine, they don't notice anything because they don't care, they are too busy fighting." Yoongi swallowed. So it was like he thought. "Are they fighting right now?" he asked. Jungkook nodded. "Though, they should be done by now. I'll go home in a bit, after I've given them some time to cool off." It was weird to see Jungkook be so nonchalant about this, when he seemed so on edge about everything else. Despite his coolness, though, Yoongi's heart hurt deeply. He wanted to help this kid so badly. "I will wait with you, and bring you home." he decided. "You don't have to." said Jungkook. "But I will." with that ended their serious conversation and returned back to small talk, after a while they both made their way home. Once they reached Jungkook's door he thanked Yoongi. "No problem, kid." he patted the younger's head, who seemed to blush a little. After Jungkook had stepped inside, Yoongi felt bitter sweet. On one side it felt good to be just a little bit helpful, on the other hand, it felt like he had put an imense amount of weight on his back, which he couldn't explain. 

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Jeon Jungkook(15)