loser. ✓

ELEVENㅡILL-FEELING

taehyung felt his eyes flutter open, his friend jin disturbing him from his sleep. the older boy had started snapping his fingers in front of taehyung's face.

"hey, hey! don't go coma-ing on me now!"

taehyung chuckled, pushing seokjin's hands out of his face. "sorry, hyung. i must have fallen asleep without realizing you were talking to me."

"really?!" jin scoffed, crossing his arms. "in front my salad?"

taehyung grabbed onto his brunet friend's hands, uncrossing the boy's arms and lacing their fingers together. "i'm very sorry. how important is it?"

seokjin deflated. "not that important, actually. go back to sleep, i guess. sorry for disturbing you."

"i can't go back to sleep now, silly," taehyung mumbled, giving jin a tired smile. "you've already woken me up! now, talk your boy."

"you're not my boy. you're j- your own person, and you totally don't belong to anyone, at least not yet. what am i even talking about? ignore me, haha."

"um..." taehyung's eyebrows furrowed. "alright. sounds good, i guess?"

"hey, taehyung?" seokjin gently pulled his hand away from the blond's grasp.

"what is it?" taehyung mumbled.

"how much do you like jeongguk on a scale of 'i tolerate him' to 'i love him'?" seokjin asked, surprising taehyung.

"that's...why are you throwing this question at me all of a sudden? did jeongguk tell you about what happened between us at the party thing?"

seokjin's eyes widened. "no, it doesn't relate to that at allㅡi had no idea anything happened! oh my god, what did he say? was it mean? if it was mean, he didn't me-"

"hyung, calm down," taehyung said, shaking his head. "it was just me sort of freaking out is all because jimin told me about a conversation he read in their group chat. something about jeongguk proving something to namjoon."

"well, i got added to that groupchat for a bit the next day, and i can assure you the only thing that was proved to anybody about you is something that i shouldn't be telling you about. it's not bad, or anything, it's just...not my place to tell you." seokjin rubbed taehyung's back, comforting the younger boy. "don't worry about jeongguk's feelings for you so much."

two plates of food were placed in front of the two boys, the waiter smiling at them with a toothy grin. "enjoy your meals."

taehyung sighed. "i wish jimin could have come too, but just had to be busy with yoongi." he giggled. "those two hit it off really well, didn't they?"

"tae, you never answered my question. how much do you like jeongguk?"

he felt his smile immediately fall. he wasn't quite sure how to answer that questionㅡtelling the truth could lead to never-ending happiness and support from the older, or the complete opposite. he never knew with jin. seokjin must have read taehyung's mind, because he gently squeezed the blond's shoulder. "taehyung, i don't get why you always shut down whenever i try to help you with these things. you know i've never judged you before. remember when i first found out you had the slightest crush on jeongguk, and i supported you? why would now be any different?"

"jin, hyung, i-" he cut himself off, picking at his food. "i really, really like jeongguk. i can't quite say i love him, because i barely know anything about him, but i do know that there's definitely a possibility i could fall in love with him. it's probably stupid for me to like someone who makes me feel shit, but whenever i see him show the slightest bit of interest in anyone else, it feels like a baseball bat being swung directly at my head."