It Started Out With A Kiss || taekook ff

Chapter Thirteen

(Two weeks later)

Taehyung was back at school for the first time since he was in the hospital. He still felt tired, and he had the occasional discomfort but he was doing fine otherwise. Physically, at least. He hadn't gotten much sleep since the beating. He would wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares, and he could never get himself to fall back asleep.

He had seen Jungkook the day after he collapsed, but only long enough for the younger to give him his stuff, including his cell phone, which was full of texts from Jin and Jimin. He had smiled to see that he had also received a text from Namjoon, just to see how he was doing. It had made Taehyung feel like maybe people really did care about him. That was the case until his father had helped Taehyung home before chewing him out for wasting their money on hospital bills.

Taehyung, deep in thought, was almost to his first class when a hand gripped his arm and dragged him carefully into the men's room.

Taehyung turned once the hand let him go and saw Jungkook checking the stalls to make sure nobody was in there before locking the door. "What the hell Jungkook? I have class."

"This will only be a minute. How are you?" Jungkook leaned against the door, crossing his arms over his chest. "I haven't seen you since you were in the hospital that day." Jungkook looked antsy, bouncing his knee, and his fingers were tapping anxiously on his arms. His eyes wouldn't meet mine.

"I'm fine."

"That's good." Taehyung must be mistaken. Jungkook appeared to be blushing. Why would he be blushing?

"Jungkook?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Taehyung snapped, not meaning to come off as crass as he did.

Jungkook shrugged. "I don't know. I do have a question for you though, if you'll allow me to ask." Taehyung nodded for him to go ahead and ask. "When your dad came, you completely changed. He tried to grab your hand and stuff but you wouldn't let him. Why?"

Taehyung turned away from the younger, trying to make the tears stop before they completely fell. "I want you to leave." He spat. The room was silent. He could hear Jungkook gasp slightly at his request.

"What?" Jungkook took a step towards the other. "You want me to leave?"

"Y-yes." Dammit Taehyung. Grow a pair and stop crying.

"May I ask why?"

"Because!" Taehyung slammed his fist against the wall. "Are you really that fucking stupid Jungkook? Is that why you bully people like me? You had to find a way to release the anger about how stupid you are?" Taehyung was practically yelling.

Jungkook stepped back. "W-what?"

Taehyung turned around to face the younger. Tears had started to fall onto his cheeks. He couldn't help it. "Why do you think I was in the hospital?"

"The doctor said you had some sort of stomach injury that caused internal bleeding.." Jungkook's voice shook a little bit.

"Exactly. That stomach injury was caused by my dad. I missed curfew and for every ten minutes I'm late, I get a kick to the stomach. Before that, the black eye and scratches were because I didn't pick up dinner for him, so he punched me. The time before that he threw me to the ground and smashed a beer bottle next to me. That was just because he caught me looking at a guy's Instagram post, because he can't stand the fact that his son is gay."

"Oh-Oh my God." Jungkook's eyes filled with concern. He tried to take a step towards the older, but Taehyung just walked backwards, further away from him.