piryohae
Jeongguk finds Taehyung crying in a bathroom and that's really where it all starts.
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Crying was something Taehyung never did. It wasn't like he had no feelings; he just never had many reasons to cry. He had plenty of lovely friends, a kind family and generally good grades. Why would he need to cry when he had all of that?
Despite this, he found himself sniffling, trying to stop the flow of tears from his eyes during class time. The boy's bathroom was not the ideal place for him to be doing this but it seemed marginally better than in middle of the classroom. He knew it was slightly pathetic what he was crying over but that fact wasn't helping anything.
He cautiously unlocked the stall door, peering out to see if there was anyone around. The bathroom was empty and all the stall doors were slightly ajar. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Taehyung made his way over to the sinks to splash cold water on his face. He knew he couldn't be gone from class for much longer without arousing suspicion but he couldn't go back in there with swollen, red eyes.
The sound of the door squealing as it opened made Taehyung jump, hitting his elbow of the sink. He hissed in pain, reaching up his other hand to grip his elbow, turning his face away from whoever came in.
"There you are." The person sounded exasperated and Taehyung stiffened when he realised who it was. "The teacher sent me to find you, you've been gone for- Are you crying?"
Taehyung rubbed at his nose angrily. Why did it have to be Jeon Jeongguk of all people sent to find him? He was never going to hear the end of this now.
"Are you okay?" Jeongguk asked, walking up to Taehyung. He placed a hand on Taehyung's arm and turned him so they were face to face. Jeongguk inspected Taehyung's features, frowning when the tears welled up in the other's eyes once again. "What's wrong?"
Taehyung was confused at the concerned tone Jeongguk had adopted. Jeongguk was known for getting into spats nearly every lesson whenever he didn't agree with someone's opinion and Taehyung could still remember all the times Jeongguk hadn't agreed with him. Taehyung was almost certain Jeongguk disliked him; he didn't understand why Jeongguk seemed so worried.
"It's stupid," Taehyung croaked out, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter, lets just go back to class."
Jeongguk stopped him instantly as Taehyung tried to manoeuvre around him towards the door. "Not until you tell me what's wrong. Did someone say something to you?"
"Why do you care?" Taehyung looked towards Jeongguk, watching his frown deepen.
"Because I'm not a complete asshole all the time and I want to make sure you're okay," Jeongguk replied. "Besides, you can't go back to class looking like that or it'll be more than just me asking questions."
Jeongguk was right and Taehyung knew it, but it didn't stop him from grumbling aloud as Jeongguk got a paper towel to dry off his face. He felt mildly humiliated - his somewhat rival found him crying and wasn't being a dick about it. Taehyung wasn't sure whether he preferred if he had been a dick or not. He pulled away from Jeongguk and seated himself on the floor, leaning against the wall.
"It's not even a big deal," Taehyung mumbled, not looking at Jeongguk as he slipped his bag off his shoulders and sat next to him. "Just something someone said."
"What did they say?" Jeongguk prompted patiently. Taehyung groaned internally at how stupid he knew he'd sound when saying it aloud.
"Yoongi said," he paused. "Um. He said I had a weird smile, and I know it sounds like such a dumb thing to cry over but-" He cut himself off before he started rambling and knocked his head back against the wall. Jeongguk huffed out a breathy laugh.
