the little mermaid. taekook.

007.

"JEONGGUK, ARE YOU ALIVE IN THERE?" Taehyung asked, waving his hand in front of the other boys face.

He was exhausted from getting little to no sleep all week, but lately the memories of his father leaving have been coming back little by little.

He was worried for his sister, because she's never known him and only time could tell when she'd start asking about her dad.

"Jeongguk!" Taehyung yelled, making the younger jump out of his thoughts and look at his friend.

"I'm sorry - what?" He asked, confused. He hadn't even realized the older was talking, which just shows you how tired he really is.

Taehyung's expression went from upset to worried in all of two seconds. "Are you okay, Gguk? You look exhausted."

"That's because I am." He replied.

"Why? Haven't you been sleeping?" Taehyung questioned, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"No, not really. I've been having nightmares lately." He sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Oh, those are the worst. I have nightmares about sharks all the time. They're terrifying creatures."

"Why? It's not like you live in the ocean, just stay away from the water and you'll be fine." Jeongguk replied, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Taehyung's expression showed something that the younger couldn't quite read, but he decided to just brush it off because it was probably nothing.

The two were sitting outside again because they both complained that the cafeteria was too loud and that they couldn't even hear themselves think, so they left the crowded room to go sit at the tables behind the school.

Jimin was nowhere to be seen again and Wonho as well as Yoongi completely ditched Jeongguk for whatever reason, but it upset him that once school started again, they ignored him to hangout with Namjoon.

Ever since Taehyung started here, most of the girls and even some guys have been trying to hit on him, but he never seems interested. It was especially weird that he even rejected Jennie and Jackson when they were the most popular people in the entire school. Instead he chose to hangout with Jeongguk which was just baffling to the younger.

"What are your nightmares about?" Taehyung suddenly asked, after he finished eating the sandwich Jeongguk brought for him. Ever since the day Taehyung tried the youngers sandwich, Jeongguk has been bringing him his own since he enjoyed it; plus he didn't want to put Taehyung through the torture of eating the disgusting cafeteria food.

"Huh?"

The older sighed, shaking his head. "I said, what was your nightmare about?"

"Oh, nothing too important." Jeongguk replied, finishing his sandwich.

Taehyung could tell he was lying by the look on his face. "You can tell me, you know. I won't speak a word of it. Mermaids honour." He held his hand up, smiling.

Jeongguk decided to just ignore the fact that he messed up the wording, which was scout's honour. "I don't want to burden you with my problems."

Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows. "You truly believe you would burden me? Aren't we friends?" He asked.

"Well yeah, but-"

"But nothing, Jeongguk. If we really are friends you would trust me enough to tell me what's bothering you so much. You have been so out of it lately and I'm worried about you."

"No need to worry about me, Tae." The younger said softly, sighing.

"Too late. So, tell me what's been eating at you."

Jeongguk bit his lip, meeting the olders gaze. They stared at each other for a good five minutes before Jeongguk decided it was best to tell him what was wrong so he'd stop worrying about him.

"I've been having nightmares about my father." He finally said, his gaze never leaving Taehyung's.

The older nodded slowly, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at Jeongguk. "Why? Is he evil or something?"

"You could say that."

"What did he do?" Taehyung asked softly, hoping he didn't cross a line.

"When I was five years old, he left. He disappeared from me, my mother's and my little sisters lives. He was money obsessed, you could say. He never wanted children, but when my mom told him she was pregnant with me, he was okay with it. But five years later, he packed his bags and left after my sister was born. He never wanted her and he made it known. He broke my mother's heart, my heart and once my sister finds out why he left, he will have broken her heart. She never knew him, she was just a baby. So when she starts asking about her dad and why he isn't around, my mom will have to tell her because she hates keeping secrets from us; and she will blame herself for him disappearing which will break our hearts." Jeongguk explained, sighing loudly.

Taehyung just looked at him, not knowing what to say to comfort the younger. It broke his heart knowing what Jeongguk has been through, because he definitely didn't deserve it.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Gguk. You did not deserve to go through such traumatic heartbreak at such a young age." Taehyung replied, his voice soft.

He placed his hand over Jeongguk's, intertwining their fingers as a sort of comfort to the boy in front of him. The younger squeezed his hand to show that it was working and smiled.

Taehyung suddenly got hit with a wave of sadness as he gazed at Jeongguk. He was going to miss him when he left to go back home.

He was going to miss the conversations they had late at night when Taehyung would sneak over to Jeongguk's house, he was going to miss his cute bunny smile that made him feel happy because that smile was his doing, he was going to miss his laugh that was either really quiet or extremely loud and the way he scrunched his nose while doing so and most of all, he was going to miss his comforting presence and the way he made Taehyung feel safe.

He shouldn't have gotten so attached to the younger but he couldn't help it. The very first day he saw him in English class, he knew he just had to get to know him. But the thing he most dreaded was the day he had to leave him. He didn't want to, he wanted to stay on land with Jeongguk forever, but he knew that was impossible and it broke his heart and what broke his heart even more? Jeongguk had no idea that day was coming.

•••

This chapter was so cute but the ending made me tear up and I'm the one that wrote it.

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Leave me some feedback and vote!