Every Rose has Thorns

Part Four

When you see someone for the first time, what's the first thing that goes through your head?

What kind of music do you listen to? Why did you say that? You look tired. Why did you choose that phone case? Why did you hesitated...

Taehyung is an observer. He always has been, he finds staying quiet and studying the people around him fun. The way people laugh, the way they walk, talk and smile...the way they cry. All that stuff is what makes humans so interesting.

Jimin's friends were a fascinating group of individuals, each of them seemed to fill a certain roll. When they first arrived, Jimin introduced him to a guy who seemed to be older than them, but only by a couple of years. He had smooth red hair and his heart shaped smile seemed so welcoming. Next to him was a shorter boy with blonde hair and cat like eyes, not as welcoming but Tae could see right through that.

Jimin introduced them as Hoseok and Yoongi.

Then Tae was being introduced to their other friend, Taehyung assumed the dinner was for him after learning his flight had landed a few hours ago. He was strikingly handsome and Tae would be lying if he said he didn't find the man attractive. He had kind, and playful eyes that lit up when he saw his friends (and Taehyung) in the booth waiting for him

Jin was his name

"This is Kim Taehyung," Jimin had introduced him with all the excitement in the world, Tae felt like he didn't live up to the hype. But he smiled nonetheless. Hoseok and Jin welcomed him with big smiles asking where he was from, where he was staying, all that.

Throughout  the opening conversations, Tae notices Yoongi doesn't talk a lot, the boy seems to only nod along and smile when necessary. Tae takes a mental note

The bar they chose had dimmer lighting that made the red brick walls look darker. Neon signs light up the blank areas on the walls and old leather booths hug the sides of the main room, it was a warm atmosphere. But it was just enough to make the butterflies in Tae's stomach begin to dance.

Taehyung didn't have any friends from grade school and after moving, he hasn't talked to anyone back home. So when Jimin had invited him to dinner (even though Tae felt like he was intruding) it was still nice (even if he also felt like a nervous wreck)

"So when did you move here?" Hoseok asks,  leaning back in his seat, his gaze is directed at Taehyung and the younger feels his nerves get jittery, "Last year,"

A lie

He moved to the city two years ago actually, he was nineteen. Tae was nineteen when he packed his bags, nineteen when he bet everything on moving here, he was nineteen when he cut ties that could never be reconnected.

And now he's twenty one, sitting at a table of strangers, trying not to act like a complete dumbass.

Have his hands always been this sweaty?

(No, stop it, don't get like this, people hate it when you get like this)

Jimin calls over a waitress who smiles widely at them "What can I get you?"

Jimin and the other guys all order some alcoholic beverage (this is a bar after all) and when the waitress turns to Taehyung, he immediately feels like an invisible spotlight is shining on him.

He hates alcohol.

But..."A beer please," being the odd one out of the group seemed worse than his low drink tolerance.

The waitress comes back with their drinks and the other four boys begin talking about classes and what not, Tae nodding along and smiling when he needed too. He feels so out of place.