[ᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴋ.ᴀ.ʀ.ᴅ][ʙ.ꜱᴇᴘʜ ᴀᴜ]

♤ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓲𝔁 ♤

♤ Operation Home ♤

This felt like a bad idea. Maybe it was? Matthew didn’t know. All he knew was that he gets to see Taehyung again.

His heart couldn’t contain itself. After all this time apart, his heart yearned for what could have been. There is nothing better than isolation from the world to help you realise your true feelings.

Walking into university pretending like everything was normal was so weird to Matthew but it had to be done. He just needed to survive the first class and act as if he had never left.

“Welcome back.” Drew greeted when Matthew took a seat beside him.

‘So much for pretending like I wasn’t gone.’ Matthew thought to himself.

“Thanks. It’s good to be back.” Matthew said casually. “Eric decided he wanted to go home to Atlanta and I somehow got talked into going with him.”

“And you just forgot to text? We all thought you were missing.” Drew whisper-shouted. “Taehyung is going to be pissed.”

“You talk to Taehyung?” Matthew raised his eyebrow and set his pen down, completely ignoring the teacher’s lecture.

Drew nodded. “He is part of our group now. The other boys aren’t happy about it but Taehyung wouldn’t leave me alone… Especially since you’ve been gone for almost four months. He gave up after the third month and found himself a new best friend. I think you’ve been replaced.”

“New best friend?” Matthew frowned, slightly jealous.

“You’ll meet him during break time.” Drew answered then motioned to focus on the lecture.

Matthew didn’t need to do any of this since he was only here to keep up appearances now. His psychology course was no longer his priority. Halfway through the lecture Drew finally spoke to him again.

“Have you been working out more than usual?” Drew asked curiously.

Matthew nodded. “Gotta keep those tiddies big.”

Drew snorted but nodded in agreement. “Big tiddie comittee gang.”

*****

Class took forever to end and Matthew was glad when it was finally over. Drew and Matthew packed up their notebooks and then headed out to their hang out in the courtyard across from the science buildings. Taehyung was already there which didn’t surprise Matthew since the business classrooms were behind the science lab. Taehyung was sitting close to a younger looking male and whispering quietly to him.

“Ayyy, Jinseok!” Wonho said excitedly and got up to greet Matthew with a hug. “Welcome back.”

At the sound of Matthew’s name, Taehyung looked up and his face immediately drained of all colour. Matthew was too busy greeting Wonho to notice. Taehyung said something to his new friend and then stood up. Matthew made eye contact with Taehyung and smiled but Taehyung frowned and started walking away. Matthew moved Wonho out of the way so he could chase after him but Taehyung’s friend got up and stepped in front of Matthew.

“Hi! You must be Jinseok, I’ve heard so much about you from Taehyung Hyung.” The boy said happily.

Matthew glared at him. “Who are you and why are you in my way?”

“The names Joonghee.” The boy introduced himself.

“Get out of my way Joonghee.” Matthew ordered.

“Sorry, no can do.” Joonghee said, shaking his hand.

“Jin just let it go. You can talk to him later.” Drew said from behind him.

Matthew huffed. “I wouldn’t bother trying. He seems pretty pissed.” Joonghee commented.

“All the more reason for me to make things right with him.” Matthew said surely.

*****

Matthew decided that flowers would be the safest way to apologise.

With a charming smile and a bouquet of flowers in his hand he made his way into Taehyung’s apartment building and went up to the third floor where Taehyung’s apartment was. Matthew knocked on the door nervously then ran a hand through his hair as he waited for Taehyung to answer the door.

It took a few minutes, a frown was plastered on Taehyung’s face and it worsened when he spotted Matthew. Within seconds the door was slammed in Matthew’s face making him sigh.

“Tae please, just talk to me…” Matthew called out.

Taehyung opened the door again looking even more pissed. He snatched the flowers from Matthew’s hand and threw them at the floor then slammed the door again. Matthew huffed and turned, he leaned against the door and slid down to sit against it.

“I’m not leaving until you talk to me.” Matthew said, when he got no response he spoke again after taking a deep breath. “I know you are still there Tae… If you won’t talk to me then just listen.”

There was still no reply from Taehyung but Matthew heard a sound that indicated Taehyung had sat down on the other side of the door.

“I panicked. I lied to Drew and told him that Eric and I went to Atlanta but the truth is I panicked. I’m telling you this because you know the truth about Eric Hyung and you are my best friend so you deserve to know.”

Sounds behind the door made it seem like Taehyung was getting up to walk away. Matthew quickly got up when he heard the handle move. Matthew gathered the flowers although they looked a little sad now.

Taehyung stared at Matthew for a really long time, both of them keeping extremely quiet until Taehyung was ready to speak to the younger male. “I’m not mad that you disappeared… Okay maybe a little bit… I’m mad because you took off without a word even though I said I’d help you with your brother… I know it must have been your paranoia or something but I was convinced it was because we finally talked about how I feel. I thought it was a little excessive when you could have just told me you weren’t into me…” Taehyung squeezed the cuffs of his sleeves as he started to feel insecure.

Matthew pouted. “It really wasn’t about that. I promise.” Matthew tried to reassure him. “I thought I had to get away to avoid suspicion and nothing ever came of it… During my time in hiding you were literally the only thing I could think about, how I’d give anything to be in your arms or to hold you like I did that night. I missed you every day I was gone and I’m so sorry I couldn’t say anything to you.”

“Where did you go?” Taehyung asked, looking up at Matthew, no longer focused on his cuffs.

Matthew chuckled lightly. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Taehyung narrowed his eyes at Matthew studying him to see if he was being sincere about everything. “I’m not ready to forgive you but I guess you can come in.”

Matthew handed Taehyung the flowers, he scrunched up his nose and took them. “‘I’d rather you take your anger out on the flowers rather than me.”

Taehyung opened the door wider and let Matthew in. “For the record I hate flowers as gifts, I think it's stupid. Do better next time.”

“Next time?” Matthew asked and raised his eyebrow as he entered the apartment.

Taehyung nodded and leaned his head on Matthew’s shoulder. “You are going to have a lot of chances to make this up to me so you better not screw it up Jinseok… I’m rooting for you.”