PaperHearts

Guilt

Jungkook was in a bad mood, running himself silly at the gym trying to block out Hobi who was leaning against the machine trying to help.

"It's only Easter dinner, I don't get the problem?"

Hobi was trying to understand the issue that had arisen ever since he'd told Jungkook about the Easter dinner that Yoongi and Jimin were hosting. He was looking forward to it, it was a chance for the friends to be together which didn't happen as often as when they were all at university. When Jin graduated and became a full time teacher, he spent his spare time with his boyfriend, Namjoon. Not long afterwards, Namjoon and Yoongi graduated and Hobi followed, leaving Tae, Jungkook and Jimin who were all still studying part time.

"There isn't a problem, I've got plans already." Jungkook huffed out, speeding up the machine to make it so he was too exhausted to have this conversation.

Hobi gave him a look that oozed skepticism "Yeah right. What plans?"

Jungkook was sweating, it was pouring down his face into his eyes which was stinging and he knew he would have to stop soon "Have. Plans."

"You do not. You never have plans, not without Tae anyway and he is coming to the dinner so why aren't you?"

Jungkook wasn't busy, not yet... but he would make sure he was because Tae was taking a date to the meal and it was one thing having to see them together in his home but sitting opposite them at a cosy meal was something he wouldn't be doing.

"Told. You. Busy."

"I'm not arguing with you about it but I know there's something you aren't telling me. You would never miss a group meal, JK."

Actually, over the years, Jungkook had missed a couple of the group nights but it was done in a way that clearly meant it had gone unnoticed. There was the birthday get together last year for Yoongi's birthday when Tae turned up with his then boyfriend. He'd walked into the kitchen to find them down each other's throats and he'd carried on walking straight out the back door and gone home. His swollen foot, caused by kicking his chest of drawers, helped when he told his friends that he'd fallen over because of drinking too much so went home. His friends knew he wasn't a drinker and no one even questioned his explanation... that wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last.

Jungkook didn't agree that Tae should be allowed to take his date when they'd only been on a handful of dates but his best friend seemed annoyingly excited and wanted to introduce him to the group. Jungkook was unlucky enough to live in the same apartment so had met him already, unfortunately.

After the gym he showered and locked the door to his bedroom, slumping onto his bed and putting his earbuds in to drown out anything that would distract him from the sulking. He'd installed a lock on his door for when he went out after finding Tae rooting around in his room looking for his birthday present one year but at times like this when he could lock it and hide, Tae would think he was out, it was a definite bonus. He usually only locked it when there was a special occasion coming up and after a while, Tae stopped checking so didn't know when he did or didn't lock it, either way... it was still a bonus.

There was a special playlist that he created, he always listened to it whilst he cut out the heart shaped pieces of paper. With Easter just days away, the card was bought and printed, the hearts also printed and he'd even placed some hearts inside a chocolate egg this year. Last year he was convinced Tae would guess it was him when he placed a chocolate bunny in a nest of paper hearts and left it in his locker at university. His best friend often called him 'muscle bunny' or something else with the word 'bunny' attached to it so he was sure he would guess... but his secret remained.

Last year, Tae bribed everyone he could think of to find out who gained access to his locker but Jungkook covered his tracks well, leaving the gift in the janitors office with a note of which locker to put it in. No one knew where the gift came from or who left it so the mystery continued and Tae was once again none the wiser.