PaperHearts

Unrequited?

His thighs were burning and his chest was heaving, his feet pounded the pavement in rhythmic succession one after the other as he ran along the street. Sneaking out of Tae's room and unable to sleep, he thought he could run off the emotions and devastation in his mind. He castigated himself for kissing his best friend last night, he shouldn't have done it because whereas before he knew he was in love with him... now it was certified as definite.

Jungkook was caught with so much going on in his mind that he couldn't focus on anything and being physically exhausted wasn't helping at all. He wondered what prompted Tae to ask him for a kiss? What had happened with Will? Did Tae enjoy the kiss? Did he secretly love him too? Had the alcohol banished his inhibitions and revealed his true desire for him? Could it have gone further? Why did Jungkook kiss him back, when he should've known better? How awkward is it going to be between them now? Should he mention it first? Will Tae remember? What if he does remember? What if he doesn't?

So many questions with more questions cropping up each time he asked himself one.

He couldn't sigh because he couldn't breathe properly at the moment, resting against the side of the complex building and draining his bottle of the clear contents. On the journey up to their apartment he prepared himself in case Tae was up and he'd have to face him straight away... not that he was sure what he would say or if he should say anything at all. He closed his eyes as the elevator doors opened and his mind immediately took him back to the kiss, the image and feeling, not something he ever wanted to forget. Jungkook crept into the apartment, closing the door quietly and practically tiptoeing through to the kitchen where his plan was to get a quick drink before jumping in the shower, possibly even locking his door so Tae would think he was out. While caught up in the idea of avoiding his best friend for as long as possible and maybe even arranging a get together with their friends to ease any awkwardness, he was startled by a deep and raspy "Morning" coming from the sofa.

"Morning." he felt awkward, opening the fridge and turning his back on the body under the duvet on the sofa.

When he'd got his drink he started to walk in the direction of his room but sensed that his friend needed to talk as he shuffled around on the sofa. He felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, he knew he was probably making the situation more difficult and he knew that he needed to push aside the kiss because right now he was needed. The deep breath he took out of view, before turning back was a heavy one, he needed to prepare himself to hear how the kiss was a drunken mistake but hoped it wouldn't be mentioned because he really didn't want to hear it at all... not now. The magnitude of that was great, it would mean no more paper hearts because there wasn't any way he could continue after something so beautiful was called a mistake and any slight hope would be dashed.

"Wanna talk?" he asked, grabbing a big bag of kettle chips and heading towards the sofa.

Tae nodded, he had the hangover from hell and a duvet day was required, shifting himself and holding the duvet up to allow his friend to slide in beside him. Jungkook opened the big bag of chips and set it down beside them after Tae covered them with the duvet.

"You know I stink, right?" Jungkook thought he'd check, in case it wasn't plainly obvious that he'd been out for a run.

"You always stink." Tae replied, earning him a nudge from his friend.

"Hangover?" he asked.

Tae nodded again "My head hurts."

"What happened last night... I mean, with Will?"

Tae took a handful of the salty snack and shoveled some into his mouth "We finished."

"What? Why?" he didn't really want to know because it would probably make him angry if Will had mistreated his best friend.