❤

"You know, if you think about it, the first eighteen years of your life is basically a free trial before you're thrown into the real world and are expected to pay for anything and everything." Hoseok rambled, lying down on Jeongguk's bed on his back.

Jeongguk groaned, pressing his hands to his face. "Hoseok, not this again please-"

"Wait- what if you want to cancel your subscription? Then what do you do?" Hoseok asked with big eyes, blinking a couple of times.

Jeongguk let out a massive sigh, sitting down on the floor with his head leaning onto his bed behind him. "Then you crawl back into the womb. Conversation over." He grumbled.

Hoseok raised his arm, gazing at the creases on the back of his hand. "I'll eventually convert you." He hummed, turning to Jeongguk who giggled.

"Yeah, sure."

It was a Saturday morning when Jeongguk woke up in Taehyung's arms, the boy didn't have any classes scheduled for today however Taehyung had some in the morning. It was quite a challenge for the boy to get out of bed as Jeongguk clung onto him like a koala, practically begging him to stay.

Luckily, thanks to a lot of convincing and kisses, Taehyung managed to get ready for his classes in time with Jeongguk pouting the whole time. Instead of kissing it away, Taehyung went on a five-minute rant explaining to Jeongguk how money doesn't come from trees and how wasteful it is to skip classes to the point that Jeongguk was begging him to just- shut up and leave.

Smirking, Taehyung paused his rant and continued to get ready, giving Jeongguk a quick kiss goodbye before heading out. To lessen his loneliness, Jeongguk decided to invite Hoseok over and well- it carried on from there.

"Anyway- have you and Taehyung made up yet or do you think he's still 'playing with your feelings'? You seem a lot happier than yesterday." Hoseok sighed, lowering his arm to scratch his nose.

Jeongguk let out a small giggle while trying to contain his grin. He turned to Hoseok. "Actually, about that.." The boy trailed.

Hoseok widened his eyes, he scrambled to sit up. "Wait, don't tell me that-" he was hoping that Jeongguk's smile meant what he thought it meant.

"Me and Taehyung are official!" Jeongguk squealed, and so did Hoseok, jumping from the bed to engulf his friend into a warm hug.

"No! Really?" He grinned, pulling away and Jeongguk merely nodded in response. Hoseok reached to hug him once more, wrapping his arms around the boy tightly.

"So, turns out what Jimin said was complete bullshit, wasn't it?" Hoseok muttered into Jeongguk's shoulder, and Jeongguk was the one to pull away from the hug. He nodded again, averting his gaze.

Hoseok crawled over to sit beside the boy, his back leaning against the bed. "Was that what Jimin was telling you yesterday?

Jeongguk nodded once more, pressing his lips into a thin line. "Yeah, I honestly couldn't believe it, I thought we were best friends." He mumbled, and Hoseok threw an arm over the boy's shoulder.

"Did you forgive him?" He asked, feeling Jeongguk's head place itself on his shoulder as the boy shook his head.

"N-no. I feel a bit guilty about not choosing to though." Jeongguk let out, voice small and Hoseok patted his head.

"Why?" Hoseok sighed, and Jeongguk shrugged his shoulders in response. "I get that he was your best friend and everything but he should've still supported you and Taehyung even if he liked him."

Jeongguk lifted his head off Hoseok's shoulder as the boy carried on. "M'not saying that Jimin is the devil but he should use everything that happened to think about what he did before trying to talk to you again."

The boy hummed, not giving a coherent response. Hoseok sighed at that. "Let's talk about something else, when's Taehyung coming back from his classes?"

Jeongguk let out a frustrated sigh. "Probably never. He gave me a wholeass lecture this morning as to why school is important until I was begging him to go so I wouldn't have to listen to his nonsense anymore." He groaned, picking at his nails.

Hoseok chuckled, ruffling Jeongguk's brown locks which earned him an annoyed cry from the boy. "Oh, he'll be back before-"

The sudden sound of the door being slammed open alerted the two boys, Jeongguk slightly jumped while Hoseok whipped his head towards the door. "-You know it." The boy finished his sentence.

There Taehyung was, dressed in a tan collared flannel shirt, worn underneath a denim jacket with black jeans. He had a bag in one hand and his other holding the door open. Hoseok smirked at that, giving Jeongguk a knowing look which the boy scoffed at.

"Taehyung!" Jeongguk then squealed, hurriedly getting up from the floor to jump into Taehyung's arms, relying on the boy to catch him. Thankfully, he did, holding his arms tightly around the boy while Jeongguk kept himself in the air by holding his arms and legs around Taehyung securely.

"Fuck- let go, baby. You're heavy." Taehyung gritted out, feeling Jeongguk wrap his legs tighter around his waist menacingly from his sentence.

"I still won't hesitate to crush your ribs with my thighs," Jeongguk said slowly, lifting his head to look at Taehyung with darkened eyes. The boy merely gulped, nodding with big eyes.

Jeongguk innocently smiled, the dark aura around him quickly fading as soon as it started as he hopped off of Taehyung and walked over to sit on his bed. Hoseok let out a cry of laughter from what had just happened.

Taehyung quirked up a brow at that before his eyes finally landed on Hoseok. "Oh, you're here, Hoseok? Did Jeongguk invite you while I was gone?"

Hoseok chuckled and nodded. "Yep-" he grabbed onto the edge of the bed to lift himself up. "-But I think it's my time to leave. See you two lovebirds later."

As Hoseok was making his way to the door, he rested a hand on Taehyung's shoulder, turning to him. "You're welcome." He whispered, giving a wink to which Taehyung smiled in response.

After Hoseok had left, Taehyung wasted no time to kick the door shut behind him, walking over to Jeongguk with a soft smile.

The boy glanced up at Taehyung, blinking his doe eyes before squeaking out in surprise when Taehyung bent down to press a firm kiss to Jeongguk's lips, grabbing him by the shoulders. Jeongguk soon fluttered his eyes shut, reaching out to cling onto Taehyung's shirt as the boy held his face gently.

"Get ready," Taehyung mumbled as he pulled away from the kiss a few moments later. Jeongguk blinked in confusion, he tilted his head.

"Get ready for what?"

Taehyung stood up properly, adjusting the sleeves of his denim jacket. He smirked. "For our date."

Jeongguk stared at Taehyung for a couple seconds before he gasped loudly, looking at Taehyung with big eyes with a hand flying over his mouth. "Really?" He let out, eyes sparkling.

Taehyung nodded, smiling warmly at Jeongguk. "Of course, baby. As your boyfriend, the least I could do is take you out somewhere."

Jeongguk leapt out of bed to engulf Taehyung into a hug, feeling the boy hug back. "Thank you," he mumbled, pausing for a moment to inhale the comforting scent of Taehyung's cologne.

Taehyung kissed Jeongguk's cheek, slightly pulling away from the embrace. "No problem." He smiled but his expression then shifted. "Now start getting ready, dumbass. We have a date to go on."

Jeongguk rolled his eyes, walking around to push Taehyung out of his dorm. "Exactly. We have a date to go on so fuck off somewhere while I get ready."

"Okay, okay." Taehyung chuckled, letting Jeongguk push him out the door from behind. He turned around to see Jeongguk for the final time before the boy waved and shut the door in his face.

Taehyung let out an amused laugh at his actions, deciding that he should go and get his wallet and phone from his room. The boy turned around to make his way there with his lips still curved into a grin.

When Taehyung opened the door, he was surprised to hear his phone buzzing on his nightstand. Puzzled, the boy grabbed his phone to see who it was and froze when he saw the contact name.

It was from his mother.

Taehyung felt his mouth go dry, the hand holding his phone slightly shaking. Should he even answer it? This was his mother after all, however, nothing but painful memories resurfaced at the thought of her.

His phone continued to buzz, the vibrations echoing in his room. Taehyung didn't know what to do. Should he? Should he not? Fuck it, he was going to have to eventually.

With trembling hands, Taehyung slowly tapped the button to answer the call, a small silence followed as the call was connecting. Taehyung's heart was pounding in his chest, his breathing shallow.

After a couple of seconds, a muffled voice answered. "Hello?" It said and Taehyung felt himself tense up once more when he heard his mother's voice.

"Hello?" It repeated which sent Taehyung's heart racing in fear. He couldn't respond, his body wouldn't let him. This always happened whenever Taehyung talked to his mother, memories just flooded in.

Taehyung gazed at the recorded time of the call on his phone, watching the seconds go by in utter silence before his mother's voice echoed again. "Hello?"

Swallowing, Taehyung placed his phone by his ear, hands still shaking. "H-hi," he finally responded, scratching his temple as he awaited yet another response.

"Ah, Taehyung. So you are there." His mother spoke with a chuckle while Taehyung just nodded to himself. "Look, I was calling to check in on you. How are things at school?"

Taehyung pursed his lips together as his mind thought of the usual response. "I- it's going alright. Nothing new.." He muttered, eyes locked onto the floor.

"That's good then, do you plan on visiting me and your father for the holidays for once or are you going to leave us alone like always." She grumbled, and Taehyung tightened his grip on his phone. He gulped, not giving a response.

Taehyung's mother let out a sigh. "Of course you aren't. Anyway, how are you doing with your prescription pills? Have you finally been able to take them properly without making a fuss?"

Taehyung resisted the urge to let out an annoyed sigh, she always asked him this question. Every fucking time. Like before, Taehyung didn't give a response. He stayed silent, a hand picking at the skin of his lip.

His mother, however, seemed to have taken his silence as a 'no'. She let out a disappointed sigh, tutting. "I don't think you know how hard me and your father work for you to have a good future, Taehyung. If only you would stop being a bit of a burden and appreciate what we do for you, then maybe you would achieve better things-"

Taehyung stood there, eyes wide with his body quivering, matching his breaths as his mother ranted. He continued to listen, trying to block out whatever his mother was saying to him. This wasn't right. He didn't want to let her words sink in. Breathing in, Taehyung stared at the wall beside him as a distraction, he had to ignore his mother's words.

Taehyung had learned from Jeongguk that he shouldn't let anyone's bullshit get to him and this conversation was a prime example to show that. However, anger began to bubble up within Taehyung when some words found its way to wriggle inside Taehyung's mind. He harshly bit the inside of his cheek.

"-We always try to help you, Taehyung. Me and your father but you can get so stubborn with us that it's difficult." She continued, Taehyung's pent up rage doubled in size. His teeth clamped down even harder on his cheek. Taehyung swore there was probably steam emitting from how angry he was.

"Without your 'problems' you'd be doing so many great things right now. College tuition is expensive if you didn't know. If only you'd-"

"For your information, I wouldn't imagine myself as a burden as I can actually swallow my pills now." Taehyung finally snapped, seething with anger. He couldn't take this anymore. Taehyung heard the line go silent for a second before his mother spoke again.

"What? That's good Taehyung but-"

"But it was no thanks to you." He scoffed, brows furrowed in anger. "Your 'help' didn't do anything, actually, I don't think you even did help."

"What?" His mother called out. "Taehyung, of course, I tried to help you, what are you talking about-"

"You tried to help? You literally shoved pills down my throat when I was younger! How is that helping me with my issues? In fact that made everything worse for me!" Taehyung cried out, his hand clenching into a fist with his other clutching tightly onto his phone.

"Taehyung, that was a punishment I had for you when you were younger. I didn't like doing it any more than you did but it was to show you what would happen if you'd continue being so stubborn like that." Taehyung's mother sighed. "But look at you now! You're finally able to swallow pills so I don't see why you're raising your voice at me, son."

Taehyung inhaled deeply, his hands shaking. He was ready to explode. "That punishment didn't do anything! I couldn't even look at a bottle of pills without feeling sick because of what you did!" His mother was silent.

"Do you want to know why it took so long for me to be able to swallow pills? To learn how to cope with anxiety? I'll tell you why, it's because all my life you've made me feel ashamed of having it, told me that my issues made me less of a man. You along with dad pushed all your high expectations onto me which didn't help at all!" He shouted, face red and contorted in anger. It was as if everything he had been hiding for the last fifteen years of his life was bursting out of him.

"But Taehyung-"

"I now have a boyfriend who's always reassured me that it was okay to have issues, that it was okay to cry sometimes. He's the fucking reason why I've been able to swallow pills now and he was a better help than you ever were!" Taehyung paused for a moment, a bit shocked by the fact that he swore at his own mother but nonetheless he carried on with his outburst.

"If you really wanted to help me, you could've sent me to therapy so I could learn to deal with these issues, told me that it was okay to break down sometimes. If you did that instead of shoving pills down my throat and calling me names, then maybe I would've gotten much better!" Taehyung let out, swallowing thickly a few moments after his speech.

"But to answer your question, no! I won't be visiting you and dad for the holidays, now you know why." Taehyung ended the call right after, throwing his phone onto his bed in a fit of rage.

The boy crouched down to the floor, breathing out heavily from his outburst of repressed feelings originating from his childhood. He harshly tugged at his dark locks, scrunching his fingers around them. Maybe Taehyung was a bit too harsh with his mother but he simply couldn't control himself!

"You're okay," Taehyung whispered to himself, rocking back and forth on his feet. His hands trailed down to his face where he dug his nails into his cheek. "You're fine." He breathed out, feeling a flood of memories crash into his mind which he tried to ignore.

Taehyung breathed in deep but was then startled by a sudden knock on his door. He quickly stumbled to his feet, realising that it was probably Jeongguk. Fuck, they had a date!

The boy quickly grabbed his phone from his bed and his wallet from his nightstand, hastily shoving the items into his pockets before opening the door. As expected, it was Jeongguk. He dressed in a white shirt which was worn under a red, black and white, argyle-patterned cardigan. With that, he wore some ripped jeans along with black boots.

"So, you ready?" He beamed, brushing a brown strand of hair away from his face. Taehyung stared at Jeongguk with wide eyes for a few seconds before he felt the boy shake him by the shoulders.

"Earth to Taehyung!" Jeongguk giggled, snapping his fingers which broke Taehyung out of his trance. "Jeez, I know I look cute but at least respond." He said sarcastically.

Taehyung looked off to the side, chewing the inside of his cheek. That wasn't the reason but he decided to go along with it, his lips curved into a warm smile when he realised that Jeongguk really did look cute.

"Sorry, baby." Taehyung kissed the boy's cheek, trying to calm himself down. "You do look really pretty though." He mumbled, smirking when he saw the boy's cheeks flush red.

"Y-you look good too. You always do." Jeongguk stammered, flustered from the words leaving his lips. Taehyung's smirk grew, he pressed a warm kiss to Jeongguk's lips.

"Thank you," He stepped out of his dorm, closing the door behind him. "Let's go on our date then."

Jeongguk nodded eagerly, reaching out to hold Taehyung's hand to which the boy laced their fingers together, still grinning. The pair made their way out the dormitories and planning to head out of campus, meanwhile, Taehyung was trying to ignore the tightening feeling in his chest.

As they were now outside, the pair managed to run into Jin on the way who wore a confused expression on his face when he caught the two holding hands. "Um. Hey, Jeongguk, Taehyung?" Jin mumbled, pointing to them. "Why are you guys holding hands?"

Jeongguk glanced up to Taehyung as he tried to suppress his grin and for a moment there, Taehyung felt the feeling of anxiety wash away a bit. He nodded and Jeongguk turned to Jin excitedly.

"We're boyfriends!" The boy brightly exclaimed as his face broke out into a wide grin, raising their hands to show Jin. Taehyung chuckled at his excited antics and laughed even harder at they way Jin's jaw dropped.

"And we're going on a date," Taehyung added.

Jin blinked a couple of times, looked at Jeongguk and then at Taehyung. His face was painted in shock. "I'm sorry, what?"

Jeongguk let out a giggle, his grin as bright as ever and Taehyung felt his insides tingle at that. "We're together, Jin. Dating, in a relationship, married-"

"Nah, you guys have to be kidding, right? There's no way in hell you guys would ever get together. Y'all are just pulling my leg, aren't you?" Jin muttered in disbelief and Jeongguk was laughing while Taehyung was rolling his eyes, preparing on how to prove him wrong.

"Jeongguk, baby?" Taehyung called out, ignoring the shocked cry emitting from Jin, and Jeongguk turned to him after his laughter died down. He frowned. "What's up-?"

Taehyung quickly leaned in and clasped their lips together, letting go of Jeongguk's hand to hold his waist. Jin then let out another screech from his throat which caused a couple of students to look over to them in confusion. He slapped a hand over his mouth in absolute disbelief.

Jeongguk quickly went to grip onto Taehyung's shoulders, humming into the kiss. The kiss lasted a few moments before Taehyung pulled apart, looking at Jin with a smug grin.