The talent show wasn't all too bad, Taehyung had to admit.

Of course, it was terribly cheesy and cringe-worthy at times, but at other times, you could definetely see how professional it was.

Currently, a senior named Kim Seokjin was singing his self-produced song talkikg about self-love, 'Epiphany'.

And Taehyung totally didn't tear up by how beautiful it was.

Everything was on point: The vocals, the visuals, even the stage.

Reaching into the almost empty popcorn bowl to snatch some of the leftover popcorn, he flinched when his hand accidentally brushed over something soft and smooth.

Another hand.

Shit. This is the second time this happened to me. To us. Why...

Hoping the boy next to him hadn't noticed, he tried to pull his hand back as quickly as possible, but he didn't even come that far.

Because he intertwined his fingers with Taehyung's fingers.

And Taehyung had to admit that he was still terribly in love with Jungkook.

As their senior on stage hit the last chorus, giving everyone goosebumps, Taehyung and Jungkook just stayed like this, neither of them uttering a single word.

But both of them definetely felt something. And that had nothing to do with the song, that both of them knew.

And for the rest of the annual Christmas talent show, their hands stayed intertwined, neither of them willing to let go.

After their senior Kim Seokjin's heart-wrenching performance, a cute sophomore girl who sang a song about unrequited love (Oh, how Taehyung could relate...) and a junior pianist who played a very impressing and breathtaking piece on the piano made their attendances.

And then, it was Jimin's and Mark's time to shine.

Taehyung knew they were good dancers, but he didn't imagine them being that good.

The way they moved, it was like they owned the stage and perhaps the whole auditorium aswell.

Their movements were elegant and gracious yet sharp and accentuated at the same time, and not to mention, smooth as hell.

It was like they removed the entirety their bones before appearing on stage.

The music was also quite an interesting combination. Going from a slow, melancholy tune over to a wild, fast hip-hop track, back to slow, then back to wild, it was an unusual but definetely addicting to watch.

Taehyung couldn't help but let his jaw drop at the, ironically, jaw-dropping performance. It was like his eyes were glued to the stage and bound to watch the two boys on stage.

Jungkook, who definetely noticed, couldn't help but feel a tad jealous. It wasn't like he could do anything about it, it probably was just in his nature.

Thus, he tightened the hold of their intertwined hands and gave Taehyung a slight sideeye.

He narrowed his eyes when Taehyung didn't react.

Oh, you're being such a douche, Jungkook. Stop being a prepubescent, asshole teen for once and just focus on the performance. It's not like he likes you, anyways. He's just holding your hand right now. Yeah, it doesn't mean anything, Jungkook thought to himself, hoping that this performance would come to an end soon, so that Taehyung would stop drooling over them.

And, much to Taehyung's dismay, seven precious minutes later, the two cousins were done with their ground-breaking performance and had to leave the stage with their whole bodies covered in sweat and them panting heavily. Loud cheers and screams accompanied them on their way out.

Jungkook was probably the only person who was actually glad about them leaving.

The finale actually consisted of all contestants coming up on stage and clapping along to the Christmas Carol that was playing while the principal picked out the three winners.

Not really surprisingly, Jimin and Mark snatched the grand prize, a lot of money along with a trophy. Then, Kim Seokjin came in second place and the freshman pianist followed with the third place.

When the 'ceremony' was over and the contestants had been lead off the stage with everyone clapping and congratulating them for their hard work, Taehyung turned towards Jungkook, for the first time.

"Jungkook, do you know where the backstage is?"

The ravenette gave him a suspecting look.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Because I want to congratulate my friends for their awesome performance and their prize!" Jungkook rolled his eyes internally. Since he had decided to stop being a jerk today, he nodded. "Sure. Uh, I'm pretty sure they used the locker rooms for a backstage."

Taehyung smiled. "Great, let's go!"

He stood up, which dragged Jungkook with him since their hands were still intertwined.

Forcing their way through the now exiting crowd, the two of them reached their destination after about five minutes.

As soon as Taehyung opened the door leading to the locker room, he saw Jimin and Mark wearing grey sweatpants, their blazers still clinging onto their bodies.

As soon as they saw Taehyung standing in the door, they started smiling.

"Great job, guys! I'm so proud of you!," he yelled, spreading his arms and laughing brightly.

Jungkook, who didn't want to partake in this conversation, leaned on a wall outside the door and simply observed the older.

His eyes narrowed once again as Taehyung threw his arms around Jimin and engulfed him in a tight hug.

Wish he would give me attention like that...

He felt an unsettling feeling in his stomach as the blonde loosened the hug and moved towards Mark.

And what came next really pissed him the hell off.

At first Taehyung appeared to hesitate on showing affection, but as soon as he slung his arms around Mark's neck, the brunette grabbed his waist and spun him around, not only once, but twice.

Jungkook felt a stinging sensation paining his heart, rage pouring in his veins and something simple jealousy had never made him feel before: sadness.

He knew he shouldn't be feeling this way about a hug, but he couldn't help it.

Because he realized that the guy that was currently holding Taehyung had an actual chance of being his boyfriend, more than he could ever.

It was only a matter of time.

Of course he actually knew that all along, but something inside him didn't want to believe, or rather, realize it.

All this time being apart from Taehyung while his thoughts (and dreams) were filled by nothing but Taehyung was honestly driving him insane.

Seeing him take the seat next to him every day but not being able to look into his eyes or talk to him hurt him more than he liked to admit. And it had only been two weeks.

But did Taehyung even care? Did he miss Jungkook just as much as Jungkook missed him?

Truly, Jungkook was afraid to ask.

All this unwanted emotion scared him a lot, that's why he was so cold to Taehyung before the show started.

Seeing him just sit there randomly definetely did something to his heart and as much as he wanted to pick him up, hold him and never letting him go, he didn't.

Instead, he panicked and tried turning off all his emotions to seem like he was totally cool about everything, which had evidently been the wrong decision and which he deeply regretted.

Jungkook hated this. Everything.

Having feelings for his best friend. Hurting because those feelings were unrequited. Being constantly scared and confused because of his sexual orientation. It was so much to deal with.

He was just a teenager, after all.

Was there any way to just... turn it off?

Obviously, there wasn't. He was human, not a vampire from some cliché TV show.

So he decided to do the thing he should be doing all along.

Staying away from him, for good. No exceptions. No staring at him. No talking to him.

Because today was a huge mistake. They weren't supposed to talk, they were breaking the rules.

So Jungkook planned on moving away his seat and not sparing him a glance, just like he should.

He would just follow Taehyung's father's regime with this, so basically he would be doing a favor for both of them.

He is totally not trying to run away from his emotions.

Totally.

It was just until Mr. Kim calmed down anyways, he would have his feelings sorted and they would be allowed to talk again, a wonderful plan. Everything would be back to normal and he wouldn't have to worry, right?

So Jungkook threw one last glance onto the beautiful blonde, chatting with the dancers, a huge smile on his face.

And then he started walking away.

(A/N: my writing is so repetitive and unbalanced at the same time, i'm so sorry :(

like there's so much illogical shit, there's basically a timeskip every damn chapter and nothing makes proper sense? ugh i'm sorry again

well, this chapter is basically jungkook being confused and frustrated all over again, and this time he's being over-dramatic and delusional aswell lmao (okay not really but kind of, you get my point)

also, i made a 2948289 word-speech about this in my other book yesterday but yeah, happy late anniversary to our beautiful angels💜

bts are like unbiological family members to me and i hope they are happy, they've been there for me all the time so i want them to know they can rely on me aswell💜💜

they're the best role models anyone could wish for and they actually make me want to become the best version of myself and i'm so grateful for that, i wish they were my friends irl😔💜)