✔ Stigma [vkook]

BONUS

content warning: mentions of pedophilia, grooming, stalking, kidnapping

"Who's Sungjin?" Taehyung questioned when he saw himself alone with Junghyun at one of the balconies of the dining room. 

He didn't have the courage to ask Jungkook that because he saw how that name affected him when mentioned. But Taehyung was too curious to know because he knew that somehow it was important enough to dig deeper.

"I guess it's only fair you know." Junghyun sighed, leaning down and supporting his body with his forearms on the stone edge, eyes getting lost in the horizon. 

"Sungjin was a family friend's son. We grew up together and he always had been lovestruck by Jungkook. But Jungkook was way younger than Sungjin, so of course, I didn't let them have anything back then, even when Jungkook told me he liked Sungjin back." Taehyung listened carefully, trying to piece together a story where it would explain the Jeons' attitudes towards Jungkook and his love life.

"How much older?"

"Jungkook was 11 and Sungjin 15." 

Taehyung felt his bile rise up to his mouth. Yes, they were both underage, but the age difference was concerning, yet he didn't comment on that. 

"Sungjin was mine and Jeongyeon's closest friend, so we never saw anything wrong with him. We just thought he found Jungkook cute and pretty." That statement made Taehyung raise an eyebrow, preparing him for something he wasn't sure he was ready to know. 

"A year later Sungjin was 16 he was sent to study abroad and for years we didn't see or hear anything from him. Until he got back four years later, to go study at SNU. Jeongyeon and I were studying there too, so it was natural that we fell back into friendship quickly."

"Jungkook was sixteen at the time, right?" Taehyung asked to get his equations right.

"Barely, he was still fifteen, almost turning 16." Jonghyun clarified. 

"He was also amidst his girly phase like me and Yeon called it at the time. He was already dressing in skirts and letting his hair grew longer and using more makeup. And when Sungjin met Jungkook again, he was awestruck again." Taehyung balled his hands tightly at those words, jaw locking too, as he tried his best not to punch something out of anger. 

"But this time Jungkook didn't like him back; his childhood crush had vanished completely and he just felt awkward around Sungjin. Jeongyeon and I started to feel awkward too. Sungjin was 20 years old, practically an adult, and Jungkook was barely 16! We didn't agree with Sungjin courting Jungkook at all, and we didn't want him around us anymore, but this little altercation reached the ears of both our parents and his, and somehow we were the ones getting scolded. They asked us to indulge the boy and be his friend because his parents were very important."