Brighter Days || Taekook

Part 9

March 9th is Yoongi's birthday. Taehyung doesn't find out about it until midnight, because no one really thought to tell him. It's nothing special. Everyone congratulates him. Jin calls, and relatively soon after, they go to sleep; early the next morning they'll be back at the company.

"I'm sorry we couldn't buy you anything," he overhears Namjoon saying to Yoongi over coffee, while they're in the kitchen with Hoseok. Taehyung's probably not meant to hear this conversation.

"You know that I don't mind. I don't need any presents. The one thing I wish for can't be bought with money, and you know that."

"To debut," Hoseok sighs, "isn't that all our birthday wishes?"

"Maybe by next year it'll already have come true," Namjoon says. Taehyung notices how he tries to sound hopeful, but there's bitterness in his voice that makes him swallow.

Jin brings a cake to the studio, and when Yoongi blows out the one candle on top of it with his eyes closed, Taehyung knows exactly what he wishes for at that moment.

It had never occurred to Taehyung that the other boys might not have much money either. Since the company provides them with necessities like food and the dorm, it's a topic that doesn't really come up. Jin might be the exception, considering he owns an actual car.

He wonders how much of an allowance the company gives the other boys per month. He knows that with the money he gets and the little savings he has, he won't be able to pay for the rent of his shabby room much longer.

It's a decision he soon has to make, whether he should take the risk and quit the contract. He's not quite sure if he's confident enough to believe that he won't get kicked out of the company again. It's one thing to be a prostitute with a home, but it's an entirely different thing to be a prostitute without one. Taehyung knows that. He's been there before for the first two months after he ran away.

"What's going on in your pretty little head?" Hoseok asks.

Taehyung blinks as he comes back to his surroundings, not having realized that he drifted off into his mind.

He doesn't like that Hoseok called him pretty. He knows it's just a set phrase, but the only people that have ever called him pretty were his clients, and Taehyung really doesn't want to be reminded of them.

"Nothing really," he replies, having the urge to walk away from this conversation. But then he remembers what Namjoon told him -- he doesn't interact enough with the other members -- and he can't be a part of Bangtan Sonyeondan if he doesn't have at least somewhat of a pretense of friendship with them.

"Actually I was thinking about that one dance move we learned the other day. I think I still don't get it right."

Taehyung knows for a fact that he gets it right, but he shows Hoseok an altered version of it that's deliberately wrong. Hoseok seems ecstatic to help him work on it.

If there's one thing that Taehyung knows, it's that Hoseok can dance. He's so ridiculously good at it, that it's not even fair.

Seokjin envies him. He's not shy about mentioning the way he wishes he could move like Hoseok does, but according to him his muscles just don't work the way they are supposed to.

Jungkook looks up to him. He tries to imitate his moves and frowns when he gets it wrong.

Taehyung envies him as well. He's the main dancer of the team. He's got no real competition. He's got a fixed space in the band. They need him in it just as much as he needs them to debut. His rap is still mediocre. Hoseok knows that, and everyone else knows it too.