First Place • Jikook •

•8•

"It'd be better for you to tell me on the way, y'know.", Hoseok suggested. "No.", Jungkook shook his head. They'd been walking for about two minutes until they reached a small storage closet in the basement, a ways past the lunchroom. Jungkook stopped in front of it and faced Hoseok, who had his arms folded, waiting for Jungkook to start explaining. With a loud sigh, Jungkook began explaining.

•••

"Where are those assholes??", Jimin muttered to himself. After searching the basement for about 5 minutes, he turned a corner and saw them both standing in front of a storage closet. He didn't know why, but he chickened out at the last minute and decided to hide, but he listened in on their conversation.

"So...ever since, around fifth grade...", Jungkook started talking.

"Is he confessing?!", Jimin thought. It filled him with rage that his best friend's best friend was confessing to his technically-not-boyfriend. He wanted to turn that corner and give them a piece of his mind.

"My parents have been abusing me. You remember how I came to school with all those bandages and bruises? Yeah...that's why. And it happened again yesterday...I'm kind of in pain right now, which is why it hurt when I shrugged...", he said, visibly trembling as he talked.

Jimin's eyes widened so much, he gave himself a headache. What had been anger that filled his entire being was now pure sadness. He never really hated Jungkook, now that he thought about it. It was just the whole "rival" thing that made it seem that way.

"It's gotten worse ever since. First, it was my father who started it, saying I was the reason that my mom left him...then my step-mother joined in. Some days, the only thing I get to eat is the lunch at school, my step-mom doesn't cook often. When she does, it's usually for three people, but when Namjoon left, she only cooked for two...herself and my dad..."

Hoseok's facial expression hadn't changed since Jungkook had started talking, he was just listening intently, as if he were a computer taking in information. Jimin, on the other hand, was crouched on the floor, bawling his eyes out. He's loud when he cries, so he was covering his mouth so aggressively that he might've left a handprint.

He thought to get up and run away, he couldn't bear to hear anymore, but his legs wouldn't move.

"What about the scar on your face? Who did that?", Hoseok finally opened his mouth. "My step-mother. She slapped me after some escalation because I left my book bag on the couch yesterday...", Jungkook said. Hoseok didn't respond for a while. "Come here...", he said, his arms open wide. Jungkook looked at him and shook his head. "No, I'm fine-"

He was cut off when Hoseok hugged him anyway. "Thanks for telling me...", he said, patting the back of Jungkook's head. It was quiet for a bit.

Around the corner, Jimin had stopped crying and finally got the strength to stand up and begin to walk away, but his heart was still heavy from what he heard.

Hoseok didn't expect Jungkook to cry or to even show any sort of vulnerability, he just wasn't the type of person to do so. So when he heard a sniffle, Hoseok's immediate instinct was to hug him tighter. Not only did Hoseok hear it, but Jimin heard it as well. One after the other. They both thought that would be it...

They were dead wrong.

Jungkook practically started wailing in Hoseok's arms. His cries sounded so pained and terribly upset, if no context was given, you would've thought Jungkook was being murdered. It seemed like he hadn't cried in ages and if he had held it in any longer, his body would break into tiny shards. Jungkook fell to his knees and continued to cry, Hoseok panicked and kneeled down with him.

Jimin straight up bolted down the hallway, when Jungkook started wailing. It was too much for him.

•••

It was time for first period and the bell rang. The students began to file out of the cafeteria and to their respective classes. Taehyung spotted Jimin running down the hall towards the lunchroom and stopped to call out for him. "Jimin!", he yelled. When Jimin looked towards him, Taehyung was shocked.

Why was his face so red? Why did he look so sad? Were Hoseok and Jungkook really together and was Jimin just sad to find out? Jimin, currently crying again, swiftly walked up to Taehyung, "T-Taehyung...J-Jungkook, he...he was-"

"Calm down, calm down! What did you see?", Taehyung asked, seriously confused about why Jimin was so sad. Jimin took a few breaths and calmed down a bit. "Jungkook's...being abused...b-by his parents...", Jimin used all of his willpower to say. "I know...Wait, how do you know?", Taehyung said. "H-he was telling Hoseok...and I overheard...", he nearly started to sob again.

"That's why they were together...where are they?", Taehyung said, relieved that it wasn't what he thought it was. "Around the corner a little bit past the lunchroom.", Jimin said, calm enough to form complete sentences. "...get to class, I'll be there in a bit, okay?", Taehyung sighed.

"Okay...", Jimin sniffled.

•••

"Does Taehyung know?", Hoseok asked. Jungkook nodded. "Have you ever considered telling someone else? Like someone of authority? Mr.Min would surely listen to you...", Hoseok said as they walked down the hall. Jungkook shook his head. "Who would I live with if I'm taken away from my parents?", he asked. "Well...I have my own house.", Hoseok suggested.

"How would you get legal custody? You're only three years older than me...", Jungkook shot down his suggestion. "You're right...I'll make it work.". Jungkook looked ahead of them and spotted Taehyung, who saw him at the same time. "Hey, I saw you guys walk past the lunchroom a while ago, what happened?", Taehyung asked, pretending not to know.

"Jungkook told me about his...family situation.", Hoseok answered. "Is he okay now?", Taehyung asked. "Yeah, he said he'll be fine, but I've never seen him cry like that before.", Hoseok sighed, sadness in his voice. "Walk him to class, I'll talk to him again after school.", he continued. Jungkook slowly walked over to Taehyung and Taehyung grabbed his wrist. "Thanks Hoseok...", Jungkook muttered before Taehyung began leading him to their class.

"Anytime...", Hoseok responded.