Sugar Daddy

Chapter Five: Rocky Road

By the time Taehyung knocks on Yoongi and Hobi's door, his mind has flickered between hopeful, worried, pessimistic, and forlorn. He doesn't know what to do about the Jungkook situation, nor does he know if he should tell his friends--considering one of them is also his boss.

"Finally!" Hobi cries as he throws the door open, yanking Taehyung into a giant hug that the boy automatically reciprocates, "I've missed you, Taehyungie!" he adds which only has the curly-haired boy giggling.

"You saw me last week!" Taehyung squeaks, the strength of Hobi's hug knocking the wind out of him. Finally, the boy lets go, giving Taehyung space to breathe while he smiles down at him, ruffling his curly hair.

"Yeah, but that was last week. I feel like it's been forever!" Hobi says, dragging Taehyung into the apartment. In the kitchen, Yoongi is getting different drinks out of the fridge while Hobi takes Taehyung into the living room.

"What goodies did you bring tonight?" Yoongi asks, noticing the bag in Taehyung's hand is different from the usual cheap plastic bags; instead, it is a pastel-striped paper bag with gold lettering on it.

"So the usual shop I go to closed down, and I found this confectionary awhile ago when getting my lollipops," Taehyung says quietly, moving into the kitchen to set down the bag and start pulling out the goodies within it, "The shop owner was really nice and he gave me a discount on some of this stuff," Taehyung adds as he takes the ice cream, cookies, truffles, and other items out of the bag.

"He gave you a discount?" Yoongi asks as he approaches the table.

"Rewind; the shop owner is a he?! Did you get his name? Is he cute? Single--" Yoongi elbows Hobi to stop the boy from babbling, giving him an incredulous stare, "What I'm not asking for me! I'm asking for Taehyung!" Hobi's words have Taehyung laughing softly.

"I know his name, he is single--well divorced--and he has a kid..." Taehyung says and Yoongi smiles lightly.

"Just your type. Broken and with a crazy little tyrant to boot," Yoongi teases, and Taehyung elbows him. He finishes unpacking the sweets as Yoongi and Hobi dig through them, deciding what they want to eat first. Yoongi grabs a bag of caramel corn, Hobi the chocolate truffles, and Taehyung the pint of ice cream. Taehyung's mind is still in a whirl when the three of them move to the living room, settling in with their goodies and their drinks as Hobi puts on a movie all three of them love and have seen numerous times. Taehyung sits on the left side, Yoongi in the middle, and Hobi on the right, all staring at the large tv screen across the way.

Yet Taehyung doesn't laugh at the normally hilarious parts. He doesn't say his favorite lines or hum to his favorite songs. He just sits there, staring into space with the ice cream slowly melting in his hands. After about thirty minutes of this, Yoongi has enough. He pauses the movie, turns to Taehyung, and pulls the carton out of his hands.

"Hey, I wanted that," Taehyung pouts, snapping out of his self-induced insanity.

"Did you? Because you haven't touched it for the last thirty minutes, and I don't think ice cream ingestion works through osmosis," Yoongi teases before giving Taehyung a small soft smile, "What's up?" Just that smile and those two words cause Taehyung to break and he lets out a long sigh, curling his legs to his chest as he looks over at his two friends while building up courage. He glances over Yoongi's face then to Hobi who is also silently smiling at him, encouraging him to speak his mind once and for all.

"The sweet shop owner is Momo's dad...you know the kid in my class I keep telling you about...?" Taehyung mumbles and Yoongi freezes, looking at Taehyung with a quirked brow.

"Really? Does the shopkeeper know you're Momo's teacher?" Yoongi asks before Taehyung shakes his head no, "And are you thinking of pursuing a relationship or something?" he adds which has Taehyung blushing.