Requested by rayofsunshine_1d
Taekook
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"You look like a chicken's middle toe," Taehyung said to Jungkook.
"What? How?" Hoseok asked, clearly confused.
"And you look like a bean sprout," Jungkook sang. He ignored Hoseok's raised eyebrow.
"Isn't that a compliment?" Taehyung asked. "Plus... that was kind of lame."
"What? No!"
"What in the world are you two on...?" Hoseok shook his head. "You know, actually, forget that I ever asked. I don't need to know."
Jungkook started laughing. "It's just a joke, don't worry hyung! Me and V hyung have this game where we tease each other and the person who has the best roast wins!"
"I won today," Taehyung added. "Your bean sprout one was lame."
Hoseok frowned. "Sounds amazing. Very fun."
"It is!"
Truthfully, it wasn't like Taehyung was a big fan of the game. He was more of a "sensitive" person and took everything personally. But Jungkook loved it. And Taehyung played it because of that. Jungkook was also stressed and exhausted during the tours, so Taehyung wanted to help him calm down. They had played the game for weeks.
Taehyung had a few sensitive points about himself that he wished that Jungkook didn't tease him about, but for the most part, it was fine. It was just harmless fun.
"We have twenty minutes left, don't forget that," Hoseok said seriously.
"We won't forget, don't worry," Jungkook said. "I'm just as serious as you, don't worry."
"Good."
Taehyung and Jungkook didn't have any time to talk anymore. They headed out of the dressing rooms and into the main backstage area. The staff helped them get into their positions. The other members joined them one by one. Slowly, Taehyung forgot about how he looked like a bean sprout. Jungkook forgot how he looked like a chicken's middle toe.
They had to be serious now.
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He really did try. Every time he performed, he put his everything into it. But by the end of every show, there was always something that he had screwed up.
Taehyung knew that he wasn't a perfect singer, but damn, he really did try. So when he heard his voice crack during a song, the embarrassment kicked in. He knew the others had all heard it. Heck, Jin had even looked surprised. Even worse, Taehyung wondered about what the fans were thinking.
He did try.
The whole time, he thought about that mistake. All that practice, all that hard work, all of it meant nothing. He couldn't help but beat himself up for it.
He walked gloomily down the hallway to get changed. His clothes were all sweaty, adding to his misery.
"Hey Taehyung," Jimin said. He caught up to him and grabbed his hand. Looking at Taehyung, Jimin seemed to know what he was thinking of. "You did great today."
"I messed up." Taehyung frowned. "It was really bad."
"It was just once," Jimin said. He smiled gently. "There were thousands of opportunities to mess up, yet you only did once. You did great Taehyung, you really did."
Taehyung nodded. "If you say so."
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Most of the others didn't directly address it. Hoseok noticed that Taehyung looked upset and hugged him, but he didn't mention anything. Taehyung was miserable the entire time. He sat on the couch, head in his hands, while they waited for their car to arrive.
All of a sudden, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Looking up, he saw it was Jungkook, who had a big grin on his face.
"Hyung, I have a very good one for you!"
"What?" Taehyung asked tiredly.
"You know that time when your voice cracked," Jungkook exclaimed. "You sounded like a dying cow!"
Taehyung stared at him, trying to understand what exactly Jungkook had said. His face got red. He took a quick glance around to see if anybody had heard. Nobody had.
"Jungkook... I... don't have any. Yeah, you win."
Jungkook frowned. "You're supposed to say something back!" He noticed the hurt look in Taehyung's gaze and the smile slowly faded from his face. "Wait... hyung, did I, did I hurt you? It was just a joke, I swear. I-I didn't mean anything bad, I promise."
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Taehyung said. Jungkook reluctantly left, leaving Taehyung to tear himself apart even more.
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Taehyung didn't talk to Jungkook for the rest of the evening. Jungkook didn't know what to say. Seeing how upset Taehyung looked, he knew he had said or done something wrong, but he didn't know how to approach the situation.
Jungkook felt guilty. He thought Taehyung had been aware that the whole roasting game was just supposed to be fun and silly, but obviously Taehyung had taken something to heart.
He didn't know what to do.
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"Did something wrong Taehyung?" Namjoon asked. "You're normally not this quiet."
"He's upset about the mistake that he made today," Jimin said. "I tried to explain to him that it's okay and not a big deal, but he didn't listen and..."
"It takes some time Jimin. You can't just get over things that easily," Jin said. He glanced at Taehyung. "It really is okay though Tae."
"I know it's just..." Jimin sighed.
Jungkook glanced at Taehyung, who was looking down at his lap. He looked so upset. The guilt choked Jungkook up even more. He really shouldn't have said that to him. He hadn't known that Taehyung had gotten so disappointed in himself. Jungkook wouldn't have said it if he had known!
"Go get some sleep Taehyung," Yoongi said. "If you get some rest, this miserable feeling will pass."
Taehyung nodded. He rose wordlessly from the dining table and headed off to his hotel room. He didn't say anything to anybody. Jungkook twisted his lip watching him leave. He needed to do something to make it up to him... it was nagging at his mind now.
"He'll be okay soon, don't worry guys," Hoseok said.
"He needs some time to himself, yeah," Jin said. "He'll be fine."
The others didn't know about Jungkook's little comment. Thankfully they didn't or else Jungkook would have to feel the guilt ten times as worse.
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Jungkook went to bed an hour later. The others had continued talking about the concert and what things they wanted to fix for next time, but he hadn't contributed much. He felt disconnected.
When he did finally get back to his room and get into his bed, he still felt that way. His heart was thumping hard. The guilty feeling was just as strong. Jungkook briefly thought of texting Taehyung but decided against it. Taehyung probably wasn't going to see it until the morning anyway. Maybe Taehyung was already asleep.
Maybe he had gotten over it already and was peacefully underneath the covers, thinking of Yeontan and fuzzy T-shirts.
Jungkook had a feeling that wasn't the case.
He lay awake for nearly forty-five minutes before he decided on something. Staying here was only making things worse for him. He wasn't going to be able to sleep unless he talked to Taehyung or was, at least, next to him. Talking to people was always scary for Jungkook, but he needed to clear this disagreement up and comfort Taehyung if he needed to.
Jungkook slid out of his bed. He threw a hoodie on. He wasn't going to walk in the hallway with only his thin pajamas on. Sliding his feet into his sneakers, he snuck out of his room. He had a key to all of the rooms of the members. The others had told him to keep them safe.
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"V hyung?"
Jungkook carefully opened the door and slipped inside. The room was dimly lit with one of the lamps. Taehyung wasn't in any of the beds. The bathroom door was shut tightly, little streams of light coming through the edges.
"Taehyung hyung?"
Jungkook crept closer to the bathroom door and put his ear against it. If Taehyung was doing something in there, he really didn't want to hear it, but he had a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't right today.
He was right. Inside, he could hear someone crying. Fuck. Jungkook had made him cry. Oh no.
"Hyung?"
Taehyung didn't reply. Jungkook's worry grew.
It felt wrong, but Jungkook decided to open the door. Yes, he was aware that Taehyung might not have his clothes on or whatever, but something was very clearly wrong and Jungkook's concern had overflowed its normal amounts.
Taehyung was sitting with his back to the wall. Thankfully, Jungkook noticed quickly, he had proper clothes on. It would've been kind of awkward if he didn't. There were tears streaming down his face. His eyes were red.
"I'm really sorry hyung, I really am," Jungkook mumbled. He crouched down next to Taehyung. "I didn't mean anything bad, I promise."
Taehyung shook his head. His breathing picked up. He let out a sob.
"Hyung..."
Jungkook wrapped his arms around Taehyung. Taehyung buried himself in his grip. He continued crying just like he had before, only now everything was contained in Jungkook's chest. Jungkook decided to start rocking him back and forth to calm him down. Back and forth, back and forth... slowly...
Taehyung put his arms around Jungkook's neck. Jungkook didn't react. He kept trying to soothe Taehyung, kept trying to keep him comfortable and calm.
"I'm a mess, I'm sorry," Taehyung said into his chest.
"No you're not," Jungkook said back. "Also, don't apologize for anything. I'm the one who screwed up."
Taehyung let out a half-hearted laugh. Jungkook felt him shake in his arms.
"No you didn't. You couldn't possibly have known."
"No I shouldn't have said anything when I saw that you were clearly upset about it."
Taehyung sighed. He sat up and frantically wiped his face. Jungkook stood up and grabbed a tissue from the counter. Sitting back down, he pulled Taehyung's hands away from his face. Jungkook gently started wiping Taehyung's tears away.
"I'm not good enough at singing," Taehyung said under his breath as Jungkook was doing so.
"Yeah, you're fine."
"It's very easy for you to say, you know." Taehyung gave him a watery smile. "You're main vocalist Jeon Jungkook."
Jungkook shook his head. He handed the tissue to Taehyung before placing his hands on his shoulders.
"You can improve. I can improve too. We can all improve in many ways," he said slowly. "But the important thing is, that improvement needs to happen with a positive mindset. You can't be all negative on yourself and... you know...?"
"I know, I know..." Taehyung sighed.
"I'm really sorry," Jungkook said.
Taehyung nodded, sniffing. He was starting to tear up again. He quickly looked away from Jungkook. He decided to bring up the other thing that was on his mind before he went into a full on crying session again.
"Um... Jungkook...?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you for coming here right now and-"
"Yeah, no problem." Jungkook patted his shoulder. "I care about you a lot. You know that right?"
"Yeah," Taehyung said. He shook his head. "The other thing is um... you know how you like that game that we play?"
"The teasing game?"
"Yeah... it's just... can we change it up a bit? Maybe so we aren't like roasting each other? I know you like it, but the thing is, I... am kind of sensitive and-"
"Don't worry hyung, I understand," Jungkook said. "If it makes you sad like this, we need to change it up for sure. We need to come up with a new game then, right?"
"Yeah."
"Do you have any-"
"I have an idea though," Taehyung said. He wiped his eyes quickly before continuing. "Listen. What if we try to make up our own dad jokes?"
"We're going to act like Jin hyung?"
"Eh... kinda yeah..."
Jungkook thought for a moment, then lit up. "Yes, I got it. We should make them up and then test it out on Yoongi hyung. Whichever one he groans the most at is the best one."
"Yes!"
"Good plan!"
"Yes!" Taehyung laughed.
"Okay," Jungkook said. He helped Taehyung stand up. He pointed to the clock. "If you take a look right here, it says it's part three in the morning right now. Let's go to sleep now and we can figure this out more in the morning."
"Okay." Taehyung nodded. "Can you... uh... stay with me?"
"Yeah, sure thing!"
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Jungkook had to secretly admit, making Yoongi cringe was much better than making Taehyung cry. It didn't make him feel guilty (it actually made him feel quite proud of himself) and best of all, he knew that Taehyung was on board with everything.
Hopefully, Taehyung would stop beating himself up for his mistakes. Jungkook wanted him to win that game more than anything.
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man, i remember watching that speech thing. i'm not big on crying but damn, even my eyes started sweating lmao
anywho, thanks for reading <3
2118 words