Jungkook was now 12, and Taehyung was 14.
Jungkook had just started his first year at secondary school at the same school as Taehyung. This worried Jungkook because he didn't want to see Taehyung. Taehyung had betrayed his trust and broken his promise, leaving Jungkook alone. It caused Jungkook to isolate himself for his last year in primary school and he planned on isolating himself this year too.
For the first week, Jungkook was lucky and hadn't seen Taehyung once. It was a big school with many people, making it easy for Jungkook to find corners to disappear into, where no one will notice him. Yet, he wasn't so lucky in the second week. It was Wednesday lunchtime, and Jungkook was on his way to his hiding spot when he saw them. Taehyung and a dark haired boy, walking down the corridor towards him, laughing like best friends. It made Jungkook's heart pang and twist. That should be him beside Taehyung laughing. That was him in the past, but now was the present, and some other boy stood beside him.
Jungkook looked up and down the corridor trying to find an exit to run and hide into, he didn't want to see this, he didn't want to see him. Though, just as Jungkook was about to dart into a classroom until they passed, he was spotted.
"Jungkook!" Taehyung yelled out to him, beaming brightly and waving at him. Jungkook's heart wrenched at the familiarity of this moment. His voice was still the same, if not just slightly deeper. His smile was the same rectanglular shape as he remembered, and the way he waved, reminded him of all the times he'd done that before. And Jungkook froze like a deer in headlights, with no where to go or hide.
Taehyung jogged up to him, the dark haired boy in tow, and pulled him into a bear crushing hug.
"Oh my god! Jungkook, it's been so long! You've finally made it to big school I see!" Taehyung said loudly and happily as he stepped back from Jungkook slightly, holding him at arms length, looking him up and down. But Jungkook wasn't happy. He stared at the ground, avoiding eye contact. This didn't worry Taehyung though, he figured Jungkook was just being shy.
"You know this kid?" The dark haired boy asked from behind Taehyung.
Taehyung, suddenly remembering he was there and thinking that this must be why Jungkook was being shy, casually slung an arm around Jungkook's shoulders and responded proudly with, "Yeah! This is my childhood best friend, Jungkook!"
His words and actions annoyed Jungkook. How dare he ignore Jungkook for almost two years and then suddenly act like they never spent that time apart. They weren't best friends anymore. Jungkook shrugged out of Taehyung's arms, stepping away and scoffed.
"Was." He said bitterly.
Taehyung looked at him in shock, surprised with Jungkook's actions. He was no longer the shy cute loving boy who looked up to him with such admiration, the boy that looked back at him had changed. The boy that looked at him now held coldness and hurt in his eyes, and Taehyung couldn't help but wonder what had happened to cause this innocent boy to change so much.
"J-Jungkook..." Taehyung stuttered, not sure where to start, or what to ask. But he didn't get the chance to even try before the boy had turned away, leaving Taehyung confused, staring after his retreating figure, and trying to work out if he should chase after him.
"Well, he seemed charming." The dark haired boy, Jimin, said to try and lighten the mood.
"He i-was," Taehyung quickly corrected himself, "I don't know what happened." He said, voice sounding like he was far away in thoughts.
Jimin took Taehyung's arm and led him away, sensing that Taehyung didn't want to say any more on the matter.
Jungkook watched the dark haired boy lead Taehyung away from afar, and the anger and hurt consumed him. He thought he didn't care anymore, but seeing Taehyung with a new friend and acting like old times with him again, brought all the feelings he'd buried and locked in a box come rushing out at once. Of course he still cared, of course he still missed his best friend. Taehyung was the only true friend he'd known his whole life. He just wanted his friend back. He didn't want to be alone anymore. But, Taehyung had broken that, and he wouldn't forgive him so easily for that.
He sighed and slouched down the wall, exhausted.
For the next few weeks, Jungkook and Taehyung seemed to be playing hide and seek. Except, Taehyung was always seeking, and Jungkook was always hiding. Jungkook was winning too, until one day, he walked round a corner right into Taehyung, because he had his eyes down.
Taehyung held onto Jungkook trying to balance them both from the shock of bumping into each other, his grip tightening slightly when he realised who had walked into him.
"Jungkook." Taehyung said softly, surprised.
Jungkook flinched when Taehyung spoke, realising he'd walked straight into the one person he was trying to avoid. He tried to break free from Taehyung's grip but Taehyung only gripped tighter still.
"We need to talk." Taehyung spoke again, sternly this time.
"There's nothing to talk about." Jungkook muttered, still squirming around in Taehyung's hold.
"Jungkook, please? Why are you doing this? Why are you avoiding me?" Taehyung's voice was now laced with desperation, causing Jungkook to look up in surprise. Why would Taehyung care? He didn't before.
Though, as Jungkook glanced up, he noticed the same dark haired boy from before standing behind Taehyung, giving them some space, and anger sparked in Jungkook.
"Let go of me." Jungkook spat at Taehyung, but he didn't budge.
"Let's talk." Taehyung responded, using the same tone of voice as him.
This shocked Jungkook, as he'd never heard Taehyung use such a harsh tone on him before, ever. But he quickly recollected himself and replied, enounciating each word carefully, "I said, let go."
Taehyung ignored him, however, and turned to the dark haired boy. "Go see the others, I'll catch up soon." He then proceeded to drag Jungkook into an empty classroom shutting the door behind him, and standing near it, arms folded, to stop Jungkook from attempting to leave.
"Taehyung, let me go. I have nothing to talk about with you." Jungkook hissed.
"Well, it's nice to know you're not avoiding me because you've forgotten me, I guess." Taehyung hissed back, and then sighed. He knew Jungkook could be stubborn, and he was never a big talker about feelings either, and being forceful or harsh wasn't going to get him to talk. So, he changed tactics, and when he next spoke, he spoke softly. "What happened to you, Jungkook?"
Jungkook looked anywhere around the room, but not at Taehyung, and kept silent. He hoped that Taehyung would eventually give up and let him go, but Taehyung wasn't planning on letting the boy go until he got to the bottom of the situation. Taehyung pulled up a chair and sat down.
"We can sit here all day until you tell me, Jungkook."
"No, we can't. Lunch will be over soon, we both have tutor and lessons to go to, and I'm sure this classroom will be in use too."
"Actually, it isn't. It's free all afternoon now, and I'm happy to skip last lesson, if it means you'll talk."
There was something about Taehyung's tone that told Jungkook he wasn't bluffing. But, he wasn't going to budge either. They both stayed like that, Taehyung sat with his arms crossed, watching Jungkook and waiting, while Jungkook stood there, looking at the floor and scuffing his toes, waiting for Taehyung to grow bored. They both knew Jungkook was the more stubborn one of the pair. Except, Taehyung, when he really wanted something, could be just as stubborn as Jungkook.
Ten minutes passed, and neither of them said a word.
Twenty minutes passed, and Jungkook began to grow restless standing up for so long, while Taehyung still hadn't budged.
Thirty minutes later, and Jungkook was now sat cross legged on the floor, fiddling with his fingers. Taehyung still hadn't moved.
Forty minutes finally went by, and the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch and the beginning of tutor. While Jungkook wasn't so worried about missing twenty minutes of tutor, he was worried about missing last lesson. He didn't want to be sat here with Taehyung staring at him for another hour, so began plotting in his head ways to escape. Maybe he could take Taehyung by surprise, push the chair over and dart out of the room before he had a chance to recover. Jungkook knew he could be fast.
Taehyung could sense Jungkook's restlessness and spoke up. "You going to talk now?"
"You don't even care. It doesn't matter." Jungkook mumbled.
"I don't care?" Taehyung laughed. "Do you think, if I really didn't care, I would've wasted forty minutes sat here with you in silence, when I could've eaten lunch with my friends instead? I'm starving." As if on cue, his stomach grumbled.
Jungkook went quiet. Taehyung had a point, why would he sit here with Jungkook, if he didn't care? Yet, Jungkook wasn't going to let himself fall into a trap so easily, he wasn't going to talk just yet.
"Then, why do you care now?" He asked quietly, almost hesitantly.
"What? What do you mean 'now'?" Taehyung looked at him confused, "Jungkook-"
"I mean, why do you care now, Taehyung? You broke your promise, and made it perfectly clear how much you really care. So, let me go. I'm done talking." Jungkook interrupted, trying to remain calm. He didn't want Taehyung to know how much it affected him that he left. He didn't want Taehyung to know that he was hurting alone. He wanted Taehyung to think he was doing fine.
"Broke my promise? Jungkook, what are you talking about?"
"Forget it. If you don't know, it doesn't matter. Go back to your new best friend. I'm sure he misses you right now, and is wondering where you are. I'm sure he cares. I, however, don't. I want to leave, and go to my last lesson in peace." Jungkook folded his arms and stared Taehyung down, waiting for him to move so he could get up and leave. Taehyung stared back, processing Jungkook's words, realisation dawning over his face. Taehyung couldn't stop himself from laughing.
"What? What's so funny?" Jungkook frowned, wondering what he said wrong.
"Jungkook? Are you jealous?" Taehyung said between gasps of laughter.
Jungkook's frown deepened. "Jealous? No."
"Yes! Yes, you are." Taehyung was still laughing and it irked Jungkook.
"I'm not jealous!" He suddenly exclaimed loudly, causing Taehyung to stop laughing suddenly, and look at him shocked. "I'm hurt, okay?! You happy now?! You hurt me! You broke your promise, and left me all alone, and hurt me! I trusted you to not break that promise, and you broke it!"
Taehyung's eyes widened at Jungkook's words, finally fully understanding what the issue was. Jungkook felt the dam inside of him break, he'd finally spoken out his emotions and he couldn't stop the tears from finally falling. These tears and emotions had been building up, wanting to break free since his 11th birthday, and now that they were free, they weren't going to stop any time soon.
Taehyung quickly rushed forward and held the boy in his arms, much like he had done the time before, when Jungkook had cried because Taehyung was leaving for big school. The memory of the moment came back to him, and he remembered the words he'd promised. How he had promised to see Jungkook every day, but he hadn't seen him once in over a year. Now, he could understand why Jungkook was acting so cold, and was avoiding him.
"Jungkook, I'm so sorry. Promising to see you every day was probably a bit much, I thought you'd understand. I just wanted you to be able to make your own friends and not have to rely on me so much, while you spent your last couple of years in primary school. I just wanted you to build some confidence for yourself." Taehyung explained, as he rubbed circles into the boys back to soothe him.
"I'm not so worried about that part of the promise..." He mumbled between sobs.
"But..." Taehyung thought hard about what he promised that day, but could only remember two things, "The only other thing I promised was to always be your best friend."
"Exactly. Where have you been? Where were you on my 11th birthday? We never skipped events, yet you weren't there. You left a card with no emotion. You were gone. You never even messaged me either. For over a year, Taehyung, there was nothing from you but emptiness. Not seeing me I could understand, but not talking to me once, I couldn't. What sort of best friend does that? Then I come here, and see you walking down the corridor with your new best friend, laughing like we used to. You replaced me. You promised you would never do that, and you did." Jungkook pushed himself out of Taehyung's embrace, and wiped his tears away feeling the anger seep back in.
Taehyung hung his head in shame. He knew Jungkook was right. He did a terrible job of being a best friend. He had hoped Jungkook would understand his actions, as they always understood each other, but he understood now, that his actions weren't portraying what he thought he was portraying, and he had messed up. He had messed up big time.
"I... I don't know what to say... I know sorry won't cut it, and I did an awful job of being your best friend. I never meant to hurt you, or lose you. I never once not cared about you, or wondered how you were doing. I've always thought of you as my best friend, Jungkook, and I was so stupid. I shouldn't have stopped talking to you." He looked up at Jungkook, eyes watering, "I really am sorry, even if it means nothing to you."
Jungkook watched Taehyung silently, not knowing how to respond. He's wanted nothing more than his best friend for the past year, and now that he had his chance, he couldn't understand why he was hesitating. Despite Taehyung breaking his promise, he still trusted him. He still believed in him deep down. But he also knew it wouldn't be easy to forgive Taehyung right away. A lot of things had changed for the both of them in the past year, they wouldn't be able to go back to the way they used to be completely.
Taehyung seemed to understand exactly what he was thinking though, because as if reading his mind, he said, "I'm not asking you to forgive me right away, or for us to go back to how things were, because that would be impossible." The bell rang, signalling the last lesson, but neither boy cared at this point. "But, maybe we can start over?" Taehyung finished hesitantly, afraid of Jungkook's answer.
After only a slight hesitation, Jungkook nodded his head and smiled a little, causing Taehyung to smile brightly back and engulf him into a big hug.
"I've missed you so much, Kookie!"
Jungkook let out a laugh and hugged back, "I've missed you so much too, Tae-Tae."