Chapter eleven:
The truth about it
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"What?"
"You heard me. I'm hungry."
With that, Taehyung released the male's collar and went back to lying down.
Now Jungkook was confused. He had just landed a straight on the male's jaw and dragged him upstairs and the first thing he said was "I'm hungry"?
Choosing not to question the logic behind the statement, and that was a very very wise decision, Jungkook stood up.
"Haven't eaten anything besides those cinnamon rolls?"
"No."
"Okay then." He said, walking in the direction of the kitchen. "Give me a minute."
-
"45 minutes!" Taehyung yelled from his room, a.k.a not exactly his room, a.k.a his folding couch, a.k.a bedroom which was originally a sitting area.
"Oh shut up!" Jungkook yelled back from the kitchen. "You'd be an idiot to think anyone could prepare a meal in 1 minute."
"Fine." Taehyung grumbled, finally deciding to go to the kitchen and see the work in progress after 40 minutes of mental debate.
"What're you making?" He asked as he entered the kitchen. The two rooms were practically connected if not for the wall in between, making it a short trip from his 'room' to the kitchen. Just as he'd entered, the younger turned around with a plate of-
"White sauce pasta!"
Setting it down on the table, Jungkook pulled out a chair for the other.
"Enjoy."
Excitedly Taehyung sat down on the chair, not before doing a little dance to express his joy.
"Did you cut up little sausages to go with these?" Taehyung asked because that was an essential part. The younger male had prepared this dish for him once but he'd forgotten to add sausages the last time.
"Well, not exactly tiny but I made octopus sausages." Jungkook said, bringing the plate of them from the counter. "These okay?"
"Even better!" Taehyung exclaimed, happily taking the plate from his hands and digging in. He hadn't realized how hungry he'd been this entire time until he took the first bite. The delicious blend of white sauce and cheese left a tingling feeling on his tongue causing the male to release a deep sigh.
"Oh, it's amazing."
The younger nodded as a sign of acknowledgment to the compliment, taking a seat across the other.
"You're really okay with that?"
"What? The pasta? Of course!"
"No. Not the pasta you idiot." Jungkook said, leaning back against the chair and shutting his eyes. "Me punching and dragging you."
"I guess."
"You guess?" The male said looking up.
"Listen," Taehyung began, pointing at the male with his spoon. "I was more hungry than angry, to be honest. Also, you had your reasons. Whatever that was, you'd kept it hidden for a reason. It's not my part to get mad for being nosy."
Then rubbing his jaw, the spot where Jungkook had punched him, he continued. "You really should stop resorting to violence though. Covering my eyes would've been less painful."
"I know." Jungkook agreed, tugging slightly at his hair. "It's just that- when it comes to you my brain just has no control over my hands."
Choosing not to comment any further to save his precious precious face from injury, Taehyung changed the topic of their conversation.
"What was there though? I mean, if you want to tell me that is." He said, bringing his hands up to protect his face.
"Ah. Actually." Jungkook said with a tight smile. "It's- It's for Jiminie."
What!? No. No. No. There was no way he'd be accepting Jungkook as a love rival. Ah, not that Taehyung was in love with Jimin or anything. Yes, he found the guy attractive and cute and loved his smile but no. He wouldn't call that love exactly. It was just...
"Y-You like Jimin?"
"What the fuck? No!" Jungkook said, scrunching his face in disgust. "The dude's basically a brother to me."
"Then why-"
"It's a form of apology I guess?"
"Wait. Why-"
Jungkook banged his head on the table, exhaling loudly. "In short, Jimin is the way he is because of me."
"You mean... You made him go deaf?" Taehyung asked, not being able to assess what the other was trying to tell him.
"God Taehyung, no!" Jungkook exclaimed, releasing a sigh of frustration. "How do I put this... He- Well Jimin is on this um... Level of kindness where he'd prefer suffering to seeing a loved one suffer."
The male paused.
Taehyung felt bad for being so nosy and asking him these questions. It must have been a painful memory, given the way he was behaving. Before Taehyung could get a word out though, Jungkook spoke.
"Joon and I... We were making our monthly visit to the city and Yoongi asked us to take Jimin along with us. He needed to get new hearing aids so like... We took him along."
"Hearing aids? You mean Jimin wasn't born deaf?"
"No. He'd been hard of hearing at birth but it got worse over the years and now he can't hear anymore. Mostly my fault."
-
"You sure the two of you are going to be okay on your own?" Namjoon asked eyeing the two males before him.
"Of course, Joon. Stop worrying." Jungkook said flashing the other a thumbs up. "Now you go meet that friend of yours."
"Ok then. I'm leaving Jimin in your care."
With that, the older got into his truck and drove away. Once the older was gone and out of sight, Jungkook turned to Jimin.
"Now that we've completed whatever we had to do, wanna go check out my favorite place? I go there every single time I'm here."
Excited, Jimin nodded his head. "Sure."
Having received approval Jungkook stretched out his arm to point in the direction of where they had to go. "Right this way then."
The two walked down the street, chatting away and giggling every now and then. It had been quite a long time since they last were alone like that. It felt nice.
"Is this place the one where you met you know who?" Jimin said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Park Jimin! Stop!" Jungkook scolded, a smile playing on his lips. "People might hear you."
"Sure, Kookie." Jimin said, giggly laughter leaving his lips. They stood by the pedestrian crossing waiting for the light to turn green.
"You still got that keyring he sold to you?"
"Yep." Jungkook said, reaching into his back pocket and bringing out an ugly-ass glass of beer keyring. "Hideous but still got it."
No matter how ugly it was, Jungkook still cherished it. He proudly displayed it to the male beside him.
"I'd die if I were to lose this."
Just then something very very cliché happened. A scene right out of a novel happened. A passing pedestrian bumped into Jungkook, knocking the keys out of his hands and onto the road. Without so much as a second thought, he ran after it. Keyring safe in his grasp, the male turned to flash Jimin a smile at his success. Instead of seeing him there with a smile though, Jungkook saw a very very worried Jimin running towards him.
"Kookie! Watch out!"
-
Taehyung was at a complete and utter loss for words. So much information had been jammed into his head that he no longer knew how to react. Not only was the male now aware of Jimin's tragic backstory, but he also had a hunch about who Jungkook's secret crush possibly was.
"We'd been working our asses off to ensure that Jiminie got proper treatment. His treatment had already started late in the first place due to a lack of money. And then I just had to go ahead and prevent that from happening."
Jungkook closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to compose himself.
"He's the reason why you sold your paintings?" Taehyung asked taking a wild guess.
"Yeah. There was only so much a magic store could earn." Jungkook said with a small smile.
Taehyung would be lying if that smile didn't urge him to lean forward and pull the other into a hug. But he wouldn't. He didn't want to upset the other further. Instead, he just sat put and continued asking questions like always.
"If you sold paintings for Jimin's treatment then why are you still selling them? I mean, if the damage is as bad as you've mentioned."
"Oh that... They're for his legs."
"His... Legs?" Taehyung asked, not sure he was ready to hear what would leave Jungkook's lips next.
"Ah. You might not have noticed when you met him before but..." Resting his face on his right hand, arm propped up on the table, Jungkook continued. "Not only did my heroic stunt damage Jimin's auditory nerve, apparently it decided to give him spinal cord injury too."
Smiling to push back the tears from having to admit to such a painful memory, Jungkook looked Taehyung in the eyes.
"Paraplegia."
Taehyung didn't know what to say. He honestly didn't. There was nothing he could possibly say to make the male feel any better.
"The cost for treatment is twice as much now. We've been paying for his medication to prevent further spinal damage but we don't have enough for physical therapy."
Pushing aside all fear, Taehyung walked over to the other side of the table and pulled Jungkook into a tight hug. This was the only thing he could think of. He felt the younger stiffen at his hug and expected to be pushed away.
Instead, Jungkook relaxed and much to Taehyung's surprise hugged him back. To think that he'd been Joonie's friend for more than five years now and was still unaware of this back story. Taehyung felt like a shitrag of a friend.
This night had indeed been a long long night for the two. It marked a turning point in a relationship that had taken off with a rough start. This connection, this tie, this bond that had grown in this one night would be the holding glue to their future relationship.
It was certainly a night to remember for the two males. There was nothing that could sever this tie that the two had woven together. Maybe Taehyung had been wrong about him. Maybe Jungkook actually was a-
"Fucking pervert!" Taehyung yelled, pushing the younger away and breaking the hug.
"Wha- I-"
"Why the fuck were you feeling me up?"
"What!?" Jungkook exclaimed, very very offended by this brash accusation.
"Nobody traces their hand down someone's back while sharing a hug! And that too the lower back!"
Oh my go- This guy!
"I did not fucking do that!" Jungkook yelled completely taken aback. "I was just fucking rubbing your back!"
"Oh."
Oh was all Taehyung had to say.
"Oh!? That's it? You accuse me of something I clearly had no intention of doing and all you have to say is 'Oh'!?"
"Ehe. I guess I was wrong?" Taehyung said, trying his best not to feel awkward about the mistake he made and laugh it off.
"You're fucking right about that at least. Now we know who the real pervert here is."
With that Jungkook stormed off to his room, not looking back once.
Oh well, so much for the new path their relationship had supposedly been expected to take.
As Taehyung lay down in bed that night, trying to drift off, a sudden realization dawned upon him.
Jungkook never really did answer his question.
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Well this chapter was comparatively lengthy. Hope it was to your liking.
Thank you so much for all your support dear readers.
Until the next chapter then.
Author T
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