Let's rewind.

Taehyung clutched his bag straps tightly as he heard Jeongguk yell behind him. He pretended not to hear and continued walking, slightly increasing his pace. After he sent that text to Mr. Jeon, he stayed up nearly the entire night thinking of what he was going to do. Although he did disagree to Jeongguk's father's deal, he still wanted Jeongguk to go to Hong Kong. Taehyung knew what he was doing wasn't right, and it's definitely not what Jeongguk would've wanted. But Taehyung also knew that Jeongguk's mother was so damn important to him, that he'd been putting up with his father's shit for this long only for his mother.

Jeongguk had told him about Mrs. Jeon's weak mental health and how she seems to have blocked out the memories of what his father had done. She was living in her own little bubble where everything followed the same routine everyday. Taehyung was just not ready to risk her small world to be disrupted so heavily and put her in a state of pain just so his little school crush can live with him.

He thought over his plan all up until lunch, barely paying attention to class. He rehearsed all the lines he had come up with to say to his friends and Jennie. Once lunch came in, he was the first one out of the door along with Jimin, who's wrist was tightly in Taehyung's grasp so that he could drag him to go meet up with the boys in front of the cafeteria door as soon as he could.

Taehyung anxiously waited for all of them to arrive. To make this plan believable he needed as many people in on it — even if they didn't know. "Okay, guys. Jeongguk's going to come look for me. When he comes to ask you guys, tell him I'm by the storage room beside the big tree helping Ms. Yang."

Jin elbowed him while they all broke out into smiles. "You planning something big for the boy?"

"Are you asking him out again?"

"Never thought you'd turn to these mushy things."

"Ooo, I wonder what the surprise is? A hundred heart shaped ballons with his name? Giant poster? Flower petals falling from an unknown source as you grab him by the waist, place you forehead against his holding a single rose with the spare hand, to whisper in his e— okay, I'll stop," Hoseok rambled on.

"Well," Taehyung started, searching for the right words to say to his friends. "It's definitely going to be a surprise."

"We got you, man. Good luck!"

The silver-head nodded. "Thanks. Definitely gonna need it."

Perfect. Now, he's gotta get the girl that's going to make this a home run. Taehyung quickly rushed to the said storage room where he had texted Jennie to come and stay outside. She fortunately showed up and waited patiently.

"The fuck took you so long? Why'd you ask me to come here?" Jennie started as soon as she saw the male walk towards her.

"I need a favour. Please. I'll do anything, even set you and Jin up on a date."

Jennie groaned. "Whatever, I'm over him. Can you believe the guy?! He rather be with that bitch than me! I mean, yeah Irene is drop dead gorgeous, and perfect in all ways, clear skin, good grades, nice a– shit, she is better th–"

"Jennie, I really don't have time for this. He's probably on his way."

"Who's on–"

"Think of what the favour is later. Right now, I need you to pretend to flirt with me," Taehyung said, slightly lowering his tone in case Jeongguk somehow hears them with his super powers.

"Flirt–"

"Twirl your hair or something, lean into me."

"Jesus fucking Christ, stop cutting me off! Fine, I'll do it. You better explain this to me later." Jennie shook her head, took in a deep breath and got into character of the basic slutty mean girl almost instantly. She twirled her hair with a wide smile, leaning into the other as if she was tipsy. The corner of her eye caught motion, and as she glanced to check who it was, her eyes met with a boy. "Isn't that Jeong–"

Taehyung didn't need her to finish that sentence to know Jeongguk was behind them. He cut her of and grabbed her waist, pinned her against the shed, brought his face as close to hers as possible without contact and tilted his head.

"This wasn't a part of the deal!" she whispered-yelled through gritted teeth.

"Shh, just don't move."

Taehyung began bobbing his head lightly, just so that it looked a bit more realistic from Jeongguk's view. He continued that for another minute or so before Jennie got tired of it and leaned to the side. She saw the empty field and turned back the silver-head. "He's gone."

The boy finally was able to breathe. He turned around to confirm the fact that Jeongguk was gone. Taehyung moved to the side and leaned back against the storage room wall. "Thanks, Jennie. I owe you one."

"Yeah, you do." Jennie copied his action, she didn't really know why she still stood there with him. "So, what was all this act for?"

Taehyung sighed. He wasn't going to be able to let her in on all the details, but she deserved to at least know the intention. "I need Jeongguk to hate me so much that he'd leave Korea."

"Damn. And kissing me will make him hate me how?" She paused before gasping as her jaw dropped. "Oh. My. God.  No way! Does Jeon like me or something?"

"No, quite the opposite actually. He likes you as much as Jin does."

Jennie slumped her shoulders and pouted. "So then, he doesn't think I'm good for you? Thinks his friend deserves better than his ex or something? Mad you ain't listening to him?"

"Yeah, we can say that."

Jennie nodded. She pressed her lips together for a couple seconds before, contemplating wether she should stay longer or not. Fuck it, she thought, pulling something out of the side of her skirt. "Here, looks like you need one. Don't worry, no working cameras here. Principal Lee really doesn't look after this shithole." She held out a cigarette after putting one between her teeth for herself. Taehyung looked at the thing for a few seconds before taking it from her and putting it to his lips. She tucked the box back neatly and proceed to take out the lighter. She lit hers then passed it onto Taehyung. He stared at the flame for a bit longer than needed, but finally brought it to the tip of his cigarette.

"Never thought you and Jeongguk would be friends," Jennie said, puffing out rings of the smokey cloud.

Taehyung smiled as he blew the smoke out, hating every bit of it. "Yeah, me neither."

•—•—•

Jeongguk found himself in the basement, confused and angry. Confused if everything Taehyung had done up until now was all fake, and angry he played with his feelings like that. Would someone go as far as pretending to like you to win a stupid bet? Well, he did manage to succeed. Jeongguk had changed just as he had wanted and needed him to.

Luckily, the basement was empty. He didn't care if he was going to skip his last day, he couldn't go into a classroom and not flip a desk. See, Jeongguk threw things when he was mad, hit things, broke things.

He grabbed a set of bow and quiver filled with arrows that hung on the wall. Jeongguk slung the quiver over his back and placed himself at a good distance from the practice targets. He positioned himself in the proper stance, took out a bow and placed it nicely on the string in between his index finger and middle finger, his ring finger also on the string. Pulling the string back, he stared at the target, then let go, and repeated. The first couple missed completely, but as he concentrated, it finally hit the target board's outermost ring. Now that had only worked as he imagined the memory from earlier onto the target.

He pulled out another arrow, this time imagining it to be Jennie on the target. He was getting better, considering it was his maybe third time, and having a face on the target really helped.

The next, he pictured his father, sitting in his dark office, a cold glare on his face. Now this one had a little too much force as he had somehow managed to get more than half of the arrow into the the styrofoam target.

After a few more shots at his father, Jeongguk felt a little better, although most of them ended up missing the target. He still had one arrow left in the quiver. Jeongguk took it out and aimed it to the target. He thought of who to imagine for a few seconds before the face appeared by itself on the target. Jeongguk's hands shook as he stared at the cheerful Taehyung showing off his boxy smile, which was quickly clouded over by one of him smirking. Jeongguk's grip around the bow tightened. He blinked a few times, still holding the arrow against the bow. He pulled at the string and held it there for a minute before finally letting go.

"Ah!" Jeongguk yelled, dropping the bow. While he had let the arrow fly, his form had completely changed from straining for so long, causing the bowstring to graze over his forearm. Today of all days Jeongguk decided to wear his short-sleeve uniform shirt and leave his jacket on his desk chair. His arm was red, skin scraped but luckily no sign of blood. Jeongguk groaned as he lifted himself off the ground and fell back on the bean bag. He held his arm tightly not being able to handle the newly added pain. Jeongguk now only looked up at the target.

Bullseye.

•—•—•

"There you are! Why didn't you answer our calls at lunch? And why'd you skip class without us?" Saejoon yelled, entering the basement with Minki and Namsoon at his side. He threw the leather jacket, red scarf, and school bag towards Jeongguk. "You're welcome."

The younger sighed. He grabbed his jacket and quickly put it on before one of the boys noticed his arm. He picked up his bag and stared down at the red scarf. What had provide him with warmth now angered him and made him want to tear it to shreds.

Jeongguk looked back at his friends. "How about we have a small party? In the shed. Been a while since we just sat and drank. And smoked. Do you still have your stash?"

Minki waited for a few moments, not believe what he was hearing. "Oh, um, yeah. Soon can grab some drinks, I'll get some marshmall–"

"No. No marshmallows. No campfire."

"Alright then. Let's go," Minki said awkwardly. Something felt off. "Hey, are you alright dude?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jeongguk replied coldly and began making his way out. The boys looked at each other, threw a quick shrug and decided to follow him. As they approached the court yard, Jimin and Jin had spotted them.

"Hey, Jeongguk!" Jimin yelled, waving his arm up high. Jeongguk would've just kept going, but ever since the fight ,he's felt he's owed much more than an apology to the blond.

"I see you guys found him," Jin said to Saejoon, who nodded. "Where's Tae?"

Jeongguk scoffed. "How would I know?"

"Huh?" Jimin tilted his head. "Well he skipped class, and they said you also skipped class, so I assumed you two were together."

"Well I guess not," Jeongguk said. "I have to go now." He proceeded to walk on but couldn't help but overhear them speak as they weren't too far.

"That's weird. Oh, Jin! How's the Jennie thing?" Jimin has asked.

"That bitch finally left me alone! I turned her down and she wasn't even in class after lunch, so it was very peaceful," Jin screamed back.

Jeongguk jaw tightened from hearing that. Of course they skipped together. He began speeding up his pace, not wanting to hear another word relating to Taehyung. All he could think of was how all of his worries will be forgotten in a bit.

•—•—•

Taehyung leaned against his headboard, eyes droopy and lips tugged down. He felt sick. He didn't want to do anything. Not touch his phone that vibrated every two minutes even thought he texted his friends he was alright. He didn't want to think about Jeongguk not arriving home yet. He didn't want to close his eyes because every time he did, all he envisioned was the pain in the younger's eyes. Taehyung would've broke if had seen it in real life.

Even if Jeongguk didn't want reciprocate his feelings, Taehyung had told him he liked the him. Now what he had done just made him look like a liar and an absolute jerk who didn't care about one's feelings.

"Tae! Come eat!" he heard his mother yell from the stairs for the millionth time. Taehyung snapped out his thoughts, he needed to distract himself. He somehow managed to get out his bed and go down.

"What's wrong with you? Look like shi– I mean, poop," Hana asked, mouthful of rice.

Taehyung took a seat, choosing to ignore his sisters question. He picked at his rice, barely putting anything in his mouth. His mother noticed, and just as she was about to say something about it, the front door opened. Taehyung's head snapped up immediately. Jeongguk walked in, head tilted downwards, walking slowly and in a awkward pattern with a bag of unknown content in hand. Although it wasn't quite noticeable, Taehyung knew the younger was drunk. He was usually able to manage his alcohol well, meaning he must've drunk a lot to be stumbling ever so lightly.

"Oh, Jeongguk-ah. Come eat," Mrs. Kim called out.

"It's okay, I ate out." Jeongguk said. He started heading over to the stairs, but stopped and looked back at the woman and bowed. "I'll be leaving tomorrow, thank you for letting me stay here." Taehyung's grip around his chopsticks tightened as he watched the younger straighten then go up, holding on to the railing for support.

"Oh my. Has he not been getting enough sleep? He looks so tired. And Taehyung, you never told me he was leaving."

Taehyung remained quiet, and just continued to eat. His mother wasn't stupid. Well, maybe a little bad at noticing things, but she did pick up that there was something going on between the two boys. A fight of some sort, but she didn't want to dwell on it so early on and decided not to question her son about it.

After Taehyung finished up the last bit of his food as slow as he could, he said he'd wash all the dishes as well. He just didn't have the strength to face Jeongguk, hoping he'd just go to bed, but that was definitely not the case.

Once Taehyung turned off all the lights and headed towards his room, he saw that it was still illuminated. Jeongguk liked sleeping in pitch-black. He slowly opened the door, just in case the boy had fallen asleep. Jeongguk was sitting on the ground, six empty bottles — seven including the one in his hand — of beer around him, staring up at the painting of him and Taehyung on the wall. It took him a few seconds to process Taehyung had entered the room, but he finally looked at the older.

"You," Jeongguk hissed, his tone sounding much higher and slurred. He tried to get up, only to stumble and trip over a bottle. Before he could fall, Taehyung quickly rushed over and grabbed him by the shoulder to balance him.

Jeongguk blinked a couple times, getting a better look at Taehyung from his blurry vision. "You!" Jeongguk repeated, but a little louder.

Taehyung brought and finger to his lips, worried he might wake someone up. "Shh!"

"Huh?" Jeongguk said, tilting his head way more than necessary, before he smiled widely since he had somewhat understand. He copied Taehyung action with his finger. "Ohh, shhhh," Jeongguk whispered, unknowingly spitting in the process. "Don't worry, Softie, I won't expose you're lying ass," he slurred. Taehyung's eyes widened, he really shouldn't have left Jeongguk alone. The younger slapped both his hands on Taehyung's cheeks, cupping them. "Aren't you just the best liar? Who's the best liar? You are! Yes you! Aww, good job, hyungie!"

Taehyung felt like crying. He wanted it all to stop, but Jeongguk only continued. "Do you really hate me that much?" He paused, leaving Taehyung's cheeks to wrap his arms around the older's waist. With a pout, he said, "I though you said you liked me?"

Okay, yup, tears are ready to fall from Taehyung's shaking eyes. He was scared to speak, not that he could. His throat felt too dry and his quivering lips felt glued to each other.

"But you don't! You lied to me! Why'd you lie? Is this your revenge? Why'd you kiss that skinny bitch! Why..." Jeongguk trailed off, voice getting small. He held onto Taehyung for a few more moments before he let go and pushed the older away. "You're just like him! You liar! You dirty fucking liar! I hate you! I hate you! Get out!"

Jeongguk had beat Taehyung to it. The silver-head watched as tears poured out of the younger, which soon matched the ones trailing down his. Jeongguk dragged his hands over his face, falling down into a squat. He wiped away the tears aggressively, grabbing the closest pillow he could reach, then chucked it at Taehyung. "I said get out!"

Taehyung didn't want to fight, he didn't want to cause anymore pain to the younger. So he turned his back and left the room, closing the door behind him. He slid against the door, covering his mouth to muffle out his cries. Taehyung wanted to end it all now, he wanted to end the act, but Mr. Jeon's words chased him around in a maze Taehyung just couldn't escape.

He shook his head, forcing himself to stop crying. He was doing the best for Jeongguk. The boy has grown with a silver spoon in his mouth. He's had maids and servants, getting everything he wants at the snap of a finger. He couldn't suddenly just get a job now, and even if he did, his father would never allow that to happen.

Mr. Jeon had his ways. If Taehyung didn't make Jeongguk go to Hong Kong like this, his father would've thought of much worse solutions. The man was capable of anything. Jeongguk would just have to live on with hating Taehyung. That's why Taehyung had even told Mr. Jeon he was rejecting his offer, scared he'd tell his son on how he was the one behind Taehyung's actions. He was scared Jeongguk would then resort to doing something harsher in wanting to getting back at his father. Taehyung was just fine with playing the villain.

Jeongguk, still on the ground, stared at the closed door. Tears still kept spilling, but he didn't care enough to make them stop. He leaned against the bed's frame, wanting nothing more than to have someone by his side at a time like this.

•—•—•

Jeongguk stared out the window with a frown. He closed his eyes, wishing once he opened them, everything would be fine and back to normal. As if he was waking up from a terrible nightmare, with no worries or thoughts about his father, his mom living her best life, with no horrible memories of the scene in front of the storage room that kept playing over and over in his mind, and finally, in his king sized bed with Taehyung in his arms, and not on a plane heading to Hong Kong.

—•
EDIT: guys ik Taehyung should've just told Jungkook, but put urself in his shoes for a quick sec, and I know you still wouldn't have done what he did but try to understand why he did it
It was just that he was afraid JK's dad would get a divorce and he knows how much she depends on her from how much JK has told him and so with health problems, her coming to her worst state was a very likely situation to Tae??
And JK loves his mom the most in the world, literally the only reason he put up with his dad until he finally ran away was for her, so Tae doesn't even want to risk it
Plus, this wasn't the only thing that influenced his choice!! Remember his dad and how JK's dad cut ties with them and his dad (+pregnant mom) became rlly stressful, stayed up late and all that
He just wanted the best for everyone ):
So yeah, that's all
END OF EDIT, PROCEED TO ORIGINAL A/N

akksbdbjdkndb i really miss writing fluff after "one week" :(

anyways, please answer:
how would y'all feel about a major time skip?

just got this sudden idea to change the entire plot, but idk maybe not i donnu, it'll feels like a whole different fic if i do so and ajaksjsns idk
i just wanna know if you'd mind this not being a high school au anymore

Stream Scenery and Promise,
Bye<3