As soon as he steps out into the icy, cold air of the November night time, Taehyung shivers, feeling the wind break past the thin barrier of clothing he was wearing and harass his honey skin, causing harsh goosebumps to ride his skin up and down like teenagers driving the streets of Beverly hills.

Where does Taehyung even go?

He had nowhere to go, no one to call. He had stupidly stormed out of his house just minutes ago, and now he's stuck at a traffic light, trying to figure out the best thing to do for the night. But of course, his mind ran blanks.

That is, until a certain blonde boy pops up into his mind, causing him to smile a little for the first time that night. Digging into his pockets for his phone, Taehyung rushes to get the small rectangular thing out of his coat. Immediately, he switches it on, searching his contacts for Jungkook's name.

Why he was in such a rush to speak to Jungkook? Taehyung didn't even know himself.

All that he knew was, that Jungkook would be able to comfort him in these moments, whether he talked about himself, or something funny he did when he was young, or even what he was doing now, any words from Jungkook would be able to comfort the mint haired male.

After a week of only talking to Jungkook, Taehyung had grown used to the smaller boy's way of speaking and doing things, and now he was uncomfortable with anyone else.

But as soon as Taehyung sees Jungkook's name on his phone, something in him tells him to stop. And think about just exactly he was going to do. All that could possibly happen is a short and simple conversation with Jungkook over the phone before the two went their own ways again. And Taehyung would still be stuck in the night.

Of course, he would have to go home at some point, but he didn't want to meet his mother. He wanted to stay as far away from her as possible. Her way of thinking wasn't right. And Taehyung was glad that for once, he wasn't manipulated into thinking that she was right. Imagine hating the same genders loving each other. Love is love. You can be attracted to anyone. It wasn't wrong. It was just a human thing...to fall in love. Was it not?

Taehyung was confused.

Staring down at his phone, Taehyung continues to ponder about his mother. She was still hurting. Scorned about the fact that his father had fallen in love. Regardless of man or woman, he had left her for someone else and Taehyung's mother had hated that. It just happened to be a man and so she took advantage of that and used it as a reason to hate them.

And now his dad was dead. Taehyung didn't know why, but something told the tiger that it had to do with not being able to love his lover. And so he left this world to be able to meet his lover in another life.

Tragic, but beautiful really.

In a way, Taehyung's mother hadn't won. Because she was not happy. So that wasn't winning in any way. She'd beg to differ, yet Taehyung would have many different things to say.

It was like in the play "an inspector calls" the character of Sheila Birling finally realising how wrong her parents had been all along, she started to mould herself into her own beliefs, and she had started to become something of herself without any of the upper class capitalists that often abused their power.

And sure, the play was made for political propaganda towards the left wing party, but it still showed how the older generation could so easily manipulate the younger generation and force them to believe in principles and morals just aren't right.

Taehyung wasn't homophobic.

No, this isn't some sick story where he suddenly falls for Jungkook while being straight and homophobic. This is a story where Taehyung believes in love for every single being on the planet, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, religion, looks...what type of food they ate. It was simple. Love was simple.

But why couldn't his mother understand that? Why couldn't his mother understand that she shouldn't hate people just because she was scorned by his father loving another man?

Staring down at the bright screen, Taehyung finally uses all of his courage to press dial, and he waits, hearing a few rings before finally,

"Hello? Taehyung?" Taehyung gasps slightly, hearing the soft voice of Jungkook's echo out into his ears, making tingles run down his spine like rain falling from the sky on a cold winters evening.

"Jungkook...is it okay if we could meet up?"

There's silence through the line, and Taehyung awaits the rejection with an anxious heart. Why would Jungkook even consider meeting up with Taehyung in the first place? Especially at this hour? Asking was such a long shot and Taehyung was starting to regret everything.

But he needed someone.

Someone to talk to. Someone that could listen to Taehyung. Someone that could offer Taehyung the warmest hugs, and the best advice. Someone that was just there for the older as he ranted his heart out. He just needed a friend.

And to Taehyung, Jungkook was that special friend.

The new boy that seemed to challenge everything that Taehyung believed in. Absolutely everything.

"Yes. We can. But Taehyung, are you okay?" Worry, very obviously, laces Jungkook's tone as he asks Taehyung, and hearing Jungkook's caring, soft and gentle voice, Taehyung can't help but feel confused as to how he should answer the question. Was he okay?

A thick feeling at the back of his throat rises as he struggles to come up with an answer, with heavy breaths, and shaky fingers Taehyung finally says, "yeah...I just need someone to talk to you."

Jungkook falls silent once more, and Taehyung heart thuds painfully, scarily. So scary. Everything. The world just didn't feel real anymore.

"Come by my place, I'll text you the address."

⋆⋆⋆

And so, there they were.

Jungkook standing opposite Taehyung in his cold bedroom, god, he should have shut his window hours ago.

"So," Jungkook begins, sitting down on his bed. And Taehyung sighs loudly, running a hand through his luscious, minty locks. He follows Jungkook, sitting beside the younger, "I'm sorry for bothering you. This late at night."

Jungkook sees how genuine Taehyung was being, and his heart reaches out to the older, who was - very obviously stressed - sitting with a sad look on his face.

The blonde boy reaches out for Taehyung's hand, holding it tightly, "you can tell me about it...you know, it you want?" Taehyung chuckles bitterly at Jungkook's soft and cautious tone, a very different one than he'd usually get from the younger, "it's a complicated story. And challenging to figure out."

"Well, it's a good thing that I like to figure out challenges," Jungkook replies with a cheeky smile, a double meaning to his words, but Taehyung could care less as to what they meant. "So, are you going to tell me, or what?" Jungkook asks again, when he hears silence instead of a reply.

"It's nothing," Taehyung begins with a sigh, "just...me and my mom, we just had an argument and I wanted to distract myself."

Jungkook pauses for a little while, his doe eyes scanning Taehyung's tan skin in the dark, the only light reflecting onto him from the moon.

It brought Jungkook back to Jimin's party. Where he entered an empty room with Taehyung situated in front of the window, the moon casting a beautiful glow on the older, Taehyung drunk and high off of his face.

But now it was different, because Taehyung was drunk off of his emotions.

"I have an idea," Jungkook says with a cheeky smile. Taehyung looks at the blonde boy with confusion.

Minutes later, Jungkook and Taehyung were laying on Jungkook's carpeted floor, on their backs. In the dark. Pretty weird.

Taehyung turns to the younger, seeing the slight outline of his smaller body in the dark, "is there a reason why I'm on your bedroom floor?"

"Close your eyes," Jungkook whispers after a pause, his voice softer than silk.

"I don't understand-"

"Taehyung, just close them," Jungkook says a little louder, the gentleness never leaving his tone. And with a very loud sigh, Taehyung faces the ceiling, and closes his eyes. He hears a loud click that resonates in the silent room, the sound mixing with the Taehyung and Jungkook's little sounds of breathing.

"Okay, now...open them Taehyung."

Immediately opening them, Taehyung is met with a starry ceiling instead of a blank white one. A gasp leaving his plump lips, Taehyung glances at the younger, his eyes reflecting the little stars on the ceiling, blue light illuminating the room, a navy glow cast on the both of them on the floor.

"It's a starry night lamp," Jungkook whispers, looking up, the little stars moving around, the light control of the lamp held tightly in between his fingers.

Taehyung looks at the younger. Something rushing to his mind, like a dopamine rush, but something more. Stronger. And it was taking over his mind, the control slowly fumbling out of his fingers grip, and he was left with the feeling of falling into nothingness. That's how Taehyung felt looking at Jungkook. Crazy. Wasn't it?

"It's...somehow calming," Jungkook says, eyes never leaving the beautiful, and realistic lights that were projecting onto every inch of his room.

On days where he was stressed, sad or just not in the mood to interact, he'd lock his bedroom door, and sit on the floor, staring up at his ceiling. And the starry night lamp made it all the more better, because every time he switched on those lights, he felt of his worries from the day slip past his fingers like grains of sand.

And Jungkook wanted to share that with Taehyung. What he'd do in his room was private, but it was clear that Taehyung needed it. Needed to have a distraction given to him. And Jungkook gave it alright.

The two bask in each others silence, watching the twinkling lights, their eyes wide with amazement, the light reflecting in their eyes.

And it remains that way, until Taehyung says,

"My mother told me that my dad was gay, and had another partner. And that's why she hates all things homosexual."

Jungkook looks towards Taehyung with a gasp, "oh Taehyung!"

"I asked her if she would love me the same if I was gay..." Jungkook shuffles closer to Taehyung, the two almost cuddling, "and what did she say?" Jungkook is looming straight at the older, and Taehyung can feel those doe eyes staring into his profile, but he can't bring himself to meet the beautiful Bambi eyes that looked exactly like the night sky.

"Told me that she wouldn't love me."

Jungkook falls silent once more, but his eyes never leave Taehyung. Jungkook could almost hear his own thoughts whizzing in his brain. And he almost doesn't ask it. But something pushes him to speak his mind, like in that moment; if he doesn't ask, if he doesn't speak - then he'd regret so much in the future.

A little voice in the back of his mind tells him not too. That it's not worth it.

But then again, it was all about taking risks, right? It wasn't about trying to be mature. Not at this moment. Not when they were supposed to be messy teens with messed up lives and equally as chaotic memories that would last them a lifetime of stories.

It was okay to take risks, right?

Because Kim Taehyung was one risk that Jungkook was happily to take.

Especially when every thought about the older made his little heart race, every moment spent in that dinner made his fingers tingle, every glance made his butterflies go crazy.

A week's worth of knowledge of Taehyung, all led to this one question that could make or break their building bond.

"And are you? Are you gay?"

⟭⟬

This book is progressively turning into a train wreck-
Stay safe and healthy everyone!