It took about a week for the offensive letters in Taehyung's locker to stop.

Truth being told, he still felt uncomfortable every time he opened his locker, scared of finding another letter.

The reason they stopped? Probably boredom. And a little something else...

Surprisingly enough, it was Jeon Jungkook himself who stopped the rumors. And the way he did it was truly admirable.

-

"Another letter, TaeTae?" Hoseok looked at the brunette with sad eyes, making him grasp his fork tightly and nod briefly.

"They've gotten less, but I still get at least three of them per day. It's either people calling me a slut, a predator for forcing myself on a straight boy or asking me to do you-know-what with them."
Taehyung sighed, his head hanging low. As he felt a hand patting his own hand, he looked up to see Jimin smiling at him, that cheering him up a tiny bit.

However, Jimin and Hoseok weren't the only ones sensing his discomfort. From across the room, there was a raven-haired boy watching Taehyung's dejected expression closely, which led to him only looking at the brunette and paying no attention to his food whatsoever. Weirdly enough, he could already feel what his sadness was about.

"Taehyungie, you need to shut down these rumors. They're obviously getting to you! What did Jungkook say about this, did you guys talk?," the redhead asked, making him nod.

"He told me to tell him if I got any more of these. But I don't want to bother him, okay?" Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Dude is literally head over heels for you, are you kidding me? I hate seeing you like this, so... repressed? Sad? Just... weird! If you talk to him, he won't hesitate to help you speak up." Growing flustered, the younger shook his head.

"He's not head over heels for me. We're friends, Hobi," he spoke shyly, his ears turning slightly pink. Jimin unknowingly rolled his eyes at the choice of topic.
"Whatever! Tell him, it'll only get better from now on," the rehead exclaimed.

All of a sudden, Jimin turned his head and frowned. "I don't think there's a need for that anymore."
The two of them tilted their heads confusedly.

"Huh?"

At the other end of the room, Jeon Jungkook was standing on his chair, a clear urge to speak up written on his face.
His friends, Namjoon and Yoongi, just stared at him with wide eyes.

"Everyone! Attention please!," he suddenly shouted, his voice loud and clear. Suddenly, the whole cafeteria was silent.

"I've come to notice that there are certain rumors at this school, surrounding me and my very dear friend Kim Taehyung." He inspected every single student sitting on their chair and staring at him in shock.

"I'm not talking about normal rumors. I'm talking about dating rumors... But there is one thing I don't understand. Why do you fucking care?" His eyes turned into slits.

"Why did we get filmed without our consent? And why did no one feel the fucking need to even ask us if there was anything happening between us without making up these rumors?" His voice got even louder now.

"Do you know what's even worse? Taehyung's getting hate mail! Yes, HATE MAIL! For something as ridiculous as this! Of course, all of you cowards who sent him those didn't even reveal your true identities! Fucking pathetic ass cowards, how dare you?! Calling him names? Making horrible assumptions? FUCKING ASKING HIM FOR SEX BECAUSE YOU CAN'T KEEP YOUR DICK IN YOUR PANTS?!" He was full-on yelling now.

"HONESTLY, FUCK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU AND IF I SEE HIM GETTING ONE MORE SINGLE NOTE, IT'S NOT GOING TO BE PRETTY FOR ANY OF YOU, ALRIGHT? LEAVE HIM THE FUCK ALONE, COWARDS! AND STOP MAKING UP RUMORS, WE ARE NOT DATING, IT WAS JUST... A DARE! WE'RE FRIENDS! AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, I'M NOT A CHEATER OR A TWO-TIMER! I WOULD NEVER TAKE SERIOUS INTEREST IN TWO PEOPLE AT THE SAME TIME! AND I AM MOST DEFINETELY NOT STRAIGHT EITHER!

"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS! LITTLE GIRL WHO STARTED THESE RUMORS, KIM HYUNSEOK OR WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS, I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING AND YOU BETTER COME CLEAN AND APOLOGIZE OR I'M TELLING YOUR MOMMY AND YOUR DADDY WHAT THE HELL YOU CAUSED! THESE RUMORS ARE BETTER GONE BY TOMORROW OR YOU WILL SEE ME GO INSANE AND TRUST ME, YOU DO NOT WANT THAT! JUST-- FUCK ALL OF YOU!!" With his chest heaving up and down, the ravenette looked at every single student in the room with a menacing glare on his face.

Everything was still silent. Some people gasped, some people looked like they had seen a ghost and some people just stared at a still fuming Jungkook with wide eyes. Said boy narrowed his eyes one more time and sat himself down beside Yoongi and Namjoon, both of them looking extremely shocked.

"What the fuck was that, Jungkook...," Yoongi asked in disbelief, massaging his temples.

"Wow. I've never heard you scream before, you must've been angry as hell," Namjoon commented, his eyebrows raised so high they could reach his hairline at some point.

"Guys, no comments, please. I did this so people would stop sending Taehyung hate mail and making him feel sad."
The cat-like male groaned, facepalming.

"Jesus Christ, of course it's because of that boy again! At this point I think you would jump off a building if he asked you to..." Jungkook looked at him with a daring smile, his head slightly tilted.

"Bet."

-

Taehyung giggled as he recalled the memories. He didn't want to admit it but he found Jungkook's protest quite... cute.

And the fact that he partly did it for him... even cuter.

Why would he do this for him? Was he really that special of a friend?

Taehyung kept thinking. What did Jungkook think of him as?
The ravenette had a tendency of making him think he didn't just like him like a friend, there was something more. Like...

"You're even prettier up close."

Did he talk to all his newly-acquainted friends like that?

"Focus on something you really want and imagine you can get that something by concentrating or something. Bingo, it works."
"Fine, I'll focus on you then."

Taehyung couldn't help but feel a slight jolt in his heart as he recalled the old memories of Jungkook acting very... suspiciously around him. He was just joking, right?

"Didn't know that Hyung's old college professor had such a pretty nephew. If I did, I would've come a lot sooner."

Taehyung felt the temperature rise on his cheeks. As much as he hated to admit it, he was a sucker for cute boys calling him pretty. And since Jungkook had done exactly that, he didn't know how to feel.

"No need for those hopes anymore, I can be your husband instead."

Recalling that specific memory, he rolled onto his back and let out a short squeal, covering his mouth right after, wide-eyed.

What was happening? Why was he reacting like this? Didn't he swear to himself he would never catch feelings for a flirt again?

I can't help it, he's just so... charming. Somehow.

"Taehyung, please tell me you're not gonna have a crush on him," he whispered to himself.
"Those flirtatious gestures were weeks ago, now he's friends with you and probably forgot all of that already!"

But he couldn't stop his heart beating furiously in his chest as he imagined Jungkook's face in his mind, his shimmering doe eyes. His high and well-shaped nose. His cute, soft-looking lips, not to mention his adorable bunny smile.

I guess he is kind of cute. And handsome. And he's actually such a good person! I completely misjudged him in the beginning and I hate myself for it!

He kept thinking.
What would it be like to have him as a boyfriend?

Would Jungkook randomly backhug him in public? Would he give him forehead kisses? Would he hold his waist as if it were the most precious thing in the world while introducing him to his friends? Would he tuck a strand of hair behind his ear lovingly before leaning in and...

"Ugh! Taehyung, stop!" Grabbing a pillow, the brunette held it over his face as he let all his frustrations over these confusing emotions out, by just simply screeching.

"You stupid boy! You promised to never get such thoughts about a guy again until you moved on properly! Jesus Christ, why can't my hopeless romantic self just stop being a pain for once?!," he complained, the pillow still over his face and thus, blocking all his airways.

"Whatever. Just stop, Kim Taehyung. No one wants to be your boyfriend anyways," the brunette sighed to himself, throwing the pillow off his face and trying to fix his now extremely messy hair.

He just hoped these unusual thoughts would be a one-time thing and never occur again.

But boy, how wrong he was.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: heyoooo guyssss

surprisingly enough, i actually like this chapter (at least the first half) kdkkslwkd also, wtf i can't believe this is chapter 32 already, what the hell took me so long smh

btw i watched break the silence in cinema today, it was so amazing and this whole day was basically pure euphoria, but rn i'm kinda tired so i'm sorry if the second half of this chapter seemed half-assed or anything💕

as always, ily and thank you💜💜)