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"Hey, Jungkook. I heard you bought your ticket to the party next weekend."

Jungkook was very easily persuaded. In all honesty, the only reason he had eventually caved and bought the ticket was because Jungkook was known to have a bad case of FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out. He worried that if he didn't go, he'd hear about how amazing it was and regret skipping out on it.

Besides, it was high school, everybody was making dumb decisions these days.

"Yeah, Yoongi told me that Hoseok's coming with us too." Jungkook was currently sitting on one of the rocks at the skatepark, his board still at home because he wasn't trying to make himself hurt more than he already did. Taehyung sat beside him, their knees touching. Jungkook tried not to think too much about that, deciding to follow Hyuna's advice.

"He is." Taehyung rested his head on his hand, looking over to catch Jungkook's gaze. His shoulder length hair was let free of his bun as he rested for a moment, the striking red strands blowing softly in the breeze. "I'm going to be honest with you, I really didn't want to go."

He sighed, pulling the sleeves of his cream coloured sweater over his hands. Jungkook raised an eyebrow.

"You don't?" He asked, scamming Taehyung's facial expression. The older boy looked somewhat distraught, his left foot idly rolling his skateboard back and forth on the ground.

"I hate parties." Taehyung answered, laughing softly as he sat up straight and shook out his hair. "I'm only going because Hoseok wants me to. I'd much rather be here, or at home sleeping. It's far too loud, and I don't really like to drink anyway. Why would I want to go?"

Jungkook nodded slowly, drawing his attention to Yoongi who swore loudly as he messed up on a trick and was sent tumbling down onto the concrete. He got up a few seconds later though, so Jungkook assumed he was just irritated.

"I've never been to a party before." Jungkook confessed. "I think I'm only going so that I can check it off of my bucket list."

Taehyung scoffed, leaning back on the rock he sat on. He looked especially endearing today, with his oversized hoodie and black ripped jeans. His face was sun kissed, leaving a faint pink glow across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He was so incredibly beautiful, Jungkook was finding it increasingly difficult to follow Hyuna's advice.

"There are far better things to put on your bucket list than some bullshit high school party." He laughed. "Last party I went to was where I met Chaerin. Look where that got me."

Jungkook tried to mask the shock on his face. He had heard from other people that Taehyung wasn't happy with her, but it was different to hear it from the man himself.

"You don't like her?" He asked, hoping that he wasn't prying too much.

"It's not that I don't like her." Taehyung shrugged. "I think I used to love her. I don't know, I'm not really too good at emotions." He paused, eyes following Yoongi as he tried to think of what to say next. "The first few weeks were a dream, but then it's like I became her puppet." He laughed humourlessly.

Jungkook didn't speak, simply watching Taehyung because he could tell that the redhead still wanted to elaborate further. "'Don't dress like that.' 'Don't talk like that.' 'Don't hang out with Hoseok, I don't like him.'" Taehyung spoke the words in a mocking tone. "I can't do anything right around her. She hates that I skate, she hates my hair, she gets pissed if I don't buy her things because I'm trying to save money. I actually had a massive fight with her before I got here because I told her that I was busy today and couldn't see her."

Jungkook took a minute to process everything that Taehyung had just laid out on the table. In school, they always looked so happy together. It was truly amazing how much people can hide.

"Then why are you still with her?" Jungkook asked, knowing that the question was heavy. He wanted to know though, why Taehyung was letting himself be so unhappy.

"Because I don't want to hurt her." Taehyung breathed. "I've never broken up with someone before, they always break up with me because I'm not what they hoped I would be." He frowned. "I don't like making people unhappy, so I sacrifice my own happiness."

"You know that's not healthy, right?" Jungkook asked, Taehyung closing his eyes and sighing.

"Oh I know that." He answered. "But it's become second nature at this point."

This revelation has shaken Jungkook to the core. The selfish part of his brain was screaming 'You'd be better! You'd never treat him like this!' - and though he felt bad for thinking it, he knew that at least part of it was true. Taehyung deserved better.

"If you're not happy, break up with her." He finally spoke. "It will hurt her less than you're hurting right now. You deserve better."

Taehyung opened his eyes, a small bit of sunlight slipping through the clouds and casting upon him like a spotlight. He smiled softly, small dimples appearing on his face. A few pieces of hair fell in front of his eyes, but he didn't move them, apparently too fixated on Jungkook.

"You really think that?" He asked, his brown eyes looking like pools of honey in the sun.

Jungkook took in a shaky breath before nodding

"If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have said it." He replied softly.

Taehyung stared at him for a few moments more before simply nodding, exchanging no more words before he stood up and stepped back into his skateboard. Jungkook watched as he tied his hair back while he rode away.

Jungkook couldn't hold back the smile that had slipped onto his face either, watching fondly as Taehyung attempted tricks on the farther end of the park.

He hoped that he had helped, even if it was somewhat selfishly.

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