"I'm back, Tae!"

Taehyung closes his eyes at the sound of Jeongguk's voice. Trying to pull himself together before he has to face him.

"Look what I got you," Jeongguk says walking into the living room with a huge smile on his face. Leaning down and kissing Taehyung's hair before sitting down on the opposite couch. "I know you're gonna hate it but you have to use it."

Taehyung watches Jeongguk pull the items he brought out of the bag with a distant expression. He was so lost in his thoughts that he could hardly concentrate.

"Look, it's a support band." The ravenette says holding it up. "So your back won't hurt so much when you're moving around the house."

"That's nice, Jeongguk." Taehyung nods with the same distant look in his eyes.

Jeongguk deflates a little, his smile fading slightly when he notices his expression. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I said it was nice." The brunette shrugs. "I'll give it a try."

"You aren't going to tell me how ridiculous this is?" Jeongguk chuckles as he sets it aside. "You usually hate when I try to solve your problems."

"I have bigger problems on my mind right now," Taehyung says glancing off again. "I'll use the band. Don't worry."

"Okay." The ravenette says. He never pries when Taehyung chooses not to express himself. "I got you another compression sleeve for your arm too."

"Thank you," Taehyung says as Jeongguk hands him the two items. "Did you get anything else while you were gone?"

"No. I knew you needed another compression sleeve so I went and got while Hoseok and Yoongi were here." Jeongguk shrugs as he stands and walks to the kitchen. "How was their visit? Are they still trying to convince you to leave me?"

Jeongguk laughs but his words only make Taehyung's headache worsen.

"No. But they did say they saw you at the pharmacy the other day." He says looking down at his hands. "Why were you there?"

"The pharmacy? I don't know. Why didn't they say anything if they saw me?" Jeongguk calls from the kitchen as he starts dinner. He was always trying to make something healthy that Taehyung might like.

"I don't know," Taehyung says shaking his head. He hated the feeling he got when he felt like Jeongguk was lying. And he hated that he was feeling it now. "It's weird because the pharmacy is all the way on the other side of town."

"I must've been looking for something for the twins then," Jeongguk responds. "I don't know."

Taehyung sighs softly as tears form in his eyes. Blurring his eyesight as he stared ahead lost in his worries.

"What's wrong, Taehyung? You're acting weird." Jeongguk calls from the kitchen. "Did something happen with Hoseok and Yoongi?"

"No. I'm just tired." Taehyung says through his tears. His strained voice causing Jeongguk to come rushing out of the kitchen.

"Tae~" He starts worriedly.

"No. I'm tired. I'm just tired." The brunette says standing from the couch. "I want to be left alone for the rest of the night please."

"Did you eat?" Jeongguk asks. "I can be finished in ten minutes if you~"

"I lost my appetite," Taehyung says walking past him towards the stairs. "I just want to be alone."

Jeongguk sighs as he watches Taehyung walk away. He was used to his mood fluctuating often, but this time there seemed to be a bigger issue that he was missing.

He just hopes that Taehyung will come to him soon and open up about whatever was bothering him.

~ The next day...~

"Hey, hyung. I'm sorry I missed your call last night. I was busy."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad you called back."

Jeongguk sighs as he climbs into his car. He had to go to his dad's house early this morning to discuss his future in the family.

Which mostly consisted of his father telling him to get his shit together and grow a pair before he was disowned and financially cut off...so nothing new.

"You called kind of late, is everything alright?" He asks as he starts his car and pulls out of the driveway.

"Yeah, but uhm...well, I hope everything is," Seokjin says chuckling uncomfortably on the other line. "There's just...Saebin told me something that happened during his visit yesterday that kind of worried me."

"Okay," Jeongguk responds, waiting expectantly for Seokjin to continue.

"Okay, so, I don't want this to come off wrong. And I want you to know that I'm only asking because I care about you and I'm worried~"

"What is it, Seokjin?" Jeongguk says stopping his rambling. "What happened?"

Seokjin sighs on the other line. Taking a moment to gather the right words. "Saebin says that he saw you taking some pills when he was over. And that you were acting differently after you took them. So I have to ask what that was all about. Because obviously he noticed a change in you and he correlated it with the pills you took."

"Saebin's six years old, Seokjin. He can barely correlate daytime with the sun." Jeongguk says. "I'm not understanding what you're implying."

"No, I think you are understanding. Because now you sound defensive. Which I get. I totally get it." Seokjin says quickly. "But I have to know why you were taking medication that causes you to act strangely while you were watching my son."

"You're completely misunderstanding the entire situation, Seokjin," Jeongguk says. "You're assuming the worse right now~"

"I'm not. Taehyung and I are just worried~"

"Taehyung?" The ravenette asks cutting Seokjin off. "He knows about this?"

"Yoongi and Hoseok told him."

"And how do they know?"

"I told Namjoon and Namjoon told them. And then they said they saw you at the pharmacy~"

"They go to the pharmacy and it's completely fine. But I go and you automatically assume I'm, what, on drugs?" Jeongguk asks incredulously as he tries not to let his anger distract him from driving. "What the fuck, Seokjin?"

"No, I just think that if the effect of the medication was obvious enough for a six-year-old to recognize then it's an issue." Seokjin counters matching the volume of Jeongguk's voice. "But I'm not blaming you. I'm just trying to~"

"I'm not on fucking drugs, Seokjin! I can't believe you're seriously acting like I am!" Jeongguk shouts in frustration. "Even if I was, why the fuck would I do that while I was watching your kid?"

"Then what is it, Jeongguk? Because I believe my son and I know he wouldn't have made this up." Seokjin says back. Trying his best not to become frustrated with Jeongguk.

"Screw you, Seokjin." The ravenette scoffs before ending the call. Tossing his phone onto the passenger seat as he focuses on the road. Clenching his jaw as he speeds up to get home.

He couldn't believe Seokjin was convinced that he was abusing medication. And the worst part was that he thinks he would do something so stupid when he was watching Saebin.

When he gets to the house he has to sit in the car for a minute to calm himself down. Even though he wanted to, he couldn't be angry with Taehyung.

He gets out of the car and walks inside with his jaw clenched tightly. When he walks in through the garage door he finds Taehyung standing at the counter on his phone.

"Hey." The brunette says looking at him with a strange look in his eyes. His overall expression coming across as extremely nervous.

"You think I'm on drugs?" Jeongguk asks straightforwardly as he shrugs off his jacket. The irritation in his voice and eyes extremely evident.

"N-No, that's not what I think," Taehyung says shaking his head as Jeongguk walks past him and out of the kitchen without sparing him another glance.

Taehyung sighs as he watches him go upstairs. He curses under his breath as he leans against the counter. This entire situation was exploding in his face before he could even have a proper conversation with Jeongguk. All his friends knew and he knew that they were convinced that there was a serious problem.

"I lied," Jeongguk says returning to the kitchen with a prescription pill bottle in his hand. He slams in on the counter in front of Taehyung. "I was at the pharmacy and I do remember why. But I didn't want to tell you about because you have enough shit to deal with without worrying about me. But instead of asking me what was going on, like any levelheaded person would, you and all of your friends immediately assume the worst of me."

"I wasn't, Jeongguk. I didn't even know about all of this until yesterday." Taehyung says, pleading with his eyes for Jeongguk to somehow understand his place in all of this.

"All of what? There's nothing to fucking know, Taehyung. And you would have known that if you would've just came to me about it. Instead of talking shit about me behind my goddamn back." Jeongguk snaps grabbing the pills and holding them up. "It's fucking Varenicline. To help me quit smoking."

Taehyung closes his eyes for a moment as guilt and relief flood through him.

    "And it makes me feel like shit every time I take it. I didn't want to tell you about it until I was sure it fucking worked." Jeongguk says slamming the bottle back onto the counter. "Do you need to take a look at the side effects to believe me? Or do you want to maybe go through all my shit to make sure I'm not fucking lying to you?"

    "No, Jeongguk. Please listen~"

    "I can't listen to you right now, Taehyung. I'm pissed at you and I can't even hear you clearly right now." Jeongguk says turning to leave.

    "That's not fair, Jeongguk. You can't just be pissed at me. I didn't even know they were saying these things about you." Taehyung says stopping him before he's gone.

    "But you believed it when they told you yesterday. I can tell you did." Jeongguk says turning to him. The anger in his eyes gone and replaced by hurt and some form of betrayal that Taehyung didn't understand. "I can tell you believed it by the way you looked at me last night. Like you didn't even fucking recognize me, Taehyung."

    "That's not true," Taehyung says shaking his head as he tries to combat his tears. His eyes flooded with guilt.

    "I just need some space for a while, Taehyung~"

    "No~"

    "This is fucked up. This whole thing is fucked up." Jeongguk says looking away for a moment as he feels himself becoming emotional over the situation. "That's not me, Taehyung. I'm not that guy. Do you really think that lowly of me?"

    "No. I don't. And I didn't want to believe it, Jeongguk. I didn't." Taehyung says wiping away his tears with shaking hands.

    "But you did," Jeongguk says as tears finally form in his own eyes. He doesn't move to wipe them away as he looks Taehyung in the eye. "You did."

Taehyung bites his lips to hold back the sob bubbling in his chest as he watches Jeongguk grab the bottle and leave the kitchen.

Seeing the ravenette's tears only confirmed that he was more hurt than Taehyung expected him to be by this entire situation. It's only the second time he's seen him cry since he met him and he knew not to overlook the pain and frustration behind his eyes.

Most importantly, he knew not to overlook the betrayal.

~Later that night...~

Taehyung sat in his room in tears as he forced himself to eat the food he made for himself. Skipping meals would only induce his labor and he needed to do everything in his power to delay it to at least thirty-eight weeks.

So that meant eating even though every spoonful made him want to puke as he thought about Jeongguk. He couldn't get his face out of his head. He couldn't stop blaming himself for his tears.

He couldn't help but wonder if that pain could have been avoided if he would've just asked him about it. Why didn't he just fucking asking?

     "Damnit." He cries wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt. He knew he fucked up royally and there was nothing he could do about it.

Jeongguk deserved the space he was asking for. Even though it felt like it was killing him to stay away. Even though he just wanted Jeongguk to hold him and to tell him that he understood. It was selfish of him to want those things. It wasn't fair for him to doubt him so horribly and still want his affection.

So until Jeongguk was ready, Taehyung was metaphorically in the doghouse.

And it was breaking his heart.