"Hey, gguk," he turned to Jimin from the couple three tables away, "you alright, right?"

"hmm," he hummed back, smoothing a smile. How long was he gonna lie to this man before? To his therapist who believed he was getting better? To his mother who is still waiting for them this Christmas? To himself? Jeongguk didn't know.

"Gguk," Jimin sighed, and Jeongguk felt guilt settle into a lump in his throat, "you need not have to lie to me "

He felt accused, like he had never lied before. Hadn't lied ever. Wasn't lying just now.

"I'm not "

But he was.

Jimin sighed again, settling to just stare at him. So he pulled up a smile, gulping a lump of guilt to ask, "You- I mean- is there something on my face?"

"On your face?" Jimin asked, furrowing his brows before reaching to brush a lock behind his ear. " Yes, there are two big eyes, " He traced his fingers across the outline of his eye socket, and when he blinked, only smiled before dragging them over his brows, " A perfect pair of brows " Jeongguk was smiling, noticing Jimin's turn wider. "A boopable nose," Jimin's index finger gave a gentle gap to the top of his nose and he scrunched them in response. "Aaand~" Jimin's fingers approached his lips, following their every curve until, "a precious mole," He swatted away his hand, giggling.

"Chim! We are at a restaurant," He was sure he looked close to a tomato. He swiftly looked around to people busy with their own meals, until a giggle drew him back to Jimin's merry crescents.

" So? Can I not make my boyfriend smile now? " He froze, smile falling. Jimin followed suite.

"shit- gguk, fuck- I'm- I'm sorry," Jimin reached out to hold his hand fiddling with the hem of his sweater before drawing them back again. "It- it slipped- I mean, I know we are taking this slow but I-"

"Chim, it's kay," he murmured, leaving the poor sweater in an attempt to meet Jimin's frantic irises. Failing miserably, he hesitantly reached his hand towards the other's, fingers of whose nervously tapped at the table. He hesitated, turning to look at Jimin, who still refused to meet his eyes. So closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, he opened them back again to wrap his palm over Jimin's.

Jimin paused on his ramble, eyes flitting between their tangled palms and his eyes, until he called him again. "Chim, we're okay. It's okay. Thank you for making me your boyfrien-"

"Jeongguk?"

The words, he was ready to say, died on his lips. Palm falling limp against Jimin's. But something hot and fierce gurgled up behind his eyes and he blinked them back, trying to reach for some air. He couldn't much of it either.

The deep baritone, just the same as he remembers, soft when calling his name. Something that would have probably made him redder or giggle at his own foolishness, just an year ago. Just an year ago, three tables away from here, where they would talk of nagging bosses, whiny landlords, anti gravity and things that usually didn't make sense at all.

But now, he hated that all he could think of was everything crashing just three tables away from here. Ten months ago, with plate as full as his stomach, guilt lining red around Taehyung's eyes and something broken wafting in the air.

Maybe it was them. Jeongguk and Taehyung.

Broken. Scattered. Lost.

"Gguk," It was Jimin, smiling despite Jeongguk having retracted his palm from the other's. "You know him?"

He nodded, unsure.

"Come take a seat then, " Jeongguk wanted to sprint away, "company's always welcome" He was still peeking through his long uncut strands of hair, still watching Jimin give Taehyung a kind smile.

"umm..no..It's-I'll- I'll just...umm...go-"

"he's Taehyung," Jeongguk patted himself for not stuttering, "we were -"

"acquaintances," taehyung interrupted. His heart sank.

Jimin flitted gazes between both of them, before settling on him. He shifted on his seat, sweating. "You never said you had friends, gguk"

Trust him, he didn't.

"I-I must have...forgot," he breathed, taking a glance at Taehyung. Still the burning hazel eyes, still the dirty blonde, still a crooked tie hanging around his neck, still the un-ironed coat. But the look in his eyes; he looked...guilty. Jeongguk turned away.

"hello, Taehyung, " Jimin held a hand out to Taehyung. "Am Jimin, Jeongguk's-"

"boyfriend," he completed. And when Jimin looked at him, he only gave the other a smile, pretending not to have noticed the way Taehyung's fell.

"Taehyung," Taehyung shook Jimin's hand, "an old acquaintance of your boyfriend"

Yes, an old acquaintance, whom he knew favorite shampoo flavor of. Peaches, his memory offered.

Something hung in the air today too. But this time it wasn't just Taehyung and Jeongguk. It was Taehyung, Jeongguk and Jimin too. It was awkward for the next few moments until jimin broke it-

"What do you wanna eat, Gguk?"

He shrugged, but it left his lips before he could think, "japchae?" And immediately his eyes travelled to Taehyung's, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"you Taehyung?" The other only shook his head, "am not hungry, you guys go ahead"

"I'll take a japchae too then," Jimin smiled at him. "No wait-" Jeongguk felt stupid, "Let's have spicy ramyeon instead" Jimin smiled shaking his head, probably thinking how childish that sounded. But Taehyung, he looked away, blinking rapidly.

His heart squeezed in his chest, and he turned away too.

Almost as if summoned, a waiter materialized before them. And while Jimin handled the order, he stole glances at Taehyung. Dark tired rings caged his eyes, sleepless red rimmed around them. A hollow smile etched on his face, as Jimin and him conversed about something he couldn't focus. Lips chapped, that he wetted often and ears barren of earrings that Jeongguk loved to flick when they used to cuddle. Used to.

"am I wrong, Gguk?"

He blinked, noticing both their eyes on him. He tried recollecting something from their conversation but all he could go back to was two years ago Taehyung giving him a sweet peck on his right cheek. His lungs fell at a dearth of air, and his heart raced. Jimin's expectant eyes did less to that, and he just froze looking at the both of them. Sweat collected in his palms, and he couldn't take it in anymore-

"Can I use the restroom, please?"

"Sure, " Jimin was first to reply. But his eyes trailed to Taehyung, whose met his. Without the hollow smile even, he looked more tired. More guiltier. He turned away, again.

But before he could get out of his seat and leave, Jimin held his wrist and he hated himself when he immediately looked at Taehyung. The latter's eyes had never left his. "You alright, right?" Jimin asked when he turned back to him, and he nodded, a smile for effect. And soon as he did, Jimin's palm reluctantly left his wrist and he was rushing towards the restroom. Or more like towards the hallway that led to the restaurant backyard from there.

Reaching there, he leaned against the wall. Breath erratic, lungs empty, heart emptier and tears leaking. His fingers trembled, and he pulled down his over sized sweater to cover them, despite knowing it wasn't the wind. But it was better to lie.

He shouldn't be here. Nor reaching for his back pocket. Certainly not twisting the cigarette shakily between his fingers. And neither be thinking of his first kiss in this backyard, an year ago, with Taehyung. But so shouldn't he have brought Jimin for their first date here. Nor should've lied of Taehyung to him right before the other.

But Jeongguk always did the wrong things. From meeting Taehyung to nodding to Jimin. Everything was wrong.
Hoseok had once said, he over analysed shit, and Jeongguk wondered if he was now. But when his other hand reached for the lighter resting in the left pocket of his jeans, he decided he wasn't.

He wondered of when he kissed Taehyung and counted stars. Only for Taehyung to tell, he held in his eyes more than that the night sky did. But now, when he meets the mirror, all he sees are two black marbles. Round, big and honest. Jeongguk was now used to turning away from truths, like mirrors. Like Taehyung.

"Jeonggukie?" His heart filled with butterflies. Ones with broken wings.

"Jeongguk," He corrected, "it's Jeongguk now, taehyung"

"Right," He didn't have to look at Taehyung to know the way his lips curled to a frown. "So...um...Jimin?"

"My boyfriend," He didn't know why but he couldn't meet the other's eyes when he said that. Taehyung's hadn't left his frame, still scanning his features. He brought the cigarette, hidden under the over flowing fabric of his sweater, to his mouth. Lighting it up, as he secured a palm around it from the wind. Taehyung was yet to speak, still looking at him.

The smoke stung at the back of his throat, filled his lungs, eased his heart and it now burnt lesser behind his eyes. Puffs of smoke left his nose and he still couldn't turn to Taehyung or-

"Gguk-I mean, Jeongguk, you never smoked," Taehyung whispered, almost disbelieved, and the cigarette took back all that it gave. "You hated it when I did"

He did. And he wanted to hate Taehyung too. But all that he did was cling to the smoke, like the smoke clung to Taehyung. Like the way it clung to him, that jeongguk couldn't.

"People change, Taehyung," He remarked, and he knew the smoke would be of no match if he were to meet the other's burning hazels. So he didn't. Taehyung went silent again, and the silence unlike when they both counted stars, felt suffocating.

"Jeonggukie," He was about to correct him, but the words died on his lips as Taehyung continued, "Am sorry"

He lifted his head, a treacherous tear slithering down his cheek, to look at Taehyung. The other's hazels burnt, like they always did, only this time with guilt. But Jeongguk knew, he hadn't changed, when the first tear down Taehyung's cheek soaked his heart. And the smoke, as much as it burnt, couldn't dry it up.

"Am so fucking sorry, baby," The more Taehyung cried, the more his heart soaked. The cigarette left his trembling fingers, falling to the freshly cut grass almost soundlessly. Like Jeongguk's tears. "Am sorry am sorry am so so sorry-" Taehyung had to stop, halfway choking on his tears. But this time, Taehyung couldn't meet his eyes and Jeongguk's wouldn't leave his.

Taehyung used to be golden. From the tan of his skin to the hazel of his eyes. But now, pale and guilty, Taehyung was just Taehyung. The one who stole the stars that he said, Jeongguk held lots in his eyes.

He hadn't realised, he was just standing there. Tears and tears collecting in his eyes and falling off like Taehyung and Jeongguk did.

"Jeongguk? Ggukie-"

"I hate you, Taehyung," He wasn't sure if it was a lie or not, because Jeongguk just did the wrong things, almost all the time. Maybe this would just be one more in that list. "So fucking much " But the universe conspired against him-gravity pulling tears out of his eyes, lips wobbly under the windy night, voice breaking to the recent cigarette and Taehyung crying harder. Jeongguk's heart was already soaked to every artery inside.

"I-I know, " Jeongguk only wanted to love Taehyung, count stars with him, and hear every night that he held more in his eyes from him. But- "me too," But now, they couldn't love themselves anymore. Hoseok said, time heals, and he wonders if love is an injury. Because it fucking hurt.

An year ago, this distance between them would've teased him, begged him, pleaded him to be diminished until they were kissing each other like no tomorrow. But now the distance, mocked him, taunted him, ridiculed him, of the tomorrow where he envisioned to kiss Taehyung like no other. And the tomorrow stayed in his dreams, broken. Taehyung stayed with them, broken.

"I-i was about to off-offer you the best gift tha-that night, Tae," The sentence was just as much broken too, " I was rea-I was ready to-" Jeongguk was walking thin threads and it broke, halfway on his words. He slid down the wall, pushing his hair back, tugging at them, crying. Taehyung cried louder, before muffling them into a brutally tight palm over his mouth.

If an year ago, even after Taehyung's confession, he would have just ran to pull that palm off the other's mouth. But it has already been an year, an year after Taehyung's "we can't do this anymore", and Jeongguk couldn't bring himself to diminish the distance either. So Taehyung cried and so did Jeongguk.

Heart soaked, cheeks soaking, and yet lungs dry.

" You could- you could've just picked atlea-atleast one of the calls," He didn't know why he was speaking when he clearly wasn't being coherent, " I was ready-I was fucking ready, T-Taehyung"

" It's all- it's all my fault, baby, I-I know," Taehyung was wheezing, breath ragged. And Jeongguk couldn't help but let out another strangled cry at the title of endearment. It had already been an year. "I shouldn't- I shouldn't have-"

"Please don't complete that-" This was him at his rawest, and coming undone before Taehyung was like a habit to Jeongguk. He did that, even when he was comforting Jeongguk in his arms, getting comforted by him or just crying at a distance, guilty. "I-i just- I can't take-take it anymore, tae-"

"Am-am so sorry, baby, " Jeongguk couldn't correct the title either, not when it had already been an year since he heard it from his favorite habit, taehyung, "So fuck-so fucking sorry-"
Taehyung kept chanting a string of apologies, each twisting his heart harder. He didn't notice when, but taehyung had fell to his knees too, begging. He wondered if Jimin would be worried?suspicious? How long has it been?

Words filled his mouth and died at his tongue. His heart heavily soaked with Taehyung's ceaseless tears. And he didn't bother to notice or acknowledge his own, because now Jeongguk was tired. Tired of trying to tell lies apart from truth. Love apart from hate. Love apart from Taehyung.

Taehyung called, "Gguk?" His deep baritone strained, probably from crying.

"Hmm," He lazily hummed, not bothering to correct. Tears, still hot and fierce, falling.

"I love you, " Jeongguk didn't expect that, his eyes shifting from the freshly cut grass to guilty hazels. But tear stained, red rimmed, dark ringed and tired, he still looked at him the same. Same like Jeongguk was still the one and only in his world. In Taehyung's world.

"I have a boyfriend, Taehyung," He reminded both himself and Taehyung.

"Yes... Jimin," Taehyung nodded, wiping another set of tears, softly sniffling, " He's a keeper, keep him"

"Of course he is. He is Jimin," He smiled, thinking of crescent eyes, their mirth, "He's so good...almost too good to be true.. But am- but am scared, scared if-" He gulped, " If one fine April- one fine April evening he'll tell me he had-he had ch-cheated on me....a week back...at a bar..when drunk- "

"Jimin-Jimin isn't Taehyung, gguk," Taehyung said, tears leaking, " Jimin will wait until you're ready.....he-he'll love you the way you deserve to be...he-he'll wait and will pick the call-pick the call when you are ready... He-he'll-" Taehyung choked on his tears, muffling his cries again. Jeongguk just watched, tears of his own gliding down.

"Why couldn't you wait, Taehyung?" It left his lips without much thought and Jeongguk was too tired to take it back.

"I was- I was willing to," Taehyung cried like when he declared "we can't do this anymore" just three tables away from where they were sitting a while ago. Their last meal, together. "But, I was drunk-and- and things were a mess-I"

" We weren't all about sex, I knew that, but sometimes- sometimes when things escalated," Jeongguk blinked his tears back, " And I pushed you- I pushed you away saying I wasn't- I wasn't ready, maybe I-"

"No, no, no, no, no baby, " Taehyung shook his head, like always, knowing the way he thought. Maybe that's why it hurt, knowing he did it aware how Jeongguk thought. "I-I it was all my fault- a few drinks and I was out of-but Jeongguk there's nothing about you that was wrong....that is wrong, baby....you can take all the time that you want and the world can wait-but i- but I, Jeongguk, am a fool! Am a fucking idiot to lose you...but we couldn't-we couldn't keep that going gguk-"

"But I loved you still the same! I love you still the same!" He was aware how he contradicted himself, but Taehyung knew him like at the back of his palm. And because Jeongguk did too, about Taehyung, it was hard. To tell Taehyung apart from love. "Why-why?"

"Because you deserve more, gguk, " Taehyung weeped, and he held his chest, rubbing circles hoping it would soothe the ache. " That's why I came clean! Not for your forgiveness...i don't deserve the f of it! But for you to move on...date someone-someone like Jimin....count stars with him....tell him how much you love him...make-make love with him-i-i'm not worth it, jeonggukie, I'm-im n-not-"

"Then why? Why did you stay...stay after when I said I for-forgave you since-since you came clean-"

"Because I wanted you, ggukie, I still want you, my baby," Taehyung hiccuped between his tears, " Sooo bad, but I couldn't do it- couldn't see your eyes swollen and red every morning...couldn't see you fake a smile for me everyday and tell-tell me 'you're fine' when you were clearly- clearly not....you even went as far giving me your body like you owed me something- but I-I couldn't gguk, I-I-"

"I hate you, Taehyung, " He realised that could never be true, even if he tried. "You-"

"I love too, baby, " He was crying, so was Jeongguk. " Am so- so sorry "

They went silent again. Just occasionally stealing glances, sniffling, mumbling about how much they cried, or wiping noses. Jeongguk was fiddling with his over-sized sweater paws, torturing the fabric to his content, when Taehyung spoke.

"Am flying tonight," He looked up to the other who was fiddling with the grass, "to france"

"Why? " Taehyung looked at him, and it slapped him on his face, the obvious.

"Couldn't sleep...couldn't focus....got kicked outta job....contacted joon and he said....they were searching for-for someone, " Taehyung had gone back to fiddling with the grass, but Jeongguk wanted to meet the hazels, "Besides...i don't- I don't wanna hurt you more"

"All-all the best?" It wasn't a question, but it came off as one. Taehyung mouthed a thank you, wiping the next tear that rolled off his cheek with his collar sleeve. They went silent again, and each silence killed him. But neither left, staying rooted even under the silence until Taehyung broke it again-

"You still hang around here?"

He looked around, almost instinctively and replied, "couldn't...all throughout last year....jimin suggested hoseok, my therapist...and now I took him here for our first date....jimin said it's prog-" He paused, freezing on his words and looked at Taehyung. The latter's tears shone under the poor lighting even as he mustered a smile for him. Jeongguk knew, of course he knew his Taehyung.

"Am so happy for you, baby.....so-so happy," Taehyung said, still keeping the smile, not boxy, " Give Jimin a chance.....he won't let you-let you down...the way that I -that I did-" Taehyung teared up again, though Jeongguk wasn't sure if he stopped at all.

"Give love another chance.....after you-you go to France, " He smiled, and didn't bother his tears betraying it, "Just-just don't repeat your mis-mistakes"

Taehyung nodded, crying profusely. So he held out a pinky, "Promise?"

Taehyung smiled, almost boxy, but teary. "Yes"

"Pinky promise?" He held his pinky forward, towards Taehyung who walked up to him (never breaking their eye contact) before entwining their pinkies. "Pinky promise"

It was electric, like always. Their tangled pinkies sending shivers down his spine, tingles down his veins and memories down his cheeks. Both their cheeks sticky with salty tears and both their lips chapped from how long they hadn't wetted them.

"Can I kiss you, Jeongguk?"

"I have a boyfriend, Taehyung"

"One last time, please?" His eyes still shone with unshed tears, love and guilt.

"I can't do this to Jimin, Tae-"

"I am afraid I'll forget you, Jeongguk," Taehyung said, untangling their pinkies, "I-I don't want to"

"But Jimin, he-"

"Don't lie to him about us, Gguk," Taehyung declared, " Tell him once I leave...tell him everything... he's a keeper, just be honest with him-"

"It's better to lie.....better than to have everything fall apart from a single truth," He muttered.

"I could've lied, " Taehyung smiled, sad and more teary, "but not lived with you happily after that.....you don't deserve that"

"What if I don't deserve Jimin? He's-"

"You deserve all the love in the world, " Taehyung brushed a lock off his eyes, and he froze blinking at him. "Jimin's is no exception"

"Taehyung...." He drawled, knowing the way Taehyung was looking at him, " I have a-"

"Just give me one last goodbye kiss, baby," Taehyung weakly smiled, blinking back tears, " I'll be out your life the next moment"

Jeongguk, even after staying apart from Taehyung for an year, wanted to stall. Because Taehyung may have walked out of their home last year, but never from his heart. It would be foreign without taehyung, even home, but he won't stop Taehyung. Not anymore.

"Don't stall, ggukie, " He hated how Taehyung knew him like at the back of his palm, " I need to go...so should you...jimin might be worried and-mmh"

Jeongguk kissed him first because, Taehyung knew him like a habit and old habits die hard. Secondly, he couldn't stall when the other knew he was doing it deliberately. Jeongguk didn't know stealth when it came to Taehyung, not when the other knew him like sun does of the earth, the earth does of the moon, the moon does of the stars and stars in Jeongguk's eyes did of Taehyung.

The kiss was anything but fast. Anything but perfect. Anything but heated and everything that was their last. Their bodies fit into each other, like puzzles. Lips slotted, like they finally reached home. Tongues tangled, like they knew there would be no Jeongguk and Taehyung anymore. And Jeongguk opened his eyes to look at a blissed out Taehyung; carving every detail of his in his memory, so that even if Taehyung forgets the way Jeongguk tasted cigarettes, he won't forget how Taehyung still tasted strawberries. Even after a year Taehyung had said "your eyes hold more stars than the sky" And giggling, Jeongguk had replied, "that's a lie"
knowing not how Taehyung knew not of a lie that he could tell Jeongguk.

Taehyung broke the kiss first, chest heaving in tandem with his. A tear fell on his hand, and he didn't bother to acknowledge whose it was. He just held Taehyung closer, trying to search for the cigarette that clung to him-

"I stopped smoking," Taehyung whispered, probably noticing him snuggling into his coat, "since we-"

"I can't, " He replied, truth ready on his tongue for Taehyung. " It makes me- makes me feel like I'm with you"

"I'm flying to France so you let me go, Jeongguk," Taehyung whispered, and another tear dropped on his palm. Maybe more than one, but it was too blurry to count. "Like I should let you"

"Is this it? And you leave? " He asked, expectantly gazing into Taehyung's hazels.

"You know the truth, should I lie?" Why must Taehyung know him like at the back of his palm? He nodded, another tear rolling down. "Jeonggukie, I still love you, baby, " But Taehyung doesn't know how to lie to Jeongguk, "but we can't keep doing this to ourselves.....you can't keep-keep doing this to yourself, bun...it has already been an year...give love another chance...give-give Jimin your trust...he deserves it....you deserve him too, baby," Taehyung's palms cupped his cheek and everything felt surreal, from when he met Taehyung at the dogs cafe to when Taehyung said they could not do this anymore.

"How could you say that!? How could you say that like there wasn't a Taehyung and Jeongguk before? How could you-" His hands bunched up at Taehyung's coat and Taehyung's hands fell to his sides, "You can't just come into my life, make me feel special and leave like that! Taehyung, you bastard, I love you! You can't do this to me!" He didn't know why he was shouting, he didn't know why he was shaking Taehyung by holding his coat collar, he didn't know why it hurt, he didn't know why Taehyung and Jeongguk should hurt.

An year ago, when they parted ways at this restaurant, three tables away, after two months of trying for them, Jeongguk hadn't cried. Because, it wouldn't sink in even when Taehyung walked out of the door muffling his cries or came to collect his things from their place. Then Jeongguk was left alone, and two more months passed, but Jeongguk still believed they had a chance. He hated Taehyung for giving up on him, giving up on them, giving up on Taehyung and Jeongguk. But then Jimin came, a blind date Jin had set him up for since he looked like a 'walking corpse' as the other had air quoted. And he nodded to Jimin for another date, not quite sure why. But then Jimin suggested him to hoseok,who said, "you have to move on from your past and accept that this person you say you love has left" But then, not even five months later- when Jeongguk could walk past this restaurant without breaking into a crying fit- Taehyung walks in on their first date and says-

"Am so sorry, baby, but you're still so special to me.....and-and nothing can change that"

He weakly punched at the other's chest, stepped back, leaned against the wall and breathed for air. "I hate you, I hate you so much, you fucking-I-I hate you" Jeongguk tried, but he couldn't. Not when Taehyung still looked at him, like he was the one and only in his world.

"I love too, so fucking bad, Jeongguk," Taehyung's blood shot eyes, still leaking resonated with his words. With guilt. "Always remember that," Like jeongguk will ever forget that, " That there was once a Kim Taehyung who loved Jeon Jeongguk to death but- but couldn't keep him until then"

"Stop-" He begged, crying again. Unbothered of his empty lungs, heavy heart and incoming headache.

"Good-goodbye, baby," Taehyung was still crying, and only Jeongguk would notice the thin tear trails down his cheeks under that lighting, " Give Jimin a chance, you deserve that, kay?"

"Please don't-" But Taehyung continued against his protests.

"Be happy, jeonggukie," Again a distance painted itself between them, maybe because Taehyung was walking backwards as he waved at him. Still crying. "I l-"

"Ju-just lie for me, one-one last time," He fell to his knees, "please don't say that...not-"

"I can't, Gguk-"

"For-for me, please," His lungs had given up on him. "Jus-just this once and-and l-last"

"Baby-"

"Pluh-please, Taehyung! "

Taehyung cried into his palm as Jeongguk did into his sweater sleeves. "Please, tae-"

"I-I h-hate you, baby, " Taehyung didn't give him another glance running towards the restaurant exit from the backyard. Leaving cold air, an empty spot and a crying Jeongguk in his wake. A few moments passed and all that was left ached. Ached so much that jeongguk had to hold his chest, maybe the heart inside, that regardless shattered.

But a pair of warm hands wrapped around him, shaking him back and forth in their embrace and something wet landed on his shoulder (from where his sweater had slipped off) with a soft, "h-hey gguk, it's kay, I'm here-"

"T-t tae-taehyung he-" He held a vigorously shaking hand to point towards the exit from which Taehyung left. "He-he-"

"I know, I know, he told me- told me everything back there," Another drop of wetness settled on his shoulder, followed by a few more. Cars and trains and buses, the world around them still revolved like Taehyung's and Jeongguk's didn't just stop. "Just-just trust me, I'll be here..always...I'll stay here....jeongguk, I promise I'll wait"

And Jeongguk cried in Jimin's embrace, who wrapped his jacket around the other's trembling form. He cried for long, but didn't know how much. But Jimin stayed, brushed his locks, pulled his Jacket closer and held him tighter, as he did. A few moments of Jeongguk's tears drying passed in silence until he broke it.

"J-jimin?"

"Yes gguk?" Jimin replied from by his side, leaning against the same wall.

"Sorry, " He sniffled, "sorry for bringing you into this mess"

"What mess?"

"Taehyung... me...." He trailed off.

"Then I have had my fair share of messes too, gguk, it's been four years and I still love him the same," Jimin sighed, eyes getting watery.

"Then how can you love me?"

"Because Jeongguk," Jimin smiled, not crescent but benign, "yoongi would have been my first love...but not necessarily my last,"

Silence.

"I like you, Jimin, lots," He confessed, since truths seemed fluent on his tongue today, "but, i- taehyung-I we...it's too fast and am-I don't know...i just-i just want a pause but I won-I won't stop you-"

"Jeongguk," He paused, again meeting Jimin's eyes. No malice, no anger, not even sadness, just ready love shone in them, "I'll wait, however long you take...for Taehyung...for yourself...all the time in this world, you can have all of them..I'll wait "

Silence again.

"Thank you, Jimin," He whispered, looking in the direction of the backyard exit of the restaurant.

"Thank you too, Jeongguk," jimin smiled, "for giving me a chance "

"You deserve it," He tried a weak smile. Jimin gave a benign one in return,"Chim"

___________

A/n:

Yes. Me is alive🥺

Yeah, I was getting through a major writing block when I came up with this idea.....me and my sis had quite different plans but soon as she heard this, she said to go for it...

If you don't like Jikook..it's kay and u need not have to read it...but this is just another snippet of my imagination...so if u r free minded, I hope u enjoyed :)

💜

(Anygays stan the king. And his 6 boyfriends)