Forty-Seven
:Chapter Forty-Seven:

Jeongguk could see the light through his eyelids. The bright hues making him groan and shift ever so slightly.

He could feel the warmth against his chest which caused him to flutter his eyes open. Jeongguk looked and could see Taehyung up against his chest. He too was in the midst of waking up, feeling the small movements caused by Jeongguk.

     "What . . . What time is it?" Taehyung groaned, a yawn leaving his lips and his morning breath greeting Jeongguk. His face was puffy, lips swollen.

Jeongguk hummed, pushing the sheets off of their upper halves. It sent a chill down the younger's spine, not having the warmth cover his bare torso and arms.

     Jeongguk reached over and grabbed his phone, using his free hand to rub his eye. "Uh, almost eight-thirty." He answered groggily, feeling too tired to have to get out of bed but they still had school. "We should—"

Before Jeongguk could get the sentence out, his door was pushed opened and his father was standing in the doorway with a wide smile.

The moment the smile was shown was the same time it fell, his father taking in the scene before him.

     Taehyung and Jeongguk looked in fear and shock at the old man, both of their eyes wide and lips just slightly parted. They weren't expecting a sudden special guest appearance from Jeongguk's dad.

     "You're, um, late for school." Mr. Jeon informed before he backed away and shut the door behind him.

"Shit," Jeongguk cursed before he pushed himself out of bed, frantically heading over to his closet for some clothes and pulling them on in a rush.

Taehyung too stood and picked up his clothes from yesterday but Jeongguk stopped him before he could pull it on.

     "Here, just wear this." The younger said, pulling out a graphic grey T-shirt with some jeans. It was just so the elder wouldn't have to wear the same clothes.

     "I'm sorry," Taehyung uttered as he took the clothes, rushing as fast as Jeongguk was.

"Why?" Wondered the former pitcher, brow cocked. "What's there to be sorry for?"

"I don't know, feel like I got you in trouble." Taehyung told, feeling sorry for Jeongguk and him getting caught.

Jeongguk stopped and made Taehyung look up at him, shaking his head. "Don't be sorry for my actions. We did this together and we got caught. You don't need to apologize for me like I don't need to apologize for you." He told. "Okay? It's fine."

"If you say so," Taehyung pulled back and finished getting dressed, straightening his shirt with a few pats from his hands. "What are you going to do about me getting out of here?" He wondered, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling on his discarded socks.

Jeongguk thought for a moment but sighed, shaking his head. "There's no point in rushing out of here, is there?" He asked as he stopped what he was doing, his shirt barely on. "I mean, we're already late, my dad already caught us. What's there to hide and rush for now?" He sounded defeated.

Taehyung frowned and furrowed his brows, trying to think of an answer but he came up short.

"Just," Jeongguk began again. "Finish getting dressed and I'll introduce you to my dad the right way, without you having to check on me and us hating one another."

"You sure?" Taehyung wondered, feeling like there should be something else he could do. He still felt so apologetic.

"Yeah, yeah, no harm in it now." Jeongguk said, shrugging. "But, there's a catch,"

Taehyung watched Jeongguk look up at him, strands of his black bangs framing his face as his eyes locked with Taehyung's.

"We have to pretend we're dating."

Taehyung stared blankly at Jeongguk. He was waiting for the boy to start laughing; to tell him it was a prank of the sorts. But no.

     "Dating?" The elder questioned. It wasn't that bad but he wanted to know exactly why it had to be dating.

     "Well, my dad is religious. He's not, like, homophobic or anything. He knows I can't control what I'm attracted to but he just wants me to make sure that if I decide to do it that I'm at least with someone I care about. Love as well but I don't love you and I'm not going to tell him I love you." Jeongguk explained, being as serious as he could be.

     "Damn, you don't love me? Shucks." Taehyung rolled his eyes and stood up, scratching the back of his neck. He could feel the dull pain sensation in his lower back, trying his best to ignore it.

Jeongguk just smiled and finished up, making sure he looked presentable. He ran his fingers through his hair and styled it briefly.

     "Ready?" The younger asked, grabbing his book bag and making his way to the bedroom door.

     "I guess as ready as one can be." Taehyung told, arms tightly crossed over his chest. He was nervous, really nervous. He felt like he was going into a courtroom ready to be put on death row.

"You'll be fine. We'll be fine," Jeongguk promised, smiling in Taehyung's direction. He then took his hand and pulled him out of his room, the two making their way downstairs.

They made their way through the living space and proceeded into the kitchen where Jeongguk's father was in the midst of cooking breakfast.

"Dad?" Jeongguk spoke, keeping ahold of Taehyung's hand in his own.

The old man looked back over his shoulder, seeing both boys standing in the doorway together. He weakly grinned before turning back away. "Morning," He greeted.

"I'm sorry about . . . Uh, what you walked into." Jeongguk apologized. "But this is my boyfriend, Taehyung."

The old man placed the hot eggs onto a plate, humming a response before he looked over his shoulder again. This time, he only looked at Taehyung.

"Have we met before?" Wondered Mr. Jeon, thinking Taehyung looked familiar to him.

The boy felt like his vocal cords get mixed in his throat; feeling like his words were just lost somewhere.

Jeongguk picked up on his and gave Taehyung's hand a squeeze before he turned back to his father to answer for the elder.

     "Yeah, he came over to the house a few times and I know you answered the door for him once or twice. He's the guy Jaeyong likes a lot." Jeongguk told.

The old man nodded. "If you guys are going to do that, please use protection and make sure you're safe." He pleaded calmly. "And Jeongguk," His father looked towards his son, his eyes stern.

The younger waited patiently.

"We'll talk more about this later, yeah? Get some breakfast and I'll drive you both up to school." Mr. Jeon told, his gaze softening as he looked away. He filled another plate with eggs and handed it over to Taehyung and Jeongguk for them to enjoy. "Don't take long."

     Jeongguk set his plate down on the table after he left go of Taehyung's hand. He grabbed two forks, handing one over the captain of their baseball team.

     "Are you okay?" Taehyung asked, still standing where he stood, only this time, he had food and a fork.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jeongguk spoke. He took a seat and began to eat his eggs, looking up through his strands of black locks. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Taehyung gulped, blinking a few times. He took his fork and pushed the eggs around as he thought of what to say next.

He set his plate down soon enough, taking a seat right across from Jeongguk. He slipped his tongue over his bottom lip, looking away for a moment.

     "Just . . . I don't know. I just want to make sure you're okay." Taehyung said, loosely sitting in the wooden chair.

"You know he left the room, right? You don't got to keep up the boyfriend-act." Jeongguk commented, a sly smile rising on his face.

"Asking if you're okay isn't holding a boyfriend-act, dimwit." Taehyung rolled his eyes. He silently huffed to himself, arms crossing over his chest.

     "Do you want pain medicine before you go to school?" Jeongguk asked, eating more of the eggs his dad made him. He saw Taehyung wasn't eating his but maybe he wasn't in the mood for eggs.

"Actually, I wasn't going to go to school today." Admitted Taehyung, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jeongguk's lips turned a bit downward, brow slightly raised. "Huh? Why not?" He questioned. "Why aren't you going to school?"

Taehyung stared blankly at the younger, blinking. "I don't know . . . Thought it was obvious why I wouldn't go to school today. Gets fucked and you expect me to walk around the school." He rolled his eyes.

The raven-haired teen lips made an 'o' when hearing such, now understanding. Pain medicine probably wouldn't be an all day solution.

"Well," Jeongguk hummed. "What do you want to do?" He asked, silently prioritizing Taehyung's needs.

"What?" Taehyung squinted. "I don't want to go to school. That was pretty obvious." He told, not sure what Jeongguk was asking him.

"We can both stay back and just hangout." Jeongguk suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

The elder subconsciously smiled, bashfully looking down but he shook his head anyways. "That's nice of you," He uttered, turning his gaze back to look at Jeongguk. "But don't you think it looks weird if we both don't go?"

Jeongguk took a moment, thinking it over. Taehyung has an issue with people knowing they're close.

     "You're right," Jeongguk looked down, pushing around the rest of his eggs, suddenly not wanting to eat. This whole avoiding concept was a waste to Jeongguk but he refrained from admitting that. "Forgot."

Taehyung saw the tug at Jeongguk's lips but he ignored it. He just wasn't ready for that, not yet anyways.

He still had to end things with Jihyun if he wanted to pursue Jeongguk and his possibilities with the boy.

But Taehyung hated this. He cared for that girl and she didn't deserve it but he couldn't help his heart. It wasn't his choice that his heart started to feel more for Jeongguk.

Wasn't his fault at all but that didn't mean he didn't feel guilty about it. He felt terrible about it and knew he was the issue, his fault or not.

     "I can just walk home though. I'm sure my parents are probably worried about me." Taehyung admitted and slowly pushed to his feet, holding back a wince. "I actually should just leave now now that I say it aloud." He quickly spoke up, a crooked frown on his face.

Jeongguk didn't know what to say; he felt speechless at the statement made but part of him understood. He just didn't know what to reply with.

He kept asking himself what did he expect but it didn't change the outcome he got. It was like he was teasing himself at this point.

"Yeah . . ." Jeongguk blinked a few times, shaking his head. "Yeah, no, sure. I'll see you whenever then, right?"

Taehyung nodded, studiously looking over Jeongguk's features as he tried to read his expression but he was getting mixed signals. He couldn't put a definitive answer to what he was getting.

     "I'm sorry," He uttered, eyes flickering between Jeongguk's.

Jeongguk just smiled and collected the plates after standing up, taking it over to dump the eggs into the trash. He then set the plates into the sink so they could be washed later.

He didn't feel like responding, it didn't feel worth his time. He didn't feel like wasting his breath on trying to retaliate.

Jeongguk didn't even wait for Taehyung, he just walked out of the kitchen and to where his dad was located which was in the living room. He was waiting for the boys to come along.

"Taehyung's just going to go home. You can take me to school still." Jeongguk informed, keeping his head low. He bit down on the inside of his cheek, doing it to calm himself down; to relieve a bit of his anger.

"I'll just drop him off," Mr. Jeon said as Taehyung followed his way into the living space. "Okay?" He looked towards Taehyung who bashfully nodded as a response.

Jeongguk would've preferred being alone and not by Taehyung considering how internally upset he was. He obviously didn't vocalize that much though. He figured it would get him nowhere and, unfortunately, he still had to play the boyfriend role in front of his father.

He looked at Taehyung who walked over, side-glancing at the younger.

The aforementioned stared, holding the eye contact. He held his hand out to the boy, holding the steady glare, trying to keep his expressions anything but sharp and angry.

This was going to be anything but fun.

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