Seventeen

"Namjoon," Yoongi smiled as he walked towards the corner of the library to his normal spot. Except, "and Jungkook...?" He raised an eyebrow at the vampire sitting next to Namjoon, not expecting him to be sitting together with Namjoon out of his own free will. Jungkook looked flustered, which is kind of cute considering he never really talks much and he doesn't show many emotions.

"Hey!" Namjoon smiled wide to Yoongi as he took his normal seat, thanking Namjoon, who was moving his bag out of his stool— clearly saving it just for him. "Koo and I were just talking about you. Good morning."

Yoongi raised an eyebrow at the smaller, who was now staring hard outside the window as if he was trying to avoid eye contact with both of them. Yoongi hummed at the sight. If he didn't know any better, he would say that Jungkook is madly embarrassed now.

"Koo?" Yoongi questioned.

Namjoon shrugged. "Cute, isn't it?"

Jungkook cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "Y-Yeah, we were uhm, talking about you before you came," he said. "How about we keep doing that?"

"Oh, yeah!" Namjoon snapped his fingers as he turned back to Yoongi. "Jungkook and I ran into each other and I asked him to sit with us, you know, be more friendly with the other..." He looked around him, seeing students. "Yeah, you know what I mean," he finished.

Jungkook nodded. "He forced me to sit with him and he's forcing me to talk."

"I'm not forcing you!" Namjoon turned back to Jungkook, a small whine in his voice. "I've never heard you talk, I swear. I'm a nice enough person to get along with," he turned back to Yoongi, "Right?"

Yoongi nodded, catching the way Jungkook glanced down at absolutely nothing. "Namjoon, you're an amazing person." Yoongi smiled at his friend. "You don't have to force yourselves to be comfortable on mine and Taehyung's terms, though. Be friends to be friends and not just because of a dumb human and a... Kim Taehyung."

"It's not just you," Namjoon pointed out. "Seokjin and Park Jimin had this same problem. Jungkook wasn't a part of their... group yet, but he knows the most part just like you do." He stretched out and closed his book that had probably been sitting open for a while now. "Koo's pretty new here. I wanted him to know that our group isn't as bad as he thinks, just because Jimin says so."

"J-Jimin hasn't ever said that," Jungkook spoke up, catching Namjoon's attention. "And to be honest, I don't really know much about anything. All I know is what I am and who I listen to. It's as simple as that."

Namjoon hummed as he examined the smaller, younger vampire. He squirmed under Namjoon's eyes, looking at Yoongi to save him. "Have you ever considered that you're not just a sucker?" he gave Jungkook a reassuring look. "You aren't nothing. You don't always have to go by what Jimin says. I know this for a fact. A few— or maybe a lot of years ago— anyways, I remember Taehyung stood up to Jimin and Jimin nearly broke down to Seokjin, telling him how bad he felt and how he wished he wasn't treated to such high standards."

Namjoon sighed as Jungkook and Yoongi merely listened to him. "Anyways, what I'm saying is that I believe Jimin wouldn't mind a little guidance himself. It doesn't matter that you're young," he explained, "The Jimin I remember is an open person. He acts strong, but trust me, he used to come to me and ask for advice all the time. He let his guard down, and then it was all crashed too soon."

Yoongi didn't like this.

He didn't like that he wished better for Jimin. Jimin had tried to kill him multiple times, but damn. Why can't he just go back to Seokjin and live their vampire lives happily together? Wouldn't that make them happy?

"I don't know," Namjoon sighed. "Maybe it's just me wanting what's best, as usual."

Jungkook's eyes were big as he looked at the side of Namjoon's face, the big teddy bear of a vampire not even noticing, but as soon as Jungkook realized that Yoongi was watching him, he averted his eyes from him. Yoongi chuckled at him, amused by it.

"It's okay to want people to be happy," Jungkook said. "When I realized Taehyung was serious about pursuing Yoongi, I didn't know what to think, but I knew that I wanted Taehyung to be happy at least. I probably should have realized sooner than I did, but that was my fault— partly Jimin's as well."

Yoongi frowned. "I feel like such a burden." He sighed to himself as he laid his arm across the counter they were sitting at and he laid his head down, closing his eyes. "I'm just some useless human. Why me? Who do you guys want to be my friend, Joonie? Why does Taehyung want to even be my friend?"

Namjoon wrapped an arm around Yoongi, resulting in his eyes reopening. He looked up at Namjoon, who had a soft smile on his face and then to Jungkook, who looked sadly down at the poor useless human.

"We love you, Yoongi," Namjoon said. "We'll always want to be your friend."

"I'll be seventy years old, drinking wine with a bunch of teenagers." Yoongi groaned to himself as he laid his head back down. "I don't want to grow old and useless. I don't want you guys to leave me. Besides, if you love me, what're you going to do when you lose me?"

Namjoon frowned as well, but Jungkook straightened up. "I know what you're wanting, Yoongi," he told him. "You want to be turned, right?" he asked. Namjoon's eyes widened as Yoongi groaned even more.

"Yoongi..."

"You shouldn't," Jungkook told him. "Jimin is right. Being a human is a blessing. Be happy with that." He sighed as he slid off of his stool, Namjoon watching in confusion. "I have to get to class early. I'll see you around, I guess..." With that, he turned and exited the library, barely even giving a goodbye to either one of them. Namjoon turned back to Yoongi.

"You want to be one of us?" he asked. "Are you crazy? You have such a nice life—"

"But I could have an even nicer, longer, more healthy life with my friends," Yoongi explained, but Namjoon was not buying it.

"Healthy?" he questioned. "Yoongi, it's not healthy. You're constantly on the edge, living like us. Hell, we're more likely to die right now than you are," he spoke quietly.

Yoongi shook his head. "And how long have you been alive for, now?" he asked.

"That's not my point—"

"But it is my point." Yoongi exhaled loudly. "Just forget it. It's not going to happen anyways. Besides, what're the chances that Seokjin or even Jimin would allow that?" He stood up from his stool as well. "We need to get to class. This conversation went to hell and back. Come on, let's just go. It's not even that serious," he told Namjoon, noticing the worried look in his sharp eyes.

Namjoon sighed as he stood up as well. "Yes, Yoongi, it is that serious."

-

Yoongi's whole mood was shot down even more than it already was when he was walking on his way to class. He was alone, brushing shoulders with the other students who were cramped up in the school hallway, trying to make their way to class as well.

As Yoongi turned the corner, his feet stopped upon seeing something so disgusting and so unexpected that it made his entire body just freeze. Confusion, hurt, a sense of regret— it all hit him the moment he saw Taehyung standing in the hallway, pressing a shorter boy in their class against the beige lockers. The boy had hair that was a lighter brown than Yoongi's, and he was much shorter, so he had his head tilted up at Taehyung. Taehyung's right hand was on the boy's waist and his other hand was tilting his chin up, and what had killed Yoongi the most was the fact that he was leaned down, their lips attached.

Yoongi hated it.

He hated the way Taehyung was kissing this boy. Why him? Why him and not Yoongi? How come this boy gets special treatment and Yoongi gets nothing, despite Taehyung saying he wanted it too? Taehyung stuck his tongue into the boy's mouth and Yoongi winced, not even realizing that he was now standing to the side, just watching them helplessly.

He watched as Taehyung's eyes barely opened just a bit, and then his eyes trailed to Yoongi, pulling the boy in even more as their eyes met. Yoongi could feel the stare so intensely and he shifted on his feet, wanting to avert his eyes like he usually would but he couldn't. Instead, he just stood there clenching his sweaty fists as Taehyung bores his eyes into him, tongue down the guy's throat.

Just with that, Yoongi understands. This kiss. Yoongi can feel the wall being built right in front of his eyes, every thick brick being placed one by one every single time Taehyung pressed his body into the boy and slid his tongue into his mouth. He understood then and there that this was meant to happen. Taehyung meant to do this. He knew that Yoongi was going to see him, because don't vampires have like, super-duper senses or something?

It was clear what Taehyung was doing. He wanted to create the line between friendship and relationship between them and he wanted it to be evident, so he was looking at Yoongi through their distance to either make sure he got the message or to break his heart.

Yoongi hopes it's the first option.

And although Yoongi shouldn't be hurt, he is. It hurts to see Taehyung kissing someone that isn't him. His heart is dropped and his feet were still stuck, not knowing what to do. Instead of just standing there, he finally picked up his feet, his legs wobbly as he started walking forward, passing by Taehyung.

"I get it," he muttered under his breath, but he knew Taehyung could hear him, especially since he almost barely saw Taehyung detaching himself from the boy as he stepped into his classroom— the one that Taehyung didn't even have a class near at the time. He positioned his little plan so well, it's so sick.

But Yoongi can't say anything about it. After all, Taehyung is just a friend of his.

-

They sat there, the two friends. Instead of sitting on Yoongi's roof, they went to the little balcony that Taehyung has at his house, a perfect view of the sunset, just like they always watched. Taehyung was the one who suggested they go sit there instead. Of course, backtracking to a few days ago, Yoongi was still salty about Taehyung kissing that student against the locker instead of him, but it's fine. Yoongi gets it now for sure.

All of those times wanting just a slight peck at least, Yoongi realized those thoughts were useless because Taehyung doesn't want that. Taehyung wants to be friends for real. Yoongi figured that Taehyung never liked him to begin with, but instead wanted his friend to not have his hopes crushed so badly, so he made excuses. Now that they are merely friends, Taehyung can kiss who he wants.

Even random students.

Yoongi hadn't even mentioned it to him, either. He decided that as a friend, he'll let that go. If he saw Hoseok kissing some random guy, he would probably give him odd looks, but this isn't Hoseok. This is Taehyung. And if there's one thing he's learned so far, he's fought way too much for this friendship and he doesn't want to be petty and let it slip away.

So they sat in chairs on Taehyung's balcony as friends and just friends only.

"So, now that we're back on sunset schedule.." Yoongi curled the blanket that was given to him up towards his face, hiding beneath it and his dark grey beanie. "What are we going to talk about today?" he asked.

Taehyung leaned back in his rocking chair and crossed his arms over his abdomen, thinking to himself. "How was school today?"

Yoongi chuckled. If he had been asked this same question the other day, he probably would've hit Taehyung upside his head and tell him to never speak to him again.

"It was fine," Yoongi said. "Finished my project with Kwan." Taehyung grimaced at the mention of her, but Yoongi brushed it off. "Namjoon spilled my drink on the floor in the library this morning, so my day started off pretty bad. What about you? Anything interesting happening?" he asked.

Taehyung bit his lower lip. "Nope."

Liar.

"That's a bummer," Yoongi said instead. "Why do you even go to school if you have nothing fun to do? You know, you could always come and sit with me at lunch. I'll be interesting for you." Yoongi was talking before thinking, but Taehyung brushed him off with the shake of his head anyways so it didn't matter.

"I don't need to intrude more than I already have," he said. "I'm sure your friends like their normal seats and having no awkwardness at the table. I would just mess that up."

Yoongi frowned. He's not wrong, but still. Yoongi just wants to try. Is he not interesting enough? Not good looking, not funny, or does his breath smell bad or something?

"Alright, fine." He leaned back in his chair and sighed to himself. If his thoughts keep filling his head like this, he doesn't know what to do. It shouldn't be happening. He doesn't even remember when he started thinking about Taehyung as anything other than a savior— the guy who he wanted to thank a trillion times, but also the mysterious guy who he just wanted to learn more about.

It must have been the day in the meadow, right? That was the very first time that Yoongi had thought of Taehyung as something more— and it was Taehyung's fault, too. Taehyung was the one who got on top of him and leaned in as if he was going to kiss Yoongi. But he never did, and all it did was leave Yoongi to wonder: what would it be like to kiss him? and does he want to kiss me?

"We should play twenty-one questions," Taehyung suddenly announced, clearing his throat as he straightened up in his chair. He pulled his feet up and tucked them under his legs to sit with his legs crossed. Yoongi looked at him like he was crazy.

"You know that game?"

Taehyung slightly pouted at him. "I'm a vampire, but that doesn't mean that I don't keep up with today's world," he said. "I'll go first. Question one, do you like the balcony better or do you like the rooftop?"

Yoongi chuckled at the question, but he looked out at the sun slowly making its way down and he really did think about it. On top of his roof, there was a thrill being up so high and something about being in a not-so-normal place with Taehyung made him feel special in a sort of way. The balcony is nice, but Yoongi would honestly love being on his roof right now, laid next to Taehyung.

"Roof," he muttered.

Taehyung hummed. "Me too." He looked at Yoongi and smiled softly. "Your turn."

Yoongi stared out into the trees, thinking about a question to ask. He had so many, but they were ones he wouldn't dare to ask. "How old were you when you turned into a vampire?" he asked. Taehyung blinked at the unexpected question, but he furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the human.

"Nineteen," he answered. "Jimin was twenty, but we all have a fake ID, and he looks young enough to lie. Jungkook was seventeen."

Yoongi's eyes widened. "Jungkook is seventeen?" he asked.

"Not technically," Taehyung laughed. "He's still older than you, Yoongi. Anyways, it's my turn." He hummed a slow song as he thought about what to ask, his voice low and pretty. Yoongi thought about how cool it would be if Taehyung became a singer throughout his vampire life, but then it would be so risky with all the humans, and the fame would give away what he is. "What would you do?"

Yoongi tilted his head in confusion. "What would I do if what?" he asked.

"If you were no longer... you."

Taehyung's eyes were glued into the trees now, not even glimpsing at Yoongi. The question must have meant being a vampire, right? Why would Yoongi no longer be himself, though? He'd still be the same person, right? Just no aging, blood-sucking, and a few abilities, but Yoongi would still be himself, right? He would still have his personality and still be himself, wouldn't he?

"I can't answer that right now," he told Taehyung. "I guess I'd have to figure it out somehow, wouldn't I?" he smirked confidently to himself as Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows at him, eyes wide and lips parted.

"Yoongi—"

"It's my turn to ask a question," Yoongi cut him off. Taehyung shut his mouth, his jaw clenching as he leaned back further into his seat. "My question..." Yoongi placed his pointer finger on his chin and tapped, pretending to think. He didn't want to be so petty, but since Taehyung was asking weird questions, Yoongi decided it didn't matter. It's just a game. "Have you ever been in a relationship?"

Taehyung's lips pursed. "No," he shrugged. "I've messed around some, but relationships aren't... yeah. Anyways, it's my turn. What, uhm, what's your favorite color?"

He's going back to normal, huh?

"Black," Yoongi answered quickly to move on. "My turn. Do you like PDA or something?" he asked, keeping a straight face as much as possible. The make-out scene in front of him in the school hallway came to his mind, and it clearly did Taehyung's too, because now the vampire was cowering back into his seat at Yoongi's sudden question.

"N-No," he said. "Next... Next question." Taehyung cleared his throat, still avoiding eye contact. "What's your favorite, uhm..." He looked nervous now. Yoongi hadn't meant to go so far, but it wasn't going to stop him now. "What's your favorite type of cookie?"

The question made Yoongi chuckle darkly to himself. "White chocolate macadamia nut. My brother introduced them to my mom and then I fell in love with them." He leaned forward in his seat to get a better look at Taehyung. "My turn," he said lowly. "If you don't like PDA, then why did you have your tongue down some random guy's throat the other day?"

Taehyung froze. His eyes were frozen as well, still staring off into the distance. "Yoongi, this game was meant to just ask—"

"And answer," Yoongi finished. "You ask a question, I answer. I ask, and you answer. That's how the game works." He shrugged as Taehyung looked at him with slight guilt and worry in his eyes. "So, do you know the guy, or was it another messing around?"

A long sigh came from Taehyung. "I don't know him personally, Yoongi. And it doesn't even matter." It does to Yoongi. "My turn," Taehyung murmured quietly. "Are you ready for dinner?" he asked suddenly. Yoongi furrowed his eyebrows as his friend gave him a weak smile, trying his best.

"Dinner?"

"Yeah," Taehyung uncrossed his legs and stood up from his chair, holding his hand out to Yoongi. "Jimin and Jungkook made dinner," he said. Yoongi wanted to take his hand, but he stood up on his own instead, ignoring the way his heartbeat was unsteady because of the way Taehyung frowned down at him, because of him. "Well," Taehyung mumbled softly, trying to keep the smile on his face. "Jimin and Jungkook made dinner for you. They thought it would be nice," he explained.

Yoongi nodded. "That's nice," he said. "Sounds like a very friendly thing to do." He walked by Taehyung and into the door, making his way down to the kitchen where he could smell meat rising into the air. He ignored how quiet Taehyung had gotten now. He wasn't trying to pry or be rude, but why can Taehyung make a big deal of everything and Yoongi can't? No. He wants him to know that he has a problem with Taehyung deliberately making his heart crack into several pieces.

Taehyung deserves to feel guilty.

Right?

Taehyung claims to want to kiss Yoongi, but he won't. He always wants to hold his hand and protect Yoongi, but how come Yoongi is hurting now? How come he doesn't feel right every time he sees Taehyung now? Why won't Taehyung just tell him the truth?

The real truth.

~

don't mind any typos this is a long ass chapter and i edited twice but I always manage to mess up lmao