"What did you do?"

Taehyung had his hands clenched into fists and eyes that Jungkook couldn't look at. They were outside of Jungkook's house, standing on the sidewalk, while an old car with blue tail lights and green flame stickers waited on the street. Yugyeom's brother was taking them to this cool place at the mall where they sold fake tattoos. Jaebeom was the most excited about the idea, already hurrying Jungkook from the back seat.

"I didn't do anything," Jungkook replied, neck burning and lungs tight.

"Don't lie." Taehyung's frown made his whole face change.

"Aww." Jaebeom let out a shrieking sound, stopped by Yugyeom's punch in his arm from the front seat, but whose laugh mixed with his friend's, loud enough to fill in the silence.

"Who told you?" Jungkook asked Taehyung, ignoring the other boys.

"Dowoon has a mouth. Though it's a mess now. Your lip is not looking good either."

A sharp laugh pierced the air again. Jungkook turned his head and frowned at Jaebeom. "You said he wouldn't say anything, that he would be quiet."

Jaebeom had his arms out of the window and was still smiling wide, showing the little gap in his front teeth. "I guess he didn't."

"Jaebeom? Really?" Taehyung said quietly, getting closer to Jungkook.

"What?" Jungkook played the innocent, but he was fully aware of what those questions from Taehyung meant. He wasn't that naive. He just didn't know what answer his friend wanted.

Taehyung sent him a narrowed look, chest growing with air that he kept there, shutting his mouth close. After Jungkook remained silent for too long, Taehyung breathed out, arms hanging on his sides as if they were tired.

"Please, don't do it again. I'm fine."

Jungkook snorted. "But it's not fine what Dowoon's doing."

"It isn't fine what you are doing either," Taehyung countered in a whisper, eyes going from Jungkook to the car behind Jungkook's back. "This is not you."

Jungkook's gaze dropped to the pavement under his feet, something stinging in his mouth. Whatever. He would let Taehyung not be happy about what he did for him, because there was nothing else to do. Why get so mad about it?

The sound of a car door opening and closing broke the silence, while shoes against the pavement behind them got closer. When a finger poked at Jungkook's ribs on his left side and an arm dropped on his shoulders, he relaxed. He knew it was Jaebeom.

"Taehyung, I'm sorry." Jaebeom showed gentle, yet exasperated eyes. "I told JK to fight Dowoon. We didn't want him bothering you anymore."

It seemed as if Taehyung wasn't even listening to Jaebeom talk by the way he kept looking at Jungkook. But he nodded once, dark hair moving with a warm breeze that intensified the sweet scent Jaebeom had put on. Jungkook leaned into it.

"We learned our lesson."

The grin Jaebeom showed erased all of his—little to no—effort in looking innocent. Jungkook could see in Taehyung's face how he wasn't falling for it.

"My mom asked about you," Taehyung said, completely ignoring Jaebeom and the horns from the car. "She told me to invite you for dinner tonight."

Jungkook found the statement weird. It was Thursday and Taehyung's mom always worked double shifts on Thursdays.

"My dad lets me eat in my room." Jaebeom smiled, bumping his side to Jungkook's and holding his shoulder tighter. "If you want to eat at my house later today, we can watch any series we want."

"Yeah, we played video games the whole night last time," Yugyeom said out loud from the passenger's seat, arms hanging out the door like Jaebeom had done before.

"Hey, hurry the fuck up," Yugyeom's brother yelled, a hand resting on the wheel and the other pointing at the boys.

Taehyung ignored them again. "I always have dinner with my mom and grandma at the table. We like to talk." He briefly glared at Jaebeom before returning his gaze to Jungkook. His eyebrows relaxed. "Wanna come?"

"We have to go." Jaebeom slid his arm off Jungkook, looking back at the car and motioning with his hand to wait a bit longer. "I'm gonna invite these kids to a fake tattoo and then we'll go play on the new Playstation my dad got for me."

"Really?" Yugyeom asked. Jaebeom turned back to smile at him.

Jungkook knew that Jaebeom also meant taking his father's cans of beer from the huge bar they had in their house. No key to keep them out of reach from their fourteen-year-old son. Jungkook was sure Yugyeom knew that too. It would end up being a wild afternoon, but that was exactly what Jungkook needed. He wanted the distraction from the way Taehyung was looking at him, with blooming disappointment.

"We have homework," Taehyung said fiercely.

Jaebeom let out a spontaneous laugh. "I do them in the morning before school. That way my dad sees and pays me for it."

It felt like Jaebeom lived in a parallel universe, so far away from Jungkook and Taehyung and their lives in Gwangju; a millionaire father, a big house, and any video game he wanted. Jungkook was surprised he still liked to spend so much time with him.

"Maybe you want to come?" Jaebeom asked Taehyung, motioning with his finger to where the car was. "Maybe you can meet my dad. He has lots of businesses around. He's always talking bad about his employees, maybe he could use some new ones."

Jungkook knew Jaebeom didn't mean any harm with that comment, but he noticed how Taehyung's mouth went rigid, lips locked together in a thin line. His eyes lingered on Jungkook for a few seconds, twisting his stomach into knots without knowing why.

After a beat of silence, Taehyung stood up straight and began walking backwards. "It's okay. I'll go hang out with Hyejin. See you at school."

The sudden horn from Yugyeom's brother's car, and Taehyung's cold words made Jungkook wince. He stood there over the pavement, watching his friend leave. Then he looked at his white shoes against the dark gray. For a short moment, Jungkook felt the impulse to follow Taehyung, stop him and tell him that he'd go with him. That he didn't have to ask Hyejin out, because lying on the hardwood floor together while they waited for Ms. Kim's food was a much better idea. But Jungkook chose to bite his bottom lip and suppressed the intensity of his inner shoutings and those feelings he didn't know what to do with.

He already felt the distance between them growing. And Jungkook was good at giving space when needed. He didn't like begging. It was much easier for him to blend with his surroundings and other things instead.

So it wasn't hard to walk the other way and head toward the car, closer to the world he was beginning to create with his other friends, the sound of the engine piercing his ears, the heat of the sun thick against his skin. Just like that, Jungkook got away from the unwanted reality, brushing off that other deep reason why the thought of his best friend with Hyejin—or anyone else but him—was making his stomach hurt.