Work Text:
YOU ARE NOW IN A QUEUE. 13,613 PEOPLE AHEAD OF YOU
“Nooooo,” Taehyung whines dramatically and throws himself on the coffee table.
“I assume it’s not good,” Namjoon smiles with pity. “I am 14 thousand somethingth.”
Hoseok, Seokjin mumble unenthusiastic “Same” and Taehyung grabs his phone to see if Jimin or Yoongi texted anything.
Soulmate <3
I’m 13,709, hyung even further, sorry bub
What about the rest?
Taehyung shoots him a quick response and lies down on a table again.
“Kook, what about you?” Namjoon asks and the four of them look at the youngest, who sits at the couch with eyes glued to the phone screen.
“Huh?” he looks up confused.
“Which one are you in the queue?”
Jungkook scoffs and returns to his god knows what.
“Kook…”
“I’m not queuing. I’m not interested.”
“It’s not for us, it’s for Tae.”
“One more reason for me to lose interest,” he murmurs and seeing that Namjoon is about to argue some more, Taehyung interrupts him.
“It’s not worth it, hyung. Leave him alone.”
They stay silent after that, Taehyung with his eyes glued to his laptop’s screen and patiently waiting for the numbers to change.
YOU ARE NOW IN A QUEUE. 11,974 PEOPLE AHEAD OF YOU
“You might still get it?” Hoseok slips down on the floor and lays his head on Taehyung’s shoulder. He doesn’t sound convinced but it’s still nice that he tries to stay positive.
“I don’t think so,” Taehyung sighs. “The venue is for like 15 thousand people, there will be nothing left by the time they let me in.”
“What about reselling? For sure there will be people who will buy too many or they will have some situation and will need to sell at the last minute.”
“That didn’t end well the last time,” Seokjin points out. “Remember when they scammed Jimin when he tried to buy a ticket for Taemin’s concert?”
“What about Japan? You could fly to Japan, right?” Namjoon takes out his phone.
“I can’t fly to Japan,” Taehyung hides his face in his hands. “I don’t have money for that.”
“We could lend you some. Let me check the queue there-”
“The sale for the Tokyo concert is tomorrow. Besides, I wouldn’t go alone.”
Hyungs doesn’t say anything to that. They already denied his pleas to go to the concert with him. They are not fans, so Taehyung’s not mad, but if they wouldn’t go to the concert in Seoul, they for sure won’t fly with him to Japan. Normally Jimin would be happy to join but currently he and Yoongi are saving money for their trip to the US.
“I don’t understand one thing,” Jungkook speaks up and Taehyung rolls his eyes so hard that his brain hurts. “Haven’t you just been to a GOT7 concert?”
“It’s not a GOT7 concert,” he barks back. “It’s Jackson’s.”
“Isn’t Jackson in GOT7?”
“Yes, he is but it’s not. the. same.”
“Sounds the same to me.”
“Well, you must be dumb then.”
The younger scoffs in that condescending manner of his and Taehyung feels like he’s going to explode. He’s already bummed about the tickets, he doesn’t need to deal with Jeon’s bullshit on top of it. But he continues anyway, “He doesn’t sing his solo songs at the band’s concerts. And he just released a new solo album. I really, really want to go.”
Jungkook sends him a look but feeling the hyungs’ eyes on him doesn’t say anything more. He just shakes his head and goes back to his phone.
YOU ARE NOW IN A QUEUE. 9,354 PEOPLE AHEAD OF YOU
Taehyung sighs again. It’s pointless. He checks the Jackson Wang tag on Twitter and the latest posts, where people are celebrating getting tickets or crying about their number in the queue. He refreshes it every few seconds and feels like crying with every next post saying how few tickets are still available.
YOU ARE NOW IN A QUEUE. 7,727 PEOPLE AHEAD OF YOU
He refreshes the timeline again. More celebrations, more miserable posts.
By the time he gets in, all the tickets are sold out.
The tears well up in his eyes but he wills them away. He messages Jimin, trying to sniff quietly, so the others do not notice.
Soulmate <3
Don’t worry Taehyungie, we will figure something out <3
***
“Why are you blonde?”
Taehyung throws Jungkook a glare and plops down on the chair next to Seokjin.
“I needed to cheer up after yesterday's fiasco,” he decides to answer and ignore the face the youngest one makes. “And maybe it will bring me some luck today.”
“You look amazing, Taehyungie,” Jimin sends him a kiss from his place on the floor. “And we will get you that ticket today. Everybody’s ready?”
The five of them shout affirmatively and Jungkook rolls his eyes, excusing himself to the bathroom.
By the time he comes back, the mood of six of his hyungs visibly soured. He sighs and knows he’s gonna regret asking but does so anyway. “It didn’t work out again?”
“It was even worse,” Taehyung mumbles and closes his laptop aggressively. “We were all over 20 thousandth and-”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Tough luck, hair didn’t help after all.”
“Jungkook,” Hoseok says in a warning tone.
“Besides, you wouldn’t go to Japan on your own anyway. You should be grateful actually.”
“Jungkook,” Seokjin scolds. “Learn when to shut up.”
“I’m just saying.” He shrugs and throws himself at the empty armchair and reaches for the controller that lies on the coffee table. “Are we finally gonna start playing now?”
Taehyung pouts and reopens the laptop.
YOU ARE NOW IN A QUEUE. 5,129 PEOPLE AHEAD OF YOU
It’s futile by now, but he will wait just like yesterday, just to make sure that there really isn’t a single ticket left. Tokyo is not an ideal direction, he would have to take more shifts in the convenience store he works part time and with the close date probably even borrow some money from his friends, so he could afford the trip, but he’s determined.
He will get that ticket one way or another.
The page reloads.
SOLD OUT.
***
There’s a new plan. Taehyung has joined all possible groups of Jackson’s fans and Ahgases in Korea and Japan. Very often the administrators of these sites verify the selling offers and there are even lists of scammers from previous events. He learnt from Jimin's experience, so he’s not going to repeat the mistake and get his ticket anyway. Easy peasy.
“I still think that you should do it via the official site,” Namjoon looks at the laptop screen above Taehyung’s shoulder. “You saw all these posts where people ask what concert tickets look like.”
“They don’t allow reselling for this event,” Taehyung murmurs with distaste.
It would be so much easier of course. But for some reason the option is not available.
“Maybe the option will appear closer to the concert?” Hoseok suggests, joining them with boxes of pizza stashed in his arms.
“I don’t know,” he’s not really convinced. “By that time people who want to sell their tickets might already do it through other means.”
“I know you are impatient, Taehyungie, but I agree with hyungs.” Jimin smiles apologetically. “Not all people are scammers but you never know and it’s quite a lot of money. What about buying tickets right before the concert in person?”
“That’s too risky, I want them noooow,” the blonde whines and Jungkook groans.
“Oh my god, how much longer are you gonna talk about it?”
“Until I get my ticket,” he hisses. “No one asks you to be here if you have a problem.”
“Taehyung, stop it,” Namjoon scolds and throws both of them a disapproving look. “I really don’t understand why you can’t be civil with each other. It gets really boring to listen to your bickering.”
Taehyung rolls his eyes. He’s heard that so many times that he knows perfectly what Hoseok’s gonna say next.
“Nah, I am very entertained.”
Bingo.
Taehyung doesn’t really know why they are like this. He only knows that Jungkook is an ass and he’s been one since the moment they met. Apparently very sweet and shy dongsaeng was adopted to their group by Namjoon and Hoseok, and Taehyung couldn’t wait to meet the boy. The two hyungs met Jungkook at the university, sharing some classes together despite him being much younger. The guy is some kind of a genius - he’d started school one year earlier, skipped one class somewhere in the middle school and now even takes a few advanced courses.
He might be a genius but he’s still dumb, if you ask Taehyung.
So, Taehyung was very excited to meet him but then that “very sweet” and “shy” boy turned out to be the most rude and obnoxious jerk Taehyung’s ever known. He had a problem with Taehyung about everything - his colourful hair (Taehyung’s still of the opinion that he looked amazing in blue. Besides, Jimin had pink hair at that time too and it never seemed to bother Jungkook in any way), his sometimes eccentric fashion choices, his talkative personality, loud laugh and most importantly, what irked Taehyung the most - his choice of hobby.
Their back and forth lasts up to this day and it doesn’t seem like it's gonna stop any time soon.
He searched the internet for the next few days but nothing came out of it. Most of the offers were from people on one of the lists of scammers and the others looked very shady. One person even sent a photo to Taehyung as a proof, they blurred all the codes, so it really looked like a legitimate person wanted to sell and he excitedly announced to his friends that he’s finally got it but at the last minute Jungkook, who was walking behind him, pointed out that the year in the photo is wrong.
“If you are going to buy that ticket at least be smart about it,” the younger scoffed. “It’s like you’re asking to be ripped off.”
“I don’t know how I missed it,” he mumbles. “I checked everything, date included but somehow my brain didn’t register it’s last year. Thanks.”
Jungkook only grimaces and walks away.
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” Taehyung whines and lies down on a couch, face down in Jimin’s lap. His soulmate immediately starts to caress his hair.
“You will go to the next tour, bub. Hey, Kookie,” Jimin suddenly perks up. “Didn’t you tell me the other day that once you and Mingyu were trying to sell a ticket in front of the venue, because it turned out that Jaehyun couldn’t go?”
“I guess,” Jungkook grumbles. “We did it once, maybe I told you about it.”
“We literally talked about it during lunch this week.”
“I don’t remember what I ate for breakfast today and you expect me to remember what I told you days ago, hyung? Besides, lately it feels like the only thing we talk about is that damned concert. Someone doesn’t shut up about it, so maybe we even started to talk about it when he’s not-”
“Yah, you brat,” Seokjin interrupts him with a smack on his head. “You’re getting worse and worse lately, what’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing!” He sprints to his feet and starts gathering his things, to everyone’s astonishment. “I’m just sick of hearing about this thing. But I see it’s the only topic for today, so I’m going home. Have a nice evening!”
And he storms out.
The six of them look after him and flinch when the door shuts with a loud bang.
“What got into him today?” Hoseok murmurs, looking at Yoongi who shrugs with an equally puzzled expression.
“Tae?” Jimin looks down at him and uses two fingers to smooth the frown between his brows. “I hope you don’t care about his nonsense. We don’t mind talking about the concert at all.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Namjoon quickly backs him up. “It’s important to you, so you can talk as much as you want. I don’t know why JK got his panties in a twist but he’s been this snarky and irritated for a while, so it’s not your fault. I think he’s just taking it out on you because you always fight.”
“I don’t care,” Taehyung sighs. “He’s annoying but I’m too sad to care about Jeon’s war of hormone.”
And he means it. He’s not gonna deny that Jungkook’s words stung a bit but he also knows that the younger’s opinion is not the opinion of the rest of his friends, who are always supportive and never let Taehyung feel like his talkative personality bothers them. They are always there for each other and everyone except Jungkook understands that this is very important to Taehyung.
“But at least it turned out he can be kinda useful,” he admitted with a little smile. “If everything else fails, I can try and go to the venue in hopes there’ll be someone selling their extra tickets last minute.”
***
It’s another Friday evening and the seven of them are watching a movie while still a very ticketless Taehyung scrolls through Twitter. He’s getting more and more depressed with each post he sees of people sharing their outfits for the concert that’s happening in two weeks. There’s a sea of those, yet none with offers to sell the ticket. He sighs and pettily doesn’t like the amazing outfit of user @s7i0a8g.
It’s so unfair. He’s been trying so hard to get those tickets, either for the Seoul show or Tokyo, and the only thing it brought was almost losing a good amount of money. And yeah, it’s not the end of the world but when Jackson was doing his first solo tour he wasn’t a fan yet and the other and last one (which he thankfully attended) was years ago, so who knows when the next one is gonna be. Possibly never.
He sighs again and the man on the armchair next to his groans loudly.
“For fucks sake… What now?” Jungkook sends him a disapproving look.
“Nothing, go back to your movie,” Taehyung mumbles and locks his phone, throwing it between the pillows.
“Your breathing is way too loud and that’s not what I want to hear when Tony Stark is gonna battle the bad guys in his first suit.”
“Jeez, I’m sorry,” he raises his hand defensively. “I’ll shut up.”
Jungkook looks him up and down as if to make sure that he’ll stay quiet. He makes a gesture of zipping his mouth and that seems to satisfy the younger, because he turns back to the movie.
Taehyung rolls his eyes and tries to focus on the action happening on the screen but quickly he loses interest. They’re watching “Iron Man” every other month because Jungkook loves it so much, so Taehyung could probably recite the entire movie by heart by now. Even though he complains every time, he usually doesn’t mind - Iron Man is cool and the movie is good, and it always makes Jungkook happy, so he’s a bit less of an asshole. But today his mind is not in the right place.
He reaches for his phone once again, ready to scroll through the timeline but the Instagram notification pops up at the top of his screen. He clicks on it and it’s an Instagram story with a mirror selfie of Jackson and the caption saying that he can’t wait to see everyone tonight. Right, he kicks off the tour today.
Taehyung sighs again before he can stop himself and quickly purses his lips. He looks up and his eyes meet with Jungkook’s.
“Sorry?”
“What the hell is your problem?”
“I can’t help it!” he whines and shows the maknae the photo. He knows that Jungkook doesn’t care but he is sitting closest to him and he just has to share his pain before it suffocates him.
“What am I even looking at?” The brunette narrows his eyes and tries to make anything out of the photo, which is almost impossible because the phone is shaking too much.
“It’s Jackson! He starts his tour today.”
“Are you still on this?” Jungkook pushes his hand away, clearly even more annoyed. “Will you ever shut up about this? You didn’t get tickets, that’s sad, boo-hoo, get over it.”
He gets back to watching a movie and Taehyung looks down at his hands. The rest of the guys didn’t say anything at the exchange. It’s a normal occurrence and sometimes it’s better to let the two get at each other's throats for a bit, get off some steam, so they get a bit more civil later.
It looks like Taehyung doesn’t have enough though, because he pouts and whispers.
“I just really wanted to go, you know…”
And this time it’s Jungkook who sighs. Kim is lucky that the movie is at the slower part right now.
“I know,” he says with a grimace. “And I really want you to shut up, so I’m gonna tell you what I heard today.”
Taehyung looks at him with a doubtful look, but Jungkook doesn’t even spare him a glance.
“I wasn’t going to because I don’t think it’s gonna help you in any way, but-” he pauses and stuffs his tongue into his cheek, as if sharing any information with Taehyung that could help the blonde was angering him immensely. “I heard one girl from my class saying that she had tickets for the Seoul show.”
Taehyung waits for him to continue but when nothing happens for a few seconds, he prompts him with his hand to add something.
“I don’t know! Maybe talk with her or something? Maybe if you lay your case before her she will feel pity and sell them to you,” Jungkook shrugs. “I don’t know. Do whatever you want with that. The girl is Choi Sohee. And now shut up and let us watch.”
Taehyung is so stunned that he doesn’t tear his eyes away from the younger for a few minutes. He doesn’t even try to say something snarky or point out that Jungkook is as guilty of disturbing their friends as him. He is not sure if the little info is going to help him in any way but he is flooded with a wave of gratitude anyway.
“Thank you,” he says quietly and a small smile blooms on his face.
“I told you to be quiet,” Jungkook mumbles back. But after a few seconds he adds, “You’re welcome.”
The rest of the movie goes undisturbed.
It’s not hard to find Choi Sohee. The girl reports everything she does on her Instagram stories and while Taehyung knows some people find it annoying and unnecessary, he doesn’t really care. Besides, she seems to just genuinely enjoy documenting her life. The thousands of posts are a mix of posed photos, candid shoots with friends and chaotic reels about everything and nothing. She doesn’t have a lot of followers so it seems like she truly does it just for herself, like keeping a diary.
There are a lot of saved insta stories dedicated to concerts and it looks as if the girl attended one every other day. It doesn’t bode well for Taehyung’s cause but he has to try. So after a quick check that the girl is in their university cantina (apparently they are serving kimchi jjigae today), that’s where he goes. He doesn’t have any classes today until the evening, so he came just with the sole purpose of talking to the girl.
He approaches the table with a group of girls a bit hesitant, after all he is not sure how he should ask what he needs to ask, but now it’s too late to chicken out.
“Hi,” he greets and hopes to seem friendly.
“Hello,” one of the girls at the table sends him a big grin. Taehyung’s seen her on a lot of photos at Sohee’s Instagram but he doesn’t remember her name.
He turns to his target and she is already looking at him. “Are you Sohee?”
“Yes, I am,” she smiles and her friends giggle. Huh, it looks like they think he’s here for a totally different reason. Well, maybe he could pretend to be interested, so she takes him to the concert? No, Taehyung, that would be wrong. But the ticket…
“I know it’s going to sound super weird but I heard you’ve got the tickets to Jackson Wang’s concert?” He finally says and it ends up sounding like a question, because he kept losing confidence the more he spoke.
Sohee tilts her head, clearly confused, “Yeah, I do. Why?”
“Would you… um… would you consider selling them?”
When the girl realises what he means, at first she opens her mouth in surprise but quickly she composed herself and smiled apologetically, “Oh, no, I don’t sorry. I am a big fan of GOT7 and Jackson.”
“Oh, um, yeah, sure, of course. I just- I tried to get a ticket for his show here in Seoul and in Tokyo but I didn’t get it, so I am literally trying anything. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, no worries! I understand. If I didn’t get mine I would for sure search for any other option, too,” she grins. “But I have to admit I had no idea that Jackson’s so popular that so many fans are ready to do anything to see him. You’re not the first one who wanted to buy my ticket from me.”
“I’m not?” That surprises Taehyung even more than the fact that he actually approached Sohee. He didn’t know that either. Well, of course the queue to buy tickets was long but most people wouldn’t approach strangers to convince them to sell their tickets.
“No. This shy guy from my group asked me a few days ago. I think it was the first time he ever spoke to me.”
“Jungkook barely talks to anyone,” the same girl that greeted Taehyugn says with a giggle. “He’s so cute. I felt so bad at his devastated face when you refused.”
“Jungkooks was trying to buy the ticket from you?” Taehyung’s heart clenches in his chest. Why would he do that? Could he really do it for Taehyung? He knows that Jungkook is almost morbidly shy and hates to talk to strangers so why would he do this?
“Yes and I swear, he was so convincing that if I didn’t love Jackson this much, I would actually sell him that ticket.”
“Wow,” Taehyung laughs in disbelief. This is the last thing he expected to hear. But if Jungkook already talked with Sohee, why did he tell Taehyung to try? “He was the one who told me to talk to you, so I’m a bit shocked.”
The girl shrugs and he takes it as his cue to leave. He thanks her and apologises and Sohee, a total sweetheart, promises that if for some reason she won’t be able to go, she will reach out to him.
He leaves the campus with a storm in his head. Why suddenly Jungkook is so nice to him? Well, he isn’t but he tried to buy the ticket from Sohee and Taehyung knows that the younger is not a fan of Jackson, so it couldn’t be for himself. He’s not sure if he should confront Jungkook about it. Knowing him, he’ll get all defensive and turn into even more annoying little shit.
Taehyung rolls his eyes and goes to catch a bus back home. What a strange day.
***
One week away from the concert Taehyung starts to lose hope. Because slowly he’s running out of options and while not going to the concert is not the end of the world, technically, he really doesn’t want to miss this one. Especially after all the fight he put up. In his humble opinion, he thinks he deserves that ticket at least for his determination.
So one of the last resources he has, except going to the venue hoping someone will be selling last minute tickets there, are giveaways.
He followed probably every possible account on all social media available, reposted posts, stories, videos and answered countless questions why he should win the tickets. Even Jackson on his official Twitter account did a raffle, which Taehyung thinks never happened before, and he took part in that one, too.
Needless to say, all his efforts were fruitless.
The concert is in a few days and it seems like he’s not going.
“I don’t know what else to do,” he whines, with his head on Hoseok’s lap.
The seven of them spend an evening together as usual. All of them are on their phones, checking the results of the giveaways they entered. Hyungs were not as crazy as Tae, they limited their participation to the social media they already have accounts on, and where the only thing they had to do was follow the account and repost the giveaway post, but Taehyung still appreciates their help.
“Jungkook, any luck?” Jimin looks at the youngest who sends him a bored look.
“You can't possibly be asking me that.”
“Ok, that’s it,” Jimin gets up and stomps his way to Jungkook whose eyes grow with each step his hyung takes. “Give me your phone, you little shit. I’m gonna do it myself, I just need your accounts.”
“No. Go away!” Jungkook tries to get up and run but Jimin is faster.
He jumps on the boy and they start to struggle for the phone. The other five watch them in shock and all flinch when the two fall on the floor. They wrestle for a bit more and finally Jimin sits on Jungkook’s chest and immobilises his hands with his legs.
“Ha!” he yells in victory.
“No! Hyung, I swear to- don’t you dare!” Jungkook struggles but to no avail. Jimin might be shorter and leaner than him, but he’s freakishly strong, Taehyung found out in a painful way once.
“Could you not wriggle so much because Face ID can’t recognise you,” Jimin mumbles, trying to unlock the phone. Jungkook stops for a second to send him look full of hate, probably forgetting that it’s exactly what he wants. When the home screen appears in front of the younger’s eyes, he tries to free himself from under Jimin once again.
“Jesus, Jungkook, I’m just going to repost a few posts on Twitter, don’t act like it’s a- what the hell?” Jimin freezes and his eyes grow wider and wider the more he scrolls. He looks at the maknae. “Jungkook?”
“Get off of me,” Jungkook spits out but Jimin doesn’t budge.
“Jungkook, what is this?”
“What’s going on?” Namjoon looks between the two, puzzled.
“LET ME GO!”
“Jimin, leave him alone,” Taehyung stands up and walks to his friend. “If he doesn’t want to do it, just let go, it’s not fair.”
“But Tae-”
“No buts,” he shakes his head and pulls Jimin up.
Jungkook quickly stands up and extends his hand, demanding his phone. Taehyung sees that he’s all shaking and he can’t even imagine what Jimin must’ve seen for the younger to behave like this. He would lie if he said he’s not curious but Jungkook is clearly stressed, so it’s not time to be nosy. Maybe he could talk with Jimin later.
His soulmate looks at him with a weird look but hands the device to Jungkook, who snatches it quickly and walks so close to him, that their noses almost touch. He points a finger at Jimin and with a trembling voice seethes, “Don’t say a word.”
“But Kookie-”
“Don’t!” he yells and storms out.
The six of them look after him in confusion and Taehyung has a strange sense of deja vu. Once again the youngest leaves in rage and once again they all flinch at the loud bang of the shutting door.
“What was that about?” Yoongi asks and wraps his arm around Jimin’s shoulders. “Are you ok?”
“I have to go,” he whispers and leaves the flat, running after Jungkook.
“Fuck,” Seokjin whispers. “That was weird.”
“What do you think could be there?”
“I don’t know but I’m worried.”
“Hey, guys,” Taehyung stops the discussion before they start to come up with some unrealistic scenarios. “Just let it go. It’s probably nothing serious or big, Jungkook is just being dramatic. Maybe it’s something he always said was lame and now he’s embarrassed, like I don’t know, he started reading fanfics.”
“Taehyung’s right,” Namjoon nods. “Jungkook is a good kid and it’s probably nothing to worry about.”
“I guess,” they all murmur and get back to their seats.
“Let Jimin handle it for now and Kook will tell us later if he wants to.”
They play video games for the rest of the evening but Taehyung’s mind is wandering. He pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to Jimin.
Me
are you two ok?
Soulmate <3
Yeah, we’re talking
Don’t worry about it
Well. Easier said than done.
He has half a mind to text Jungkook, too, but he knows that he’s the last person the younger would like to hear from right now. It would also be super weird, because they don’t text with each other. Ever. They are in the same group chat with the other five but that's it. So he puts away his phone and tries to have fun with hyungs.
At least it all takes his mind away from the unsuccessful giveaways.
***
Two days from the concert Taehyung’s more or less reconciled with the thought that he will probably not go. Yes, he will go to the venue but he doesn’t put his hopes high. It’s really unlikely for anyone to sell the tickets there but it’s the last thing to do.
The six of them sit together again, each engrossed in their own assignments, studying for once. Jungkook is not with them but he’s been avoiding them since that one night. Jimin didn’t want to tell them anything and when they were wondering today why the maknae is missing, he just said that his family is visiting.
It’s almost 9 p.m. when the door opens and they all look at the newcomer in surprise.
“Kookie?” Jimin gets up but the boy just shakes his head and takes a deep breath.
“Taehyung.”
The solemn tone weirds Taehyung out a bit and he just blinks in acknowledgement. He’s not sure what he’d be supposed to say anyway.
Jungkook takes something out of the inner pocket of his jacket and holds it out toward Taehyung.
“Here. For you.”
Taehyung takes the thing tentatively and when it’s in his hands he realises it’s an envelope. He opens it and when he takes out its content, his breath hitches.
“Jungkook…”
It’s two tickets to Jackson Wang’s concert in Seoul.
“How- What- How did you-”
“I was at dinner with my family and I was talking with Vicky, my cousin. She told me she’s in Seoul because she’s going to the concert.”
“And you bought the tickets from her? Not even one but two? For Tae?” Seokjin asks incredulously and Taehyung shares the sentiment. What the heck?
“I didn’t buy the tickets from her,” Jungkook grimaces. “She called her boyfriend and arranged two new ones.”
“What the fuck? Who is her boyfriend?”
“Jackson.”
The six of them look at him for a few moments and after a couple seconds Yoongi snorts.
“Yeah, right.”
“You’re shitting us,” Jimin giggles. “For real, Kookie. How did you get it?”
“I just told you,” he crosses his arms defensively.
“If her boyfriend is Jackson, why didn’t you ask her before when Tae was going crazy for the whole month?”
“Because I obviously didn’t know! I just found out. It’s not like she can announce it to the world. Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn’t have even told you. Keep your mouths shut!”
“Jungkook…” Taehyung gets up and walks to the younger, who seems to get the more uncomfortable the closer he gets. “I- Thank you so much.”
“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” he grumbles with a blush blooming on his cheeks.
“But it is a big deal. For me it is,” Taehyung insists and he can feel the tears welling up in his eyes. So before they can flow, he throws his arms around Jungkook’s neck and hugs him tightly. “Thank you, Kookie.”
“You’re welcome,” the younger whispers and puts hands on Taehyung’s waist tentatively.
They step away from each other after a few seconds, both embarrassed and blushing.
“Awww, you two are so cute,” Jimin coos and leans his head on Yoongi’s shoulder.
“Shut up, hyung,” Jungkook mumbles. “You should be grateful, too. There are two tickets and-”
“Will you go with me?” Taehyung asks him before he could continue that thought.
In any other circumstances he would obviously take Jimin with him but right now he doesn’t want that. He is not sure yet why Jungkook did that for him, as normally he can’t stand his guts, but he went out of his way to get these tickets for Taehyung. Not only because he got them through his cousin, but he talked with Sohee, too, he stopped Taehyung from buying the rigged ticket and something tells him that the whole fight with Jimin the other night had also something to do with this concert.
So yeah, taking all that into consideration, Taehyung can’t imagine taking anyone else with him.
Jungkook looks at him with huge eyes and slightly open mouth, and for the first time, Taehyung can see his resemblance to a bunny, something all their friends insist on.
“So? What do you say?”
The younger seems to not be able to wrap his head around what’s going on and he looks at hyungs for help. Jimin smiles and nods at him encouragingly, so, still very unsure, he finally turns back to Taehyung.
“Yeah, okay.”
Even though Taehyung saw GOT7 five times already (for one tour he and Jimin managed to snatch tickets to three concerts, including one VIP) and also attended Jackson’s last solo tour, he’s almost buzzing out of his skin on his way to the venue. After all these times the excitement is still real and he doesn’t think it could ever pass. Every concert is different, with every tour there is new music and the vibe changes together with the artists, as they grow and evolve.
He is also very nervous because he’s going with Jungkook. With Jungkook, the asshole who snapped at Taehyung many more times than anyone else in his entire life. And the same asshole went out of his way to get these tickets for him. Taehyung’s not sure what alternate universe he ended up in, but he’s quite curious where it’s gonna take him.
They meet at the site and Taehyung lifts his eyebrow in amusement at the younger’s outfit.
“Wow, you look like a real Jacky.”
Jungkook mumbles something incoherent and Taehyung bites his lip at the sight of the lovely pink shade blooming on his cheeks. He’s wearing a Magic Man t-shirt under his black jeans jacket and holds an official Ahgabong in one hand.
“What did you say?”
“I borrowed this stuff from Jimin,” he sighs. “I wanted to at least look like I belonged.”
“You do belong,” Taehyung takes his arm and starts walking in the direction he assumes the queue is already formed. “Even without those things you would. I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy yourself, he’s making great music, I promise.”
“Yeah, I know…”
The blonde eyes him curiously but doesn’t comment until they get to the end of the line.
“Did you prepare yourself?” he teases finally and with a surprise notices that the boy blushes even more. “Oh my god, you really did!”
“I did, I did, ok?” Jungkook exclaims and crosses his arms. “I wanted to see what all that fuss was about. And I have to admit that his music is good. I don’t enjoy all the artists you love but he is really-”
“What do you mean ‘other artists that I love’? Did you listen to all my favourites?” when he doesn’t get an answer he covers his mouth. “Jungkook, I think I’m missing something here. I kinda start to get an idea but I don’t want to get ahead of myself and assume anything.”
The boy ponders a bit, probably weighing his options but finally murmurs a quiet “fuck it” and takes a deep breath.
“I kinda like you.”
Taehyung stares at him for a few seconds. “You like me?” Jungkook nods. “Well you have a very unusual way of showing that.”
“I know,” the younger groans. “I just… Everyone loves you so much. Even before I met you I heard only praises and I thought that it’s not possible, no one can be this great and likeable. And it pissed me off that you actually are.”
The blonde can’t believe what he’s hearing.
“You were so sweet to me from the beginning. Not only to me, to all of the hyungs, and literally everyone on this planet. You are funny and smart, and so pretty I couldn’t handle it,” Jungkook keeps on rambling, not caring about the lack of reaction. It looks like once he starts talking he can’t stop and it must be the most he’s ever said to Taehyung. “I’m so awkward around everyone and I wanted to get closer to you but for some reason whenever I opened my mouth only some mean bullshit was coming out of me. It was making me more and more mad, mostly at myself, but at you a bit, too, because I was turning into such a fool because of you.”
He takes another deep breath and continues, “I was trying to ignore you as much as possible, it seemed like a better option than being an ass. And now you wanted to go to this concert so much… I didn’t say anything to anyone, but I was queuing with all of you. I was looking for resellers, too and I even wanted to buy the tickets from Sohee before I told you about her.”
“I know,” Taehyung whispers and Jungkook looks at him, surprised.
“You do?”
“Yeah, she told me.”
“Oh…” Jungkook breaths out. “You didn’t say anything.”
“I didn’t know what to say. I was a bit scared because I didn’t know why you sent me to her if she didn’t want to sell that ticket and I was not sure how you’re gonna react if I brought it up.”
“Fair,” the younger nods in understanding. “I told you about her because I thought that maybe you would be able to charm her like I couldn’t. Maybe you would connect with her like a fan with a fan, I don’t know… Well, anyway all those failed attempts annoyed me and I was taking it all out on you and that made me even more mad. I can’t believe you wanted to take me here tonight, I would only punch myself. I didn’t expect that but I was hoping that if I get you that ticket, maybe we could… start anew?”
Taehyung stares at him for a few long moments and takes in everything he’s just heard. He had a hunch that something was up but he couldn’t believe it. Their history didn’t let him make a sense out of it. He assumed it might be some kind of attempt to bury the hatchet but all of that being because of a crush? Yeah, he didn’t think it could be possible.
And now he looks at Jungkook as he’s never done before. He must admit that the younger is handsome. The blonde’s known that, obviously, he’s not blind, but he’s never pondered on it. But now, having this new perspective, he must admit that Jungkook is totally his type and if he was as sweet to him as he is to Jimin and hyungs, he doesn’t exclude a possibility that he could also develop a crush of his own. And he did get him tickets for today…
“I know I’m asking for much, I was the shittiest person to you for so long and I’m so, so sorry, I swear I’m not like this, I don’t know what was getting into me every time-”
“I’d like that,” the blonde interrupts him. “I’d really like to start anew. I know you are a good person, I see how you are with the rest of our friends. I never understood what I ever did to you and I’m not saying it’s ok, but what you did for me says a lot. So I would like to see if we could change how we are with each other.”
“Like, be friends?”
“Friends or maybe something more, who knows,” Taehyung hums. “I won’t lie to you, I haven’t had a crush, you were a real pain in the ass but I don’t hate you or anything. And you are hot, so.” he shrugs and bites his lip to stop himself from smiling at the sight of a blush returning to Jungkook’s face. “We could even treat tonight as a date. If you want, of course.”
“Really?” The maknae looks at him with those big eyes of his and this time Taehyung doesn’t hold back a grin.
“Really.”
“Okay,” Jungkook agrees in a whisper and finally gives a smile of his own.
“But wait. What about a fight with Jimin?”
“Ahh, that,” Jungkook laughs. “He saw my secret Twitter account where I was taking part in all the giveaways and then I screamed everything in his face when he ran after me. He was a bit shocked.”
“No shit,” Taehyung giggles and shakes his head. “I wonder why.”
“I’m sorry, truly,” Jungkook looks him in the eyes and tentatively takes his hand. “I know it doesn’t make up for all those times I was mean to you but I mean it. And thank you for giving me a chance to make it right.”
“Sure,” he squeezes his hand. “I look forward to seeing this new side of Jungkookie.”
They grin at each other and soon enough they finally enter the venue.
Taehyung has the time of his life and though he’d never expect it would be with Jungkook singing next to him, he thinks he wouldn’t change it for anything else.
After all, it seems that tonight might be the start of something new.