Work Text:
1.
the shed is empty except for them. there was no sound except for the crickets chirping and the vehicles passing by.
two boys.
taehyung sighs. "i can't believe it's almost seven."
"when are your parents going to fetch you?" the other boy, two years older than taehyung and named min yoongi, asks him. "my parents aren't going to fetch me until seven-thirty, so i think you should go now."
"but if i go now, what was the point of staying with you from four in the afternoon to six forty-eight? isn't it the same?"
"your parents would be mad!"
"they wouldn't be."
yoongi looks at him. "you don't have to stay."
"but i will."
2.
the old shed is still there, but barely. they aren't big fans of it anymore.
so the two of them sit on a bench outside yoongi's house.
"i'm a terrible best friend," yoongi begins.
"no, you're not. what are you saying?"
he shrugs. "i doubted you. if i was a good friend, i wouldn't even think that you would do something like that to me."
"anyone can suspect anything. i don't blame you." taehyung laughs.
"i'm sorry."
"i forgive you."
"maybe it's time for you to just leave me and find a better best friend."
"it's not."
"you don't have to stay."
taehyung smiles.
"but i will."
3.
the old shed is gone for good. the wooden bench they sat on has been collecting dust.
yoongi had gotten in a fight with his girlfriend. it was normal. they fought like any other couple.
but this time it was different. it ended in smashed vases and slammed doors.
so he calls taehyung.
taehyung bemoaned his fate as he sat with him, listening to him pour out his heart and soul about all his insecurities, all his feelings about a relationship taehyung himself was so wary of in the first place.
he was joyous, glad, relieved, touched when he called him up asking for company. yoongi said he needed him, so he went.
he should’ve known that it was going to be about this.
how was he supposed to react? the man he’d been harboring some undetermined feelings for was now talking to him about the depth of his love for another person.
yoongi must have sensed his agitation. he sighed, and looked up rather guiltily.
“you don’t have to stay.”
taehyung scolded himself inside. this was yoongi. and he was worth throwing away all sense of self-preservation.
“but i will.”
+1.
taehyung heard that there was a new shed. meanwhile, the bench has been chopped up, apparently useless now.
it was painful. first, painful to wear an itchy black and white suit and painful to walk with his new shoes.
but the most painful thing is watching his childhood best friend carefully feed his wife some fancy and expensive chiffon cake.
it was strange how everything came down to this.
he was best man, of course. the ceremony was successful so far. the cake cut, the champagne bottles popped, the traditional games played, and the newlyweds requested to kiss every now and then.
taehyung felt strangely calm. he did not, as he feared he would, stand up when the priest called for anyone who opposed the marriage.
he walked down the aisle with the maid of honor, smiling like he's happy about everything that's happening.
but he wasn't.
he sees yoongi looking at his wife with one of the looks that he used to save for him and only him.
the music suddenly stops and the cheerful wedding song is interrupted. a few moments later it's turned on again, and he curses the new song choice.
say something.
then, someone approaches him.
it's one of their old friends from school; someone who's witnessed him fall in love with yoongi without saying anything.
hoseok looks at him with pity in his eyes. "you don't have to stay."
"you're right," he replies, feels tears welling up in his eyes; "i don't."
taehyung stands up and walks away.
i'm giving up on you.