Chapter Text
“You lied to me.”
Nearly dropping the mug of tea he’d been blowing on to cool, Taehyung blinked a few times at Jimin across the table from him. “Excuse me?”
“You lied to me, back at the mall,” Jimin said. “About you and Jungkook. You lied to me about what happened.”
Frowning, Taehyung set down the mug. After two weeks of silence after he had run into Jimin at the mall, Taehyung had been a little curious when Jimin had invited him over for tea. He hadn’t expected Jimin to completely forgive him, or forget what had happened, but he’d hoped. At the very least, he had hoped Jimin wouldn’t pry into the last few years, but he should have known better. “How do you figure?” he finally responded, careful to keep his tone neutral.
“Because even if we haven’t seen each other in four years doesn’t mean I don’t know you,” Jimin said. “It sounded too easy, which means it wasn’t and I don’t know why you felt like you had to lie about it.”
Taehyung regraded Jimin silently. Five years ago he had made the worst decision of his life and then lied about it for nearly a year. He had broken his best friend’s trust, his relationship, nearly broke him entirely. It wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Jimin was supposed to have mated with Jungkook and lived happily with the alpha. At least, that’s what the plan had been five years ago.
But his actions had helped dismantle Jimin and Jungkook’s relationship, and drove Jimin into the arms of Yoongi. Now they were mated with a beautiful daughter and a son on the way (and soon by the looks of Jimin’s distended belly).
Taehyung supposed it was for the better, that things worked out the way they did. Jimin seemed much happier with Yoongi, and by the looks of their beautiful home, they weren’t lacking for anything. Taehyung could feel the love that seeped from every wall and picture. If Jimin was happy with Yoongi, then bringing up the past would have only worried him.
“Look, Chim,” Taehyung sighed, spinning the mug around slowly between his palms. “You’ve got an amazing life here with Yoongi right? I didn’t want to disrupt that. I wanted you to believe that Jungkook had changed, and he has, it just wasn’t as easy as I made it out to be.”
“It didn’t sound easy to begin with,” Jimin said, leaning back in his chair. “Tell me what happened. Start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out. Yoongi’s out for the rest of the day and the rugrat is with Namjoon and Hoseok for baby practice.”
“Baby practice?” Taehyung made a face, his hand going to his own growing bump. “Is that thing?”
“Considering Jin’s going to pop any day now and then they’ll have two pups to look after, yeah, they need the practice,” Jimin laughed, his eyes disappearing into a warm smile. “They’re going to be great dads.”
“Who is… you know…?” Taehyung waved his hand a little.
“Far as they’re saying, both of them,” Jimin said, though he leaned in and spoke in a whisper despite no one being around to overhear. “Yoongi said that Namjoon told him he and Hoseok helped Jin through his last heat together, so it’s actually possible they’re both the fathers.”
“Oh… huh,” Taehyung blinked a few times at that. “I’m glad they worked things out between them. I never got to meet them but Kookie- I mean, I was told it was volatile between the three of them for a while.”
“It was, but you’re avoiding me,” Jimin said. “Spill. Start from the beginning and don’t you dare leave anything out.”
Letting out a resigned sigh, Taehyung brushed his bangs out of his eyes and began. “I guess it starts about two years ago, two years since I had seen you or him. I’d really tried to put the whole thing out of my mind, move on. I didn’t even date anyone in those two years, or had an alpha help me with my heat. It was torture. But I felt like I owed it to myself, and to you.”
“I admire your determination, but you didn’t have to deny yourself like that,” Jimin said. “I know sex is such a huge part of who you are.”
“Which is exactly why I did it,” Taehyung said, smiling at him. “I let myself be ruled by heats and lust and it cost me my best friend and my self respect. So I just focused on my career, and you know, after a year or so I was starting to feel really good about myself. My career was starting to take off and I had modeling contracts and I was making friends. I felt healthy. I felt like I was in a good place. For a year after that, I felt unstoppable.”
“Did something change that?” Jimin asked, his brow furrowing.
“Jungkook came around,” Taehyung said. “I had just finished one of my overnight shoots in Japan and I was living in a villa rented out by my agency. When I came home, Jungkook was waiting for me on my doorstep. At that point he’d been homeless for three months. He smelled like garbage.”
“So far none of this sounds different from what you already told me,” Jimin said.
“Well, what I told you up until that point was the truth,” Taehyung said. “But I told you that I wouldn’t let him in, that I let him sit out there for another month before I let him in. In reality it was only one day, because he looked that miserable and so emaciated,” Taehyung said. “He’d been living on garbage.”
Jimin frowned, sipping at his tea. “How did he even know where you lived?”
“He knew the photographer my company liked to use, got the address from him,” Taehyung replied. “Believe me, I wasn’t thrilled to hear that either but it’s okay.”
Taking another sip of the tea, Taehyung glanced out the window of Jimin’s flat. The view was amazing, and it wasn’t the first time he’d been jealous of Jimin, but hopefully it was the last. He’d have a nice apartment like this one day, Jungkook had promised him that.
“So what happened when you let him in?” Jimin’s words brought Taehyung’s attention back around. Lips curling, Taehyung met Jimin’s eyes.
“I fed him, gave him some clean clothes and let him get cleaned up. Then, couple of days later when he was feeling better, we beat the shit out of each other.”