Chapter Text
When Taehyung decided to study design, it wasn't a big deal. He just talked about it with his parents over some tea, on one of those exceptional days when they could be together without his dad worrying about how much work he had to do, so he could be there spending some relaxed time with his family.
Everyone was pretty excited about the idea of their youngest member pursuing something else than modeling, even when design isn't at all unrelated to that. It was (and is) meaningful, going to university means compromise, responsibility, maturity. It's something his dad could be proud of, Tae thought, wide and perfect smile on his face right after confessing his desire to his parents.
Taehyung is lucky, not only because his family has no problem supporting everything he wants to do with his life, but because he has every mean to make it a reality. If he wants something, then he'll have it in no time. It has always been like that, and probably always will.
He has two older brothers, so the pressure of taking care of the family business it's over them, to Taehyung's relief. He likes what they do, though. He always enjoyed the idea of coaching other companies, the different courses they create to teach bosses and employees alike how to treat costumers, how to achieve good teamwork, how to write important papers, among other things. Oh, and the interactive and apparently simple activities that show deep traits of the staff taking the class, those were the most entertaining to watch. Taehyung was involved since he was little in the designs of the different courses they do, creating games and routines based on the profiles of each company; but the idea of making something different won over the participation in family business years ago.
Taehyung always felt different from his brothers, probably because he was a lot more influenced by his mom than his siblings were. They had to reach the expectations his dad had (and still has) for them, but with Tae things were different. He had the freedom to choose everything he wanted to do without any doubt from his parents, and they were happy to just see him succeed in whatever he wanted to pursue. That happened with the singing, drawing, and modeling classes, all of those were his mother's ideas, who always wanted to do that herself. Taehyung probably got the talent and capabilities to do anything remotely artistic from her and his creativity from his father. But, after a lot of trial and error (even if he was good at everything he did, not to brag about it, but it is a fact), he decided he wanted to study. He saw university as another challenge to take.
Now he knows it's a little more difficult from his previous paths, but he loves it. Taehyung always loved to study and try new things, learning about life in the process, even if it's hard and he has to pull all-nighters in order to be able to finish his homework on time. He is happy, even with that, and he doesn't know why it's so funny to admit. He couldn't stop laughing when he realized how happy he is doing what he wants in order to be better in the future, even when he was in a café, simply enjoying his afternoon. People surrounding him gave him weird looks, but Taehyung didn't mind. He is happy, that's what matters.
Even now, when he is stressing over a big project that's due pretty soon, he's still happy. Yeah, he's about to blow his head up, but he takes any and every homework as a challenge. His family is really competitive, his older brothers always tried to be better than the other, so it was natural that Taehyung learned to be just as competitive. He loves challenges even more so than his siblings do, probably because that's a battle against himself. They had each other to fight against, while Taehyung was always alone. It wasn't uncomfortable, he learned to live with his own presence in the house since he was little because his family was always busy with work, and that was okay. He always had a lot of friends to make up for that.
He likes to be alone sometimes, yes, but there's nothing better than hanging out with friends and have some time to enjoy himself surrounded by people he loves and he chose to be around. That's plain amazing.
Taehyung doesn't like it, but his mom always brings up the subject of love. It isn't that he doesn't believe in love or that he doesn't like it, he actually loves the idea of being enamored with someone and wanting to spend your life by their side, just like it happened to his parents. He just has never felt it.
Tae thinks there's nothing wrong with him and his best friend also thinks that he's a normal human being, but, if his parents are freaking out about something, 8 times out of 10 would be because of this.
Taehyung has never had a truly serious relationship and he's okay with that. He doesn't think there's something wrong with him, and it's not a thing about not feeling attracted to anyone (his parents had seated him down one day just to ask him if he was asexual, his answer was no. He knows he feels desire, but he doesn't wanna date someone only because he wants to fuck them, that's just not the only reason to have a relationship), but a personal choice.
Jimin often says he’s jealous of Taehyung for not involving his feelings in his sexual life, and Tae laughs on his face any time his best friend mentions that. It’s not something Jimin could really control, and he knows it, not only because he is a pretty clingy person, but also because his demisexuality doesn’t really help in the matter.
“I just really want love” is what Taehyung hears after his best friend tells him about... anything, really. Jimin always wants love.
Taehyung, on the other side, can perfectly live without the romantic aspect of love. He loves his family, his friends, and his cats. And that’s okay, he has to focus on his studies anyway.
But it’s not okay, in his parents' eyes.
They’re worried, they have been for a long time. When his brothers started having stable relationships and Taehyung continued living alone with his two cats, his mom started calling just to ask if he was seeing someone. Anyone. But Taehyung just talked about his life with his pets and all the projects he had to make for university, and he asked about what his mom was doing on a daily basis to try and distract her from all the questions she had on the beginning of the call. That strategy worked out at first, but Tae knew he couldn’t distract his mother forever. What he wasn’t expecting though, was encountering a girl he had never heard of the next time he went to visit his parents, on one Saturday evening.
Taehyung found the situation funny at first and he never quite understood (he still doesn't) where did all the girls come from, but his mom brought a new candidate every Saturday he went to visit. The girls were pretty and all, but even after talking about literally anything with them, no one was interesting enough to keep in touch, not even as friends.
He tried, at least he feels like he did try to get along with every girl his parents introduced him to, but they were not at all what he looks for in a potential partner. His dad thought that maybe it was uncomfortable for Taehyung that all of... that took in his parents' house, so he started arranging dates for his son on cafés and museums, thinking that could work better. But it didn't.
And of course it wouldn't work out, Tae thinks, but his parents are trying with every good and sweet part of their soul because they just want to see Taehyung being happy with someone beside him, even when he tells them that he is happy now, living alone in his apartment, studying most of the time. They just want to know he is not alone, even when he talks about going out with Jimin everytime his mother calls him; they want the best of the best for their precious brat, their little son. And Taehyung appreciates what they're trying to do because he knows why they do it and he knows they don't have any bad intentions. But he's tired.
He really adores his parents and the idea of lying to them isn't something he really likes to consider, but at this moment, when he encounters his dad while he goes out of his apartment, ready to have a relaxing and well deserved alone time, Taehyung feels like exploding. The only thing he wants to do right now is drink coffee and draw a little to distract himself from the project he should be doing instead, so his dad's idea of setting him on a date just now isn't well received.
And Taehyung really feels like slapping himself, because why the hell would he tell his dad he is seeing someone, even more so when he sees the face his dad makes after hearing him.
"Well", Taehyung thinks, sighing loudly in his head, "guess I'll have to improvise".