#jungkook school au

[runariya]

I am in love with that Jk merman story of yourssss , you are such a talented author !!!! Keep it up with the good work .

Even i want to request a prompt after that story because i believe only you have the capability to bring that prompt to life (only if you want to write ofcourse, no pressure )

I have never read an ABO fic with enemies to lovers troupe in modern era , I mean just imagine them being the high-school academic rival wolves who can't bear standing eachother

but the moment they turn 18 and their wolves will develop some special senses and powers, they both will realise that they both are actually mates . damnnn now image the strong pull their wolves will feel towards eachother making them go crazy ( their wolves will fall in love with eachother the moment they will recognize eachother as mate and start rebelling their human counterparts and start convincing them to love eachother too .)

and how bad they will try to hide it , deny their wolves forbid their animal counterparts from eachother only to fail miserably in the end because yeah that mate bond will win 🥹

You can choose any BTS member you want because I love and enjoy reading all seven of them so go for any member you want .

Borahae 💜 , no pressure if you are not interested in writing this prompt , I will still adore you and your work 💜 😘 so feel free to reject this request if you want .

part of the prompt game pairing: alpha!Jungkook x omega!female reader genre: fantasy!AU, "E"2L, ABO, high school romance warnings: Jungkook's the most pitiful teenager in all of existence, bad handling of emotions/feelings, a lot of cliques, denial, a little bit of physical fighting, mentions of blood, lmk if I forgot smth word count: 2.754

a/n: tysm for all your compliments, I'm so flattered 🫂 I've tweaked your request a tiny bit to fit the character of OC better and left out marking etc. bc they're still so young 🥹 hope that's okay 💕

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

He hates you.

No, he loathes your entire existence.

That Miss Perfect attitude, excelling in everything you do as if it’s the easiest task in the world. You’ve been enemies since high school started—not because either of you declared it so, but because Jungkook simply can’t stand you.

You, on the other hand, are oblivious to this feud, always kind and friendly towards everyone, especially Jungkook. He doesn’t understand how you do it, staying so humble and kind towards him when he takes every opportunity to throw jabs your way, or cause you minor inconveniences, like not holding the door open or letting you trip more times than he can count.

It’s infuriating to watch you be so lovely, especially when you’re not only the smartest but also the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen—something he will never admit. Ever.

“Jungkook?” Your soft, sweet voice startles him. He’s been too busy glaring at the papers scattered before him, his thoughts circling back to you. There's no one else in the lecture hall, and he didn’t even realise you’d entered. You seem to appear out of nowhere, catching him off guard. “I think you dropped this.”

You’re smiling again, that blinding smile of yours, starry eyes sparkling with joy, courteous as ever. He wants to scream. He doesn’t want this treatment from you, not when you’re a little older than him—well, only two months, but still. You’re 18 now, with your wolf, while he’s not, which only deepens his resentment. Once again, you’re ahead, better at something.

The whole school talked about your wolf. Despite your gentle nature, everyone was shocked to learn after your first turn that you’re an omega—one of the very few in the city, the only one known in school. It’s yet another thing Jungkook can’t stand, especially now that everyone, wolf or not, showers you with attention.

“Not mine,” Jungkook lies through his teeth, eyeing the pencil still held out towards him in your small, delicate hand, your nails perfectly manicured.

“Oh…” you murmur, glancing down at the pencil, your brows drawing together in disbelief. Of course, you don’t believe him. “But it’s got your initials, and it’s the one you’re always using.”

Damn you! Of course, you know it’s his favourite. He should’ve seen this coming.

“You think I’d use it after your germs have contaminated it?” Jungkook scoffs.

“That’s not very kind.” You purse your lips, those beautiful lips.

“It’s the truth, ___.”

“Is it okay if I keep it?”

What?! “What?” Jungkook can’t believe his ears. Why would you want to keep it?

“Can I keep your pen? It would be a waste to throw it away, especially when it looks so cool.” You repeat, smiling again.

The pencil is cool, and Jungkook has half a mind to just snatch it back, but he won’t give in. He won’t concede even the smallest defeat.

“I don’t care,” he grumbles. It’s enough to make you burst with joy, your face lighting up as you clutch the pencil to your chest.

“Thanks, Jungkook! You’re so kind!”

“Whatever.”

And ‘whatever’ indeed, because seeing you every day with his pencil, as if it’s the most precious thing in the world, drives him mad. He regrets his decision. He wants it back. It’s his, and what’s his should stay his, but it isn’t—and it makes him livid.

Livid in a way that fuels his pettiness, pushing him to new lengths to make your life difficult. He puts fake spiders in your bag, bumps into you when you’re struggling with your food tray in the canteen. But all of it is in vain, because you’re an omega—everyone’s darling. Every time something inconvenient happens to you, a horde of people rushes to your aid.

This alone is enough to make Jungkook reconsider his actions—or rather, the attention he’s giving you. It’s not like you care. It’s not like you treat him any differently when he’s mean. So what’s the point? At some stage, he’s not even sure why he started all this, why he loathes you so much. If he’s honest, you’ve never actually wronged him. Not once. And now, he’s running out of ways to break you, to show everyone your true colours, because no one can be this perfect, right?

It’s the Friday before his birthday weekend when you approach him again, this time holding a small present. You look up at him as he stands by his locker.

“Hey, Jungkook,” you say softly.

“What do you want?”

“Uhm, I know Sunday’s your 18th birthday and… well, I know you didn’t invite me to your party, which is totally fine! Don’t get me wrong! But I just wanted to give you this because it’s a big birthday, right? So, yeah…”

The tiny gift is wrapped in floral paper with a neatly tied bow, and it looks exactly how he imagined your presents would. It screams 'you', and he’s unsure what to say. He reckons he should just take it and thank you, but the way you’re looking up at him, so small and kind despite knowing you weren’t invited, bothers him like a sock slipping off mid-walk.

Jungkook reluctantly takes the present, ignoring the slight relieved droop of your shoulders and how your warm, soft fingers brushed softly against his.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, his eyes transfixed on the gift.

“Happy birthday, Jungkook. I hope it’ll be everything you wanted and beyond.”

And with that, you turn away, a light spring in your step, your hair moving behind you like a fairy’s wings.

Jungkook doesn’t waste any time after you leave, ripping the gift open in a rush of curiosity, only to freeze, stunned, when a tiny jewellery box is revealed to him. He’s never received any jewellery before, and the fact that it’s a gift from you—a female ‘stranger’, no less—makes his nerve endings prickle with discomfort. The idea of receiving something so personal feels wrong somehow, and yet, despite this strange feeling creeping over him, he still finds himself opening the small red box.

Inside, nestled on an equally red velvet cushion, is a delicate necklace with a pendant that bears his initials. It’s the prettiest necklace he’s ever seen, and the worst part is that he can already picture himself wearing it, the style so perfectly matching his aesthetic that it’s rather unsettling.

He carefully takes the necklace from the box, letting it twist and turn in the sunlight, the metal gleaming ever so mesmerising. But that’s when he notices an engraving on the back of the pendant, and as he peers closer, he fights the urge to rub his eyes.

You’ve had ‘alpha’ engraved onto it. There’s no way anyone could be so bold as to assume another person’s future rank, and yet here you are, making such an assumption about him. Jungkook can’t help but think maybe he was right all along—there’s something strange about you. You’re just a little too perfect, a little too confident in your kindness, a little too bold in your presumptions.

Shaking his head, he lets the necklace fall back into the box, snapping it shut and tossing it carelessly into his locker, fully intending to forget about it sooner or later. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Saturday night and Sunday come and go in a blur of noise, people, and anticipation. Jungkook has invited practically everyone he knows to his birthday party, hoping that with the arrival of his wolf, his mate might finally be revealed as well. But no one who attends is his mate, and this realisation drags his mood dangerously low. He feels a nagging stab in his chest that he can’t shake, made even heavier by the recurring thought that you, little Miss Perfect, were right all along—Jungkook has become an alpha, just as you predicted. Typical.

What infuriates him even more is that on Monday morning, as you—like always—walk past his locker on your way to the lecture hall, the world seems to slow around him. He watches in disbelief as you suddenly stop, staring at him with wide eyes that shimmer with unshed tears. You look stunned, but more than that, you look happy, as though you’ve just discovered something wonderful. And then, in the midst of his confusion, his inner wolf starts to go wild, barking ‘mate’ over and over again, leaping with excitement inside him.

It should be a moment of joy, a moment where he feels relief and happiness in finally knowing who his mate is. But instead, all Jungkook feels is denial, a desperate refusal to accept the truth, even though, deep down, he knows that you’re everything he ever wanted in a mate.

Still, he turns away from you, ignoring the way your face crumples, the way your bright, hopeful tears turn into ones of sadness, the way you rush past him with your head down, leaving his wolf whimpering in confusion and hurt. Jungkook tries to convince himself that this can’t be real, that it can’t be right, even though every part of him knows it’s exactly what he wanted, what he’s been waiting for.

In the days that follow, he struggles to keep up his usual routine of tormenting you, making snide remarks whenever he gets the chance, but there’s no joy in it anymore. You’re not kind to him the way you used to be, not anymore. You don’t smile at him, don’t even really smile at anyone; instead, you accept his cruelty with a resigned, sad look in your eyes and a forced, brittle smile that never quite reaches your eyes.

Each day, it becomes harder and harder for Jungkook to suppress his wolf, who clearly isn’t on the same page with his cold treatment of you. His wolf growls at him, restless and unhappy, frustrated with the way things are. And Jungkook knows—he understands why—but he feels trapped.

How could he possibly make things right after all he’s done to you? How could he ever redeem himself after letting his bitterness and resentment carry him so far? It doesn’t help that the necklace you gave him is now tucked securely under his shirt, the cool metal pendant resting against his chest, near his heart, multiplying the ache that’s slowly but surely forming there as well. He fiddles with it absentmindedly, the action soothing in a way he can’t explain, though it only makes the guilt grow.

“Jungkook?”

He no longer startles when you appear, his wolf always sensing your presence before you even speak, and your voice has become so quiet, so broken, that it doesn’t have the same effect it once did.

Looking at you now, standing there with your eyes downcast and your voice soft, makes him wish he could take it all back—every harsh word, every petty action. He wishes he could go back and rewrite everything, build something good between you instead of tearing it down. But it’s too late for that, far too late, and he knows it.

When he doesn’t respond, you gather the courage to continue, your voice wavering slightly. “I know it’s random, but I noticed your grades haven’t been as good as they used to be. I know you’re not the kind of person who needs help, but… if there’s anything I can do, just let me know, yeah?”

He wants to snap at you, wants to push you away, but he’s so exhausted—exhausted from pretending he doesn’t care, exhausted from pretending he hates you, and most of all, exhausted from fighting this undeniable bond between you.

Tears prick at his eyes, overwhelming him with guilt, frustration, and something else he can’t quite name. He’s so fed up with himself, so trapped in the mess he’s made that he doesn’t know how to fix it, doesn’t even know where to start.

“Hey… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” you say, your voice tinged with panic now as you shift nervously on the spot, your hands reaching out towards him only to pull back, unsure of what to do. “I’m sorry…”

“Stop!” Jungkook yells, and the sound of his own voice surprises him. You flinch, your entire body recoiling as if he’s physically struck you, your trembling hands clasping tightly in front of you.

“I… I’m sorry.” Your bottom lip quivers, and before Jungkook can say anything else, you turn and run, disappearing down the hall, leaving him standing there with the misery of his guilt pressing down harder than ever.

To think it couldn’t get worse was the stupidest thought Jungkook ever had, because it got worse. Not only did his little outburst suffocate him in guilt, but it also made you avoid him every chance you got. It also didn’t help that most people noticed your changed persona, adding one plus one and recognising Jungkook as the culprit.

He doesn’t fault them, doesn’t really mind the insults coming his way, of being heartless for not wanting a mate like you, when he knows they speak the truth. He doesn’t deserve you, doesn’t deserve someone who he clearly hurts without a true reason.

And the way his inner wolf retreats now from him too, is something he understands as well, because there’s literally nothing he could do to mend what he’s broken.

It’s one afternoon after classes have just finished, and he’s walking out of the school when he notices you cornered against the wall by some other alphas, three in total. Jungkook’s immediately enraged, and it’s then that his wolf rises to full strength, baring his teeth and growling violently.

You’re clearly uncomfortable, clearly scared of what might happen, especially when one of these alphas gets in your face, giving you no way to escape. The last straw for Jungkook is when one runs his filthy finger along your beautiful face.

“Hey!” Jungkook roars, storming towards the alphas who have now turned to laugh in his face. “Back off.”

“What?! She’s fair game.” One mocks, while you’re still pressed against the wall, but your eyes are hopefully locked onto Jungkook.

“I said back off my mate.”

They do, but only to now lunge at Jungkook, thinking that outnumbering him will shoo him away. But it doesn’t—Jungkook won’t let anyone else touch you, his wolf and himself ready to do anything to protect you. And so, Jungkook doesn’t hesitate to take each one of them down.

Driven by adrenaline, he doesn’t notice the sting of the hits he couldn’t block, but it’s nothing compared to the urge to protect you with all he has, all he is.

One after the other falls to the floor, while blood trickles from his split lip, knuckles burning and swollen, his chest still heaving, his wolf still angrily jabbing at the air.

“Jungkook?” His eyes snap up to you when you call for him, and he’s relieved to find no repulsion or fear in them when they lock onto him.

“Are you okay?”

“Thank you,” you nod, and his wolf wags his tail, barking mate, deafening all his other senses.

“Good."

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?”

You hesitate, and it makes him feel powerless all over again, but eventually you whisper, “Because I’m not who you wanted.”

It’s broken, it’s defeated, and it’s everything he never wanted his mate to say, because it’s not the truth. Never was. Never will be.

“But you are.” Jungkook tries to smile, despite knowing it’s not hopeful or kind, but sad in all the ways his decisions led it to be.

“I am?”

Seeing your eyes gradually returning to their lively, sparkly self is more than he ever wished to witness, more than he ever should receive, but everything he ever wanted.

“You are. Always were.”

And with that, he opens his arms, stepping over the still-groaning alphas to get closer to you.

With a push off the wall, you sprint into Jungkook’s arms, tears of relief running down your cheeks as he embraces you like you wished he would from the start. But it doesn’t matter, because no time apart could ruin the feeling of him embracing you and your bond.

“I’m sorry,” Jungkook mumbles into your hair, inhaling the magnificent scent of you.

“It’s fine, everything’s fine.”

And as you cling to him, your wolves finally as content as you are, you know that you’d never change a thing, because it’s better to be loved willingly than with no other choice.

[gdjyho]

❝ peaches and cream❞

sypnosis ; peaches and cream, sweeter than sweet.

paring ; jungkook x reader [highschool au]

warnings ; best friend’s little sister, bathroom s*x, public s*x, p*ssy eating, cum play, marking, nipple play, age gap (only a couple months)

✮✮✮

“so pretty” he chuckles, undoing the bottoms on your shirt to find your nipples. he pinches and twists at the sensitive buds, putting you in a euphoric place. what would taehyung do if he found out his best friend was eating his little sister’s pussy, making her feel this good?

“nhmp! jungkook!” he has been doing this for a while, eating you and licking your clit just right and then stopping to smile at you after taking away your orgasm and smiling at you. you wanted to slap him in the face and kiss him at the same time. he has you feeling so lost. the tears slip from your eyes, embarrassing you even more.

“dont cry, you’ll come soon” he purrs, while continuing his work on you. jungkook moves away from your pussy and turns his head to your thighs, sucking and kissing. your brain goes completely numb, taking in his praise.

“do I make you feel good?” he questions, almost as if he’s mocking you. “yes” you breathe out, thinking about his question. he does make you feel good, your pussy, your tits, your ass, your lips, your everything.

he knew all your weak spots, much to his advantage. you grip onto his shoulders, hand running up and down for support. he laps your sopping hole and folds; up, down, left and right. your moan loudly, causing him to stroke your thigh and shush you. your can feel him grin into you. the small room fills up ith your cries and squelching noises.

“ so fucking sweet” his words feel soft and velvety, leaving you distraught. you were so down bad for him. “more! more!” you slur, your upcoming high gettting the better of you. he moves his hand away from your breasts, gripping your side as he sticks his hot tongue into you.

this causes you to grab his hair. he hums, running vibrations down your core. you buck up into his jaw for more of that feeling. this makes him pull away from under your skirt and laugh. you partially frown, that good sensation leaving you.

“jungkook-ah!” you say, prompting him back to what he was doing before. “almost there” his comment fogs up your brain with pleasure. your stomach grows tighter, preparing yourself to cum. you gasp loudly, squirting all over his face and not caring about the mess.

he pulls out from under your skirt, pulling up your little panties he had discarded of earlier. "you're so good." you whisper, fuzzy feeling growing in your stomach at how good he made you feel. you look down into his hazel orbes, senses slowly coming back.

much to your surprise, jungkook licks up his lips and takes the cum off his nose and pop his fingers into your mouth. you suck, tasting yourself. he brings you down onto the ground so you’re besides him as his free hand combs your hair with his fingers.

you’re ashamed at how good it tastes. he watches you intently, making sure you’re okay. “peaches and cream” he says lowly, smiling at you afterwards. he caresses your cheek with his calloused thumb.

he was right, that’s what you tasted like. and you knew this wasn’t the last time he would taste you and make you feel good. jungkook knew you’d come back for more. everyone did.

- hope you liked! this is separate to the ecstasy series.

[lovelytaes-blog]

reach the top - jjk

pairing(s): jungkook x reader; (brief) jin x reader

synopsis: when your volleyball team gets cut and your brother, who is recently enrolled to your rivalry school, needs you to help him attend his classes while he continues to pursue his rap career; while you try keeping your volleyball dream alive, by serving sweet revenge on those that didn't believe in you.

genre: crack, fluff, angst; strangers to lovers/roommates to lovers; university au.

warning(s): mature language/themes, gender role implications.

word count: ~10k and writing...

series release date: aug 25, 2023

series [intro: summer] [1] [2] [3] [int: training camp] [4] ... more to come

tag list: closed

disclaimer: For the sake of this one-shot, the boys are all the same age, OC is a little younger, but not by much. Volleyball knowledge/terms were used from the anime show Haikyuu!! along with some personal knowledge. This piece is also based off the movie "She's the Man" and will have some quotes used from this film.

[scarlet2007]

⊹ ₊˚꒷꒦︶⊹ Highschool sweethearts₊︶꒷꒦︶

꒷꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷꒷꒦꒷︶꒦ ͘ ˖ ⊹

Pairing: Yandere! BTS Jimin x reader. [ Master list ]

꒷꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷꒷꒦꒷︶꒦ ͘ ˖ ⊹

Summary: You caught the attention of the highschool sweetheart.

꒷꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷꒷꒦꒷︶꒦ ͘ ˖ ⊹

꒷꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷꒷꒦꒷︶꒦ ͘ ˖ ⊹

Warnings: Yandere themes, Kidnapping, use of Chloroform, Possessive and manipulating behaviour, Peer pressure, controlling behaviour.

꒷꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷꒷꒦꒷︶꒦ ͘ ˖ ⊹

Word count: 1.3k

꒷꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷꒷꒦꒷︶꒦ ͘ ˖ ⊹

It was finally happening. It was the end of the school year, and Jimin was finally graduating. You were more happy about it than he was, as now you won't have to face him in school anymore.

He was in his senior year of high school while you were in your junior year. Everything was fine, until one day you caught the attention of the sweetest guy in high school. Or at least that's what everyone says he is.

You at first liked him, he was gentle, handsome and popular but never once did he act coldly towards anyone. He would even stand up to those who would get bullied. He was the embodiment of kindness and everyone loved him, even teachers and staff.

And that was what made you helpless.

You could never forget that day, and Jimin made sure that you never will.

Oh, how you wished you never participated in that damned dance competition that your high school organised.

It was the start of the year when the dance competition was announced. You were pretty thrilled to participate as dancing was one of the things you felt confident in. The teacher that was in charge of organizing loved your enthusiasm as you were one of the first people to participate from your year.

You got the second prize in the female category while Jimin got the first prize in male. And in the general category, you got the first prize, a tie between you and Jimin.

You walked up to the stage as you bowed down to the hosts and Jimin, as he was your senior, before taking your certificate and shared trophy. Your hand brushed against his as you both held the trophy, standing close to each other as the photographer took a photo of you both.

Walking off the stage, Jimin caught your hand in his, making you turn around.

"Oh, um, can I have your number? To discuss who should take this trophy, of course." He chuckled nervously, smiling at you as he blushed slightly.

You, of course, were smitten by him. With how cute he looked as he asked you, reminding you of an innocent child asking their parents for something sweetly.

Oh, how wrong you were.

You nodded as you gave him your number without any second thoughts.

Oh, that was one of your many mistakes. Your fate was already sealed.

After that, you and Jimin decided to keep the trophy at your house.

You and Jimin started to chat everyday, to the point that you both were constantly texting each other and talking to each other in real life.

It was almost like a dream! A dream come true!

Oh, but nightmares are dreams too, sweetheart.

It started out small, but soon enough, you started to notice how Jimin was constantly trying to manipulate you. You, at first, thought that perhaps you were being paranoid as Jimin was too nice to do such a thing! And even your best friend agreed when you told her about it. But after a while, it became clear. Jimin was not only manipulative, but also possessive. And when you realised it, it was too late.

You blocked him after confronting him about it several times, and every time he denied such a thing until you had enough and blocked him, but it was hard because having to face him in school everyday was a pain in your ass. Him constantly making a big show of how sorry he was in front of everyone and you had to accept his apology under peer pressure. You had no one. Even your best friend didn't believe you.

And soon enough, you barely talked to anyone but Jimin. And when you weren't talking to Jimin, you were only allowed to talk to females, not that you mind, but the more you obeyed his rules, the more overbearing he started to act. He became too obsessed.

Oh, and didn't I mentioned that you both weren't even dating yet? Ah, yes, that's right, sweetie! You both were still friends! But that all changed that day.

It was the early August, the rain was pouring heavily, and you were walking out from detention. It was the first time you ever got detention and for what? Even you don't know. You walked up to your homeroom to get your books from your locker.

Petals fell over your head from the bucket over the door as you opened it, your eyes widened as your friends, classmates, seniors and even some teachers stood in front of you. The whole classroom was decorated and there was even a cake on a desk. But what made you more shocked was Jimin. He was in the middle, kneeling down as he held a bouquet of flowers in his hands before he asked you to be his girlfriend.

That was it, your fate was officially sealed yet again.

You should've said no, and you would've said no if it wasn't for the peer pressure, and Jimin knew it.

Almost everyone was chanting, "Say yes! Say yes!" While you stood there in shock and horror. Before muttering a small "Yes", while trying not to cry. Everyone thought that you were so touched that you got emotional, but only one person knew that your tears weren't of joy, they were of horror. And that person was Jimin.

He smiled sweetly at you as he wrapped his arms around you before kissing the top of your head while whispering, "You're mine." In your ears as you shivered in his arms.

A shiver ran down your shine as Jimin gently shook your shoulder, bringing you out of your thoughts. Jimin smiling face greeted you as he stood in front of you with a rose. He wanted to get the trophy back and you agreed, wanting to get rid of that damned thing as soon as possible as it kept reminding you of your cursed fate. But fews days after prom, he suddenly asked you to take it back, saying that he doesn't want it anymore. You tried to refuse, not wanting to keep that reminder with you anymore and not wanting to meet him either. But he kept insisting, to the point it almost sounded like he was begging you and you agreed to take it back, wanting him to stop calling and texting you every other minute just to beg pathetically.

Oh, you shouldn't have given in, sweetie.

He was standing there with a creepy grin on his face. There is something off about him right now. 'Its probably because of the surrounding...' you thought. Jimin called you to the usual "secret" place that you both made as your "personal hang out place", it was night time now and you are in a forest, not deep but still far enough for no one to notice you both. Jimin first took you here when you were having troubles concentrating, the woods were peaceful, it helped a lot and you wanted to keep this place a secret because you don't want people to come here and make it noisy.

"Sweetheart, I have been waiting for this moment for such a long time..." You looked at him, confused as to why he was looking forward to return the trophy.

He chuckled as he stepped closer to you before pulling you into a hug. He caressed your cheeks gently, he had a handkerchief in his hand and for some reason, it was wet.

You leaned away in disgust as the wet handkerchief touched your face. It wasn't uncommon for Jimin to roam around with a handkerchief, he had a habit of carrying one with him almost everywhere.

"Jimin, the fuc-", you were cut off as he pushed the handkerchief against your mouth and nose, covering it completely. You looked at him alarmed as your hands tried to push him away. You scratched him, tried to push him away, held your breath as much as you could, kicked him, pushed your body against his. You tried it all.

All you could remember was Jimin whispering in your ear sweetly, "You're mine, now no one can take you away from me. No one, even you."

꒷꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒦꒷︶꒷︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷꒷꒦꒷︶꒦ ͘ ˖ ⊹

[jimxnslight]

Chapter 3: Stalker [M]

Summary: “A manwhore and a junkie… it’s a match made in heaven.”

Pairing: Park Jimin x Reader

Genre: High School au, angst

Word Count: 7.4k

Warnings: 18+, substance use disorder/drug addiction, PTSD, child abuse, additional warnings might be added as story progresses.

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, my motivation has just been so bad because of uni. And now with exams coming up, I can't really promise anything, but after my exams are over I'll definitely be more active!

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“God, I want you to absolutely wreck me.”

The bedroom suddenly quieted, its dim lighting beginning to wrap around the walls and furniture of the room to form an uncomfortably suffocating atmosphere. Or maybe Jimin was just projecting his own deteriorating feelings onto the innocent space. He was well aware that his mind shouldn’t have latched onto the words of the innocent woman he currently had pinned to his bed, shouldn’t have started picturing her wishes in his head, yet he couldn’t stop it. He’s never been able to stop it. But that didn’t stop him from trying every time. 

The more he envisioned the actions, the more he could feel those familiar ghostly hands crawl up his spine. His mind grasped at something, anything else to focus on. 

In his desperation, his unsteady gaze dropped to the girl beneath him. She was the epitome of conventionally attractive, with long, light brown hair sprawled around his mattress and dainty facial features. Modelling agencies would probably die for this girl if she gave them a chance. 

But at the moment she was just a distraction. Or at least she had been, until she had opened her mouth. 

The logical part of him tried to remind himself that her words were just that: words. She was just a horny girl expressing her preferences. It made sense, considering what they were about to do. And if anything, Jimin appreciated it when women told him what they wanted. It made his life a lot easier. 

But those particular wishes churned uneasily in his stomach as he felt the hands continue to travel up his spine, finding a cosy spot on his neck. His heartbeat, which had been racing for an entirely different reason, now thumped painfully in his chest as it quickened in pace. 

This can’t be happening right now, he thought with a mixture of frustration and desperation. 

Jimin pushed the impending, but familiar, feeling aside, choosing instead to focus on Emily.

That had clearly been a mistake.

“Like, tie me down. Choke me. Use me like a freaking slut. I swear I haven’t been railed in weeks,” she continued while running her fingers through his hair, completely oblivious to Jimin’s deteriorating state.

The feelings he had shoved aside pounded against his poorly constructed dam, fueled by the implications of Emily’s words. He could feel the ghostly hands press harder against his neck, labouring his breathing in the process. It was a telltale sign of the panic that had become so familiar to him. He knew now that there was no escaping this episode, no matter how hard he tried to steady his breathing and calm his nerves. 

What he needed to do was get out of here. 

“Those are a lot of demands to cover in one morning,” he said with a forced chuckle, hoping his voice wasn’t as shaky as he felt, “give me a minute, I’ll be right back.”

Before Emily could protest, Jimin slipped off the bed and half stumbled into his bathroom, just barely managing to lock the door.

And just like that, the dam broke. 

Jimin collapsed onto the tiled floor, desperately trying to get some air into his lungs as memories started to flood his mind. They flashed before him like a montage, nightmare after nightmare stealing his ability to breath. At first, he was back in his childhood home, watching his father push his mother down a flight of stairs while screaming at her like a madman. Jimin could feel his heart racing in his chest as he wondered if she was dead. 

But before he could run to her, his memories moved onto the day his father found out his wife had left. Jimin hadn’t even registered the fact that he’d never see his mother again before his father was on him, shouting at him while his hands enclosed around his neck harder. 

Then he was in his old bedroom, watching the bat in his hands crash into his father’s head as he heard a feminine scream. There was blood everywhere, in the room, on his hands. He tried to wipe it off frantically as it burned his skin, but it didn’t matter. The more he wiped off, the more it spread up his arms. 

All he could do was sit helplessly on the floor of the bathroom, head between his knees, as he shook uncontrollably and gasped for air. But the air wouldn’t come. It was like the ghostly hands had finally succeeded in crushing his windpipe and he could no longer fill his lungs. 

Jimin lurched forward suddenly, feeling his heart hammer painfully in his chest. He swore this time was different. 

He swore this time he was going to die. 

His hand slapped desperately against the counter before it made contact with smooth metal. Relieved, his fingers wrapped around it, pulling it upwards until he could hear the faint sounds of water rushing out of the faucet. He tried to aim his attention to the sound of the water spewing out of the tap, listening intently to the way it sputtered out of the circular piece of metal. Then he focused on the water splashing against the smooth marble sink, running against it momentarily before it was swallowed up by the drain. He could hear the water crash against the pipes under his sink as they whisked the water away. 

It took him what felt like hours to really focus on the sound, letting it sooth him as much as it could. Jimin imagined his memories and panic seeping down the drain alongside it, the black plastic pipes guiding them far away from himself and his house. His breathing started getting a little easier with every passing moment as the memories of his father began to seep back into the locked portion of his mind. 

With small pockets of air now able to enter his lungs, Jimin managed to bring his hand down to the floor. He dragged two of his fingers against it in circles, focusing on the cold of the tile seeping into his fingertips and the rough line of grout between them. He inhaled as his finger met one half of the circle, stalling there for a moment, before exhaling as he completed the round. 

When Jimin finally felt himself calm, only the remnants of a few mild tremors left, he let his back drop against the glass side of his walk-in shower with a sigh. A lingering soreness was spreading throughout his chest as he felt his sweat-soaked shirt stick to his back. Although he was more than familiar with episodes like these, he couldn’t help but wonder why this one had been so particularly bad. 

Either way, the “attack” had left him exhausted, to the point that Jimin almost considered skipping school today. It was especially tempting, considering how much Taehyung had been bothering him recently about the therapy and whether it was working. Jimin had to remind him that he had only gone to one session, though he didn’t mention just how much he had hated it. 

But Jimin knew that there were a few concepts he needed to clarify in his first class, so ditching school was out of the question. 

Not to mention, Jimin’s second period had gotten a lot more interesting when the school had decided to transfer him to a different class because of a few scheduling issues. Particularly your presence had intrigued him, because he was so confused as to how he’d never noticed you before. Sure, Jimin had only been attending this school for the past two years, but he still found it hard to believe that the two of you had never crossed paths. He’d have definitely remembered if that were the case. You were, without a doubt, the most attractive woman he’d ever met, there was no way he would have overlooked a face like that.

Jimin stretched forward, just barely managing to close the faucet without having to get up from his position on the floor. You were fun to tease, and definitely something during sex. Jimin didn’t think he’d ever enjoyed sex as much as he had with you. 

His gaze dropped as he remembered the bottle that had been clutched in your hand that night at Taehyung’s house. It had been a shock to him that you were using, even though technically he was well aware he didn’t know you at all. He wondered if your addiction stopped at Adderall, or did you do more than just that? He hoped you didn’t, for your sake. 

Jimin had wanted to say something about it when he had dropped you off, encourage you to choose a different path for yourself. But he couldn’t seem to find the right words. He had used them all up when his father was still alive, none of which were successful of course. So instead he had walked away, guilt nibbling away at him with every step. 

“Jimin?”

Jimin’s head snapped towards the door as Emily’s muffled voice passed through it. He had practically forgotten that she was still there, too wrapped up in his panic and then his thoughts to remember that she’d probably been waiting for him to come back to his bed. He knew he couldn’t do it. She clearly wanted things that he just couldn’t give her. The prospect of having to explain some lousy excuse to her suddenly made him exhausted all over again. 

But thankfully Emily spoke up again before he could reply, “look, my first class starts soon and I can’t miss it. I guess we’ll have to do this another time.” 

He could hear the disappointment in her tone before he listened to the sound of her footsteps as she walked out of his bedroom, followed by the sound of his front door shutting quickly. When he was sure she was gone, he stood from his spot and made his way to his bedroom, picking up his phone to confirm the time. Emily wasn’t wrong, his first class was starting soon. He would have to get going as well. 

Jimin walked back to his bathroom, standing in front of the mirror above the sink. His gaze scanned the damp, rust-coloured hair sticking to his forehead, and then the beads of sweat travelling down his neck. He grimaced. First, he needed a shower.

-

-

-

Jiwoo was in a mood. 

You had begun to suspect as much at the end of your first class, when she had kicked your bag while stomping out of the classroom. Although Jiwoo was always pulling stunts like that, she’d usually accompany it with an irritating taunt or mocking expression. But it wasn’t until right before second period, when she had purposely bumped into the open pencil case on your desk to scatter it all over the floor, when you became certain.

Jiwoo was in a mood. 

You watched her drop into her seat near the front of the class with an angry huff, uncharacteristically not even bothering to spare you a fake “oops.” Normal Jiwoo was far from a saint, but god did annoyed Jiwoo unlock a different type of rage in you. Her irritation made you wonder how her parents’ divorce was going. Probably not great, if her mood today was anything to go on. 

With an annoyed sigh, you slipped off your chair and lowered yourself to the floor to focus on collecting your things, trying to calm your raging heartbeat and shaking hands in the process. You weren’t sure whether it was because of Jiwoo or the Ritalin. This was your third day on Ritalin even though you had vowed to never take the stuff again. You didn’t really have much of a choice. There was still no news on Yoongi, which meant you were still out of Adderall. And although Ritalin made you crazy with nerves, it still somehow managed to help you focus on your schoolwork. Not to mention you’d much rather be a jittery mess than the dead zombie that your Adderall crash had reduced you to.

Unfortunately, until you could get your hands on some Adderall, Ritalin was your only option. 

You shoved the last of your supplies into your pencil case, brows furrowing when you noticed that you were missing your eraser. But one scan of the floor showed no sign of the white rubber. 

You checked under your desk and then your chair, wondering where it could have disappeared to.

It wasn’t until a pair of black dress shoes and grey dress pants appeared in your line of sight when you realised where your eraser had gone. 

“Looking for something?” Jimin asked in a teasing tone, holding out your white eraser between the tips of his index and middle fingers. 

Your gaze reluctantly travelled up to his smug face, the feeling of annoyance a natural response to his presence at this point. 

“Stealing my car wasn’t enough? Now you want my eraser too?”

Jimin’s head tilted for a moment before he rested a hand on your desk and leaned forward so that his next words could only be heard by you. 

“Why would I want anything more when I’ve already got you on your knees for me, kitten?”

You rolled your eyes, ignoring the tempting view of his sharp jawline, before grabbing your pencil case and pushing yourself off of the ground. Leave it to Jimin to turn every instance into an opportunity to flirt. 

“Weren’t you the one that said I had to ask for sex the next time I wanted it? What happened to that?” You asked with a low voice before taking back your eraser. 

“I never said I couldn’t be tempting.”

Then, to your surprise, Jimin dropped into the empty desk beside yours instead of his usual seat behind you. It took you a second to register the sudden change, and then another to eye him weirdly. 

But before you could ask him what he was doing, Mr. Kim walked into the classroom just as the bell rang. The students rushed to their seats to bring out their textbooks, some of the girls swooning over the alleged new shirt he was wearing. You took your seat quickly, sending Jimin a glare in the process. 

Taehyung hurried into the room just after Mr. Kim, slipping unnoticeably past him before dropping into his usual seat. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment when he noticed Jimin wasn’t sitting next to him, and then they furrowed even further when he realised where he was actually sitting. 

“Come on man, what happened to bros before hoes?” He muttered under his breath. You almost laughed at his sulky expression.

Mr. Kim began writing the lesson on the whiteboard, “please turn to page 245.”

You turned to the page alongside the rest of the class as Jimin did the same, distantly noticing your leg bouncing up and down unconsciously. 

Mr. Kim turned back to the class, beginning the lesson by explaining the concepts on the page he had instructed everyone to turn to. He was one of the better teachers, so you were easily able to understand the seemingly complex concepts.  

That was until Jimin started annoying you, just like he had been doing in class for the past few days. It was always small things, like sneakily drawing random doodles in your notebook when you weren’t looking or stealing your pencil every so often. It took everything in you not to throw your eraser at his face. Instead, you dragged your notebook and supplies to the other side of your desk with a huff.

That just made him laugh, one he had to muffle with his hands so Mr. Kim didn’t call him out. 

The class went on like this, a mixture of evading Jimin’s antics while simultaneously trying to understand the lesson being taught by Mr. Kim. You honestly had to applaud the guy for being able to escape Mr. Kim’s gaze for so long. He was notoriously known for being an observant teacher, and because of that you were sure he knew a lot more student secrets than he let on. 

However, Jimin’s antics had to come to an abrupt end when Mr. Kim placed his whiteboard marker down and faced the class, seemingly finished with teaching the lesson. He called up two students, handing them both stacks of papers to hand out to the rest of the class. 

“Your next assignment will consist of a presentation closely resembling a seminar, where each group will be expected to accurately teach the class on an assigned topic,” he explained, characteristically professional and thoughtful with his words, “since the goal of this assignment will be to facilitate understanding, I will be expecting the incorporation of some creative elements in order to keep the presentation engaging in addition to being informative.”

One of the students that had been handing out the mini booklets finally reached you and Jimin, handing the two of you one each before moving onto Taehyung. 

“The booklets in front of you go over the details pertaining to this assignment. Therefore, I expect you all to read through them thoroughly to avoid losing marks over small mistakes.”

Mr. Kim suddenly smiled, “although, with this being your senior year I doubt you all require such a reminder anyway.”

You watched Jiwoo’s hand shoot into the air as you tried to keep Jimin’s hands off your booklet. Mr. Kim nodded towards her before she spoke, “will we get to choose our own groups?”

“No, I will be assigning the groups, as well as the topics,” he replied, earning him a number of whines and groans. But Mr. Kim merely chuckled, amused, but not willing to change his mind. 

He then turned to the first row of students, grouping them in pairs based on their seating. You groaned inwardly when you realised the pattern he was going by and who, in that case, would end up being your partner. 

“Jimin and Y/N,” Mr. Kim grouped, but then paused when he noticed Taehyung sitting without the deskmate, “and Taehyung.”

“Mr. Kim,” Jiwoo said once again, but this time you rolled your eyes knowing what she was going to bring up, “isn’t it unfair that one group has three students? That will lessen their workload compared to everyone else!”

You noticed Jiwoo send you a mocking smile for a moment, clearly trying to incite you.

Witch. 

“You may rest assured, Ms. Kim. I will ensure everything is as fair as possible,” he reassured with a small smile. But Jiwoo just slid down in her seat, annoyed that her plan to make your life harder had pretty much failed. 

You wished she turned around so you could send her your fakest smile. On one hand was Jiwoo, the most annoying witch in existence, and then on another hand was Jimin, the most annoying jerk in existence. 

What has your life come to?

When the bell finally rang and Mr. Kim dismissed the class, you crumpled one of your rough pieces of paper and threw it at Jimin’s face with a glare. 

It wasn’t much, but boy did it make you feel better. 

“What was that for?” He asked, failing miserably at stifling a laugh. 

“You know what.”

Ignoring Jimin’s amused glance, you packed your bag as your classmates began to chat with each other and started making their way to the cafeteria. You wouldn’t be heading there, though, since you usually spent your breaks in the library studying. It just felt better to get all your work out of the way so you could go home and just sleep for hours. 

You walked out of the classroom, thankful that you could finally get away from the annoying thing known as Park Jimin, and then began walking to the library. The hallways were full of students relaxing and playing around with each other, making you think of Namjoon. He was away on some trip for a maths competition. Or maybe it was for a science competition? Either way, he was off doing his nerd stuff, so you couldn’t invite him to hang out after you finished studying. 

You made it to the library’s front desk, sending a smile to the main librarian who returned it sweetly. 

“Hello, have the study room schedules been made yet?” You asked. 

She answered your question with a nod and, after giving her your name, she began searching the computer for your schedule.  

Since the demand for the very limited number of study rooms in the library was so high, the school had decided to come up with a schedule system for the students that wished to use them, because a first come, first serve approach would be much too “barbaric” for a private school of course. Each student was given a schedule for which study room they were assigned to and when they could use it. 

“Hi, can I get my study schedule please?” A voice asked, “my name is Park Jimin.”

Your gaze snapped to your side, finding Jimin standing right next to you. 

Seriously?

“So you’ve resorted to stalking me now?” You asked, causing Jimin to turn to you with a surprised expression. 

When his gaze fell on you, he grinned. 

“How come I’m the stalker? You could very well be the one stalking me,” he said. 

Before you could reply, the librarian walked back to her desk and handed you and Jimin your printed schedules. The two of you thanked her before walking over to the library’s elevator while looking them over. 

Thankfully, you were scheduled for a study room on Wednesdays during break, so you didn’t have to find somewhere else to study at the moment. 

You eyed Jimin when he followed you into the elevator, watching as he pressed the button to the floor you were also going to. The two of you seemed to be finding yourselves in each other’s presence a lot lately. It made you groan inwardly, knowing that the semester had only just begun.

It was like having a second Jiwoo since you and her were usually thrown together a lot due to your familial ties, but at least Jimin didn’t kick your bag or slap your pencil case to the ground. That earned him at least a few more points in your book.

The book’s name? “The Most Annoying People in Kim Y/N’s Life,” of course.

The elevator door dinged as it revealed the hallway of the second floor. Jimin walked out of it first, unfortunately taking a right into the hallway, which was the same way you were going. 

You followed him reluctantly.

“Who’s following who now, kitten?” He said with a smirk, an eyebrow raised at you. 

You simply huffed, “shut up.”

You didn’t bother to come up with a better comeback. All you had to do was make it to your study room, then you could finally get rid of him. This day had been filled with way too much Jimin, and you were actually looking forward to doing homework in a nice and quiet room over having to deal with his annoying butt. 

Jimin continued through the hallway until he stopped in front of the door to the farthest study room from the elevator. The action made your eyes widen.

“No,” you denied immediately, stomping over to him before grabbing his schedule from his hand, “no way. There’s no way.”

Your mouth fell open as you took in his schedule, almost exactly identical to your own. The only day in which your and Jimin’s schedules didn’t align was Monday. Only one out of the five days of school in a week would you be free of him. No way. There was no way this was possible. Of all the insane things…

While you were distracted, a confused Jimin took your own schedule from your hands, looking over it curiously. It only took him a second to figure out what your issue was, but when he did, he couldn’t help himself. 

Jimin burst into a fit of laughter. 

“Stop laughing, this isn’t funny,” you whined, smacking the paper against his head. That only made him laugh harder as he fell to the floor with a hand clutching his stomach. 

“Guess we’re stuck with each other now,” Jimin managed through his laughter. 

You rolled your eyes, choosing instead to walk past him into the room. Fine, if you were going to be stuck with him, then you were just going to have to ignore his presence completely. It was the only ray of hope in your seemingly continuous misery. 

You dropped into a seat at the large table, spreading your work out as you opened your laptop and began typing furiously against the innocent keys. 

After a few minutes Jimin walked into the room, closing it behind him before he thankfully dropped into a chair away from yours and brought out his own work. You risked a glance upwards, catching a smirk on his lips that made your blood boil. 

Your eyes stayed glued to your screen after that. 

You expected him to annoy you the same way he had during your second period class by stealing your pencils or throwing a paper plane at you, but instead he remained focused on his work for a full half an hour straight. That came as a surprise to you because you honestly hadn’t been expecting him to be very studious. Maybe it was because he had annoyed you during class. Or maybe it was because you had unintentionally believed in the stereotype against guys that slept around. Either way, it was surprising when you managed to get through half an hour worth of work without any disturbances. 

After half an hour, though, Jimin sighed, leaning back in his chair as he stretched his arms behind him. He’d taken off his blazer, so you could see the defined lines of his muscles stretch under his dress shirt. Your straying gaze quickly shot back to your screen, but not before Jimin had noticed your curious eyes. He smirked. 

You were able to work for a few more minutes before Jimin suddenly leaned forward, eyeing you curiously. 

“So,” he said, causing you to turn your head towards him questionably, “how did your dad end up reacting?”

 You furrowed your eyebrows, “what?”

“After the party, when you came home after midnight. I’m surprised he wasn’t already standing on the porch with a shotgun ready.”

You snorted, unable to imagine your dad doing that, “my dad’s not like that.”

“Oh, so he was cool with it and everything?” He asked. 

You shifted in your seat, “no… I mean, I don’t know. He wasn’t home that night.”

Jimin nodded, “business trip?”

“Kind of. He’s a truck driver,” you explained, a little weirded out by the suddenly normal conversation but still appreciating the unexpected break from your work, “he’s usually only home on weekends. Otherwise he’s out driving across the country.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “so he leaves you alone during the entire week? And sometimes he doesn’t even come back on the weekends?”

You shrugged, finding it odd how surprised Jimin looked, “yeah? I’m not a kid, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Jimin’s gaze dropped to the table in front of him, seemingly deep in thought. But you noticed a slight scowl in his features. 

Weird. 

You shifted to face Jimin, a question coming to mind, “but why are you only asking about my dad?”

Jimin didn’t look up from the table, “I heard what that girl said about your mom last Friday… I just kind of assumed…”

The room quieted into what felt like an awkward silence. You had the feeling that something you said had cut the surprisingly normal conversation short, but there was nothing you said that could have offended him so you didn’t really understand why that was. 

You turned back to your work, brushing against the touchpad to light up your laptop’s screen once again. After sending one final curious glance at Jimin, you went back to your work. 

But Jimin was clearly lost in thought. 

-

-

-

The first thing Jimin noticed when he walked into the room was Lauren, who was sitting on one of the beige sofas situated next to the glass coffee table. She had been looking down at the binder she had shown him in their last session, reading over something intently before the sound of the door opening had her looking upwards and then smiling. 

“Hello Jimin,” she greeted, to which he gave her a curt nod. 

Thankfully, Lauren had already situated herself on the sofa facing away from the door, allowing Jimin to sit on the one that gave him a view of both the entrance and the window at the same time. Even in his sour mood, he was able to appreciate the gesture. 

He knew Lauren was studying him, taking in his sudden attitude, but to his surprise she didn’t call him out on it. Instead, she closed the binder and placed it beside her on the sofa, bringing a much thinner notebook onto her lap in its place.

“Did you complete the Impact Statement worksheet I assigned in the last session?” She asked, to which Jimin nodded. 

He had avoided starting it until the last minute, something he knew Lauren wouldn’t approve of considering she had given him that big speech about avoidance and how it wasn’t helping him. He just couldn’t help it, he’d spent years trying to rid his mind of that night’s memories. Anything that reminded him of it was discarded, any person that reminded him of it was avoided. Even the house had been sold the second it was passed down to him. So doing this Impact Statement? Something that would not only remind him about it, but make him think about it to a deeper extent… it had been hard. 

“Could you read your Impact Statement out loud?”

Jimin’s eyebrows pulled together at the random request, confused as to why that was necessary. He wasn’t in kindergarten anymore, where they would make his class take turns reading various children’s books to each other. 

He shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the request. But he couldn’t make a fuss about it. He needed to give this therapy thing a genuine try, especially considering the enormous attack he had this morning. 

Jimin brought out the statement from his school bag, unfolding it slowly. He cleared his throat before finally following along the hastily written words. 

“This traumatic experience happened because I was stupid and did something horrible. I knew that my father wasn’t himself, I knew that he was under the influence, and yet I still ended up murdering him, my own father, like some kind of psychopath. Saying that that makes me a horrible person feels like an understatement, because being a killer is one thing, but being able to kill your family? That must make me even worse than a murderer. I feel like I don’t deserve anything good because of it. If anything, the world should bring me my karma and just end it already. I think that sometimes… that because of what I did, someone is just silently watching me and waiting for the right moment to get back at me. I feel like I’m never safe, like I constantly have to be on guard whenever I’m out. I feel like people should think the same about me too, they shouldn’t trust me either. My past is evidence enough that I might just lose it and hurt someone. I would hate to do that to Taehyung especially, the only person that’s genuinely been there for me. But anyways, the gist of it is that I’m not a good person. I make bad decisions. I feel unsafe all the time, especially when I’m around other men. Sometimes when I’m out I can imagine every grown man that looks my way hates me the same way my dad did, and that they’d go after me the first chance they got. I don’t want to get close to people because I feel like if I build any kind of genuine relationship, I’ll end up hurting them. That’s why I don’t think Taehyung should have a friend like me, that he deserves better. I don’t know how to make things better. I don’t think I’ll ever be normal again.”

The room fell quiet as Jimin set the paper down on the coffee table, wanting it away from him immediately. He was relieved that he was finally done with this assignment, though he hadn’t noticed how much he had ended up writing despite the limited amount of time he had to complete the worksheet. 

“What did it feel like to write and then read the Impact Statement aloud?” Lauren asked, an expression of complete neutrality. He couldn’t help but feel grateful that she wasn’t disgusted by him. 

Or at least she wasn’t showing it. 

“It was hard,” Jimin admitted, gaze travelling everywhere but her, “honestly I didn’t start the worksheet until just an hour before I came here.”

Lauren surprisingly nodded, “the good thing is that you completed it nonetheless. It is difficult work, Jimin, and you were able to get through it. That takes a lot of strength.”

“But I should remind you that avoidance only helps in maintaining PTSD symptoms, right?”

Jimin nodded. 

“How do you feel after reading the Impact Statement?” She asked. 

“A little less anxious,” Jimin replied, though it was more the fact that he was relieved it was over than anything else. Whether his improved feelings were because the Impact Statement had actually helped or because of the relief he felt from it being over, there was no doubt that he felt better now compared to the anxiety he had been feeling when walking into this room. 

“If doing the assignment in this way made you a little less anxious, then I wonder what it would have been like to have completed the assignment earlier in the week?” Lauren wondered out loud, but she didn’t dwell on it for long. She was clearly keen on changing the topic. 

“Now, earlier it seemed that you might have been upset about something. Could you explain to me why that was?”

“It’s nothing,” Jimin said, shaking his head as he leaned back against the sofa. But he could feel his blood begin to boil once again, his thoughts from earlier apparently the flame. His anger simmered to the surface and, before he knew it, he was blurting everything out. 

“It’s just… I was talking to this classmate of mine earlier today, just a normal conversation, and she told me something about her dad that kind of pissed me off.”

Lauren tilted her head, “can you tell me what she told you that made you so angry?”

Your words from earlier filled his mind once again, bringing the anger along with them. He had been furious throughout the rest of the school day, and all throughout the ride here, with your words and their implications repeating over and over in his head.

Jimin suddenly stood up and walked over to the window, his anger making him want to move around. 

“The thing is, she’s actually this girl I hooked up with at a party last Friday,” he started to explain, not realising that he had begun pacing around, “I’d ended up taking her home that night because she didn’t really seem like she could get there on her own, so I just casually asked her about how her dad had reacted to her getting home so late. She started telling me about how her dad hadn’t been home that night because he’s a truck driver. In fact, she said that he usually wasn’t home at all throughout the week, and sometimes he didn’t even come back on the weekends that he’s supposed to.”

Jimin spun around towards Lauren, who had shifted so that she was still facing him, “can you believe that? What kind of father would leave their kid alone for weeks at a time? And does he even know what his own daughter has been doing in his absence? She uses, you know. I bet he has no clue.”

“But of course he doesn’t,” Jimin scoffed, “just one of the millions of examples of a grown man being absolutely useless and incompetent as a father.”

He turned to look outside once again, trying to focus on anything that could calm down his racing heart. 

“Do you feel that way about your own father?” He heard Lauren ask from behind him. 

“Obviously. He beat my mom, and then he beat me. That didn’t exactly make him father slash husband of the year. Nothing could justify his actions,” Jimin reasoned. 

“Do you feel that your actions that night also can’t be justified?”

He paused, the question catching him off guard. Slowly, Jimin faced Lauren once again, “well yes, I’m not different from him. If anything I’m worse. He beat people. I murdered him.”

Lauren’s gaze bored into him in an almost unnerving way before she spoke, “‘murder.’ That’s a strong word.”

“It’s appropriate in this context.” 

“From what you’ve told me, it seems like you killed your father after he had begun to hurt your girlfriend-”

“Ex,” Jimin said, his gaze not meeting hers, “ex girlfriend.”

“Ex girlfriend,” Lauren corrected, “your actions occurred in a very specific place and time, and under certain circumstances.”

“Yeah, but he still died. And I’m the one that killed him.”

“Yes, he died, and it seems, at least in part, because of your actions. Does that make you a murderer?”

“Yes,” Jimin answered straight away, not comprehending what was so hard to understand, “I took a bat to his head, and then he died. That’s murder. And that’s worse than anything he had ever done to me.”

“Really? You think it’s worse?” Lauren asked, her voice suddenly quieter. For the first time since these sessions started, Jimin thought he might have caught a little sadness in her expression. But the moment he caught it the expression disappeared, tucked back under that blanket of neutrality that he had become so used to. Distantly, he wondered if he had imagined it or not. 

“On one hand, people were hurt. On the other hand, someone was killed. Obviously both situations aren’t good since people were hurt either way. But I killed him, he didn’t kill anyone.”

“It is true that the outcomes are different,” Lauren agreed, “but it’s the context that I wonder about.”

Jimin’s brows furrowed, “what do you mean?”

“Do you think what the intention was in those situations matters, regardless of the outcome?”

“No,” Jimin replied firmly, pulling back on the frustration in his tone,“in one case someone was killed. In another, no one was killed.”

Lauren paused for a moment, seemingly studying him with her characteristically neutral expression. When nothing was said for a few seconds, she clasped her fingers together before resting them over her lap professionally, “while it is true that your father died, and that your actions played a role in it, I think we might slightly disagree on the definition of the term ‘murder.’ It is apparent that his death has been a very difficult thing for you to accept, and that you are trying to make sense of that. From what you’ve told me, the sense that you appear to have made of his death is that you are a ‘murderer.’ I believe this is a good example of one of the stuck points that seem to have prevented you from recovering from this traumatic event. We’ll definitely be spending more time together on understanding your part in his death.”

Lauren then began to explain something about how important it was to be able to identify and label his emotions and thoughts, but Jimin’s thoughts were too stuck on her earlier words to pay any attention. He wondered about how intentions might or might not matter in the context of whether a death is considered a murder or not. When a person participates in an action that ends up with another person dead, he was pretty sure that classified the situation as a murder. He couldn’t really understand where the nuances existed in a situation like this. 

But then again, Lauren’s suggestion hadn’t been too crazy of a thought either. If a person didn’t intend to kill the other, then would it still be considered a murder?

Had he intended to kill his father that night? Jimin wanted to say no and deny such a thing, because he really hadn’t wanted to do that. But he had taken a wooden baseball bat straight to his father’s skull, what other outcome had Jimin been expecting? Maybe intention did matter in general, but in Jimin’s case he concluded it made no difference. 

“How do you feel about the death of your father?” Lauren asked randomly, catching Jimin’s straying attention. He had no clue what the context behind the question was since his thoughts had been elsewhere while she had been explaining it, which had caught him off guard.

“Um,” Jimin paused, having to think about it for a moment, “I know he did horrible things to me, like I’m aware his actions were wrong, but… a part of me felt a little saddened by his death. Maybe not because of losing him as a person, but losing him meant that I had lost the last of my family. It does make me feel sad when I think about it.”

Lauren nodded encouragingly, “and that is a completely natural reaction to have when you feel that you’ve lost something. It’s good to feel that sadness and let it run its course.”

Jimin let a breathy chuckle escape his lips, though there was no humour behind it, “feeling sad isn’t exactly something I enjoy- actually I prefer to avoid feeling anything at all. It’s just easier that way.”

Lauren crossed her leg over the other, continuing to focus on Jimin as she brought her clasped hand over her lap once again, “have you ever allowed yourself to feel sad?”

He shook his head, explaining that he’s always preferred avoiding anything and everything that had to do with intense feelings like that. Even the frustration he had shown earlier was a generally rare occurrence. 

“Then if you’ve never allowed yourself to feel your emotions, how do you know that it would be easier not to feel them?”

Jimin was silent, processing the logic behind her words once again. He was starting to realise that therapy was a lot more logical than what he had initially thought.

“From what you’ve told me, avoiding your feelings hasn’t helped you very much so far. Maybe allowing yourself to feel the natural feelings associated with the traumatic event may help you recover from what happened?”

“Maybe…” He relented, knowing that her reasoning made sense to him. 

But Jimin still couldn’t help but feel anxious at the thought of feeling his emotions. He didn’t even know if he’d ever truly felt them before. With a father that had been beating him for as long as he could remember, it really had just become easier to numb himself to the pain. He was scared of revisiting that pain, he realised. The pain that he’d been trying to run away from his whole life.

Lauren opened her binder to bring out a few sheets that were similar to the Impact Statement worksheet she had given him in their last session, except they clearly had a different purpose. She called them “A-B-C” Sheets, which again reminded Jimin of kindergarten, and explained how to go about completing them properly. She also explained how they were meant to help him begin to identify the things he was telling himself and his subsequent emotions before they had exchanged pleasantries and Jimin had walked out of the room.

Unlike the last session, where he had rushed through the door at light speed, Jimin took his time walking through the hallways and out of the building. This time his mind was filled with questions of murder and intention. He thought about feeling his feelings, and how long it had been since he had lost the ability to do so. He thought about you and your dad. He thought about everything.  

There was just so much to think about. 

So much to think about indeed.  

[taesclub]

The Wild Child, Act I ✦ BTS

✦ BTS x Fem! Oc's

━━━━━ ( SYNOPSIS. ) She is suddenly forced to attend the all-girls boarding school, St. Victoria's. Determined to break free, she tries to escape. Her only problem? To do so she must go through the neighboring boarding school and its notorious group, the Bangtan boys. Among them, one member captivates her the most, blurring the line between rebellion and romance.

genre. boarding school au, angst, fluff, smut

word count. 4,586

warnings. only curses for now

-ˋˏ masterlist ✦ next ˎˊ-

ACT I.

━━━━━━━━━ ✦ 

Claire, a tall girl with an eighty's aura and a shag haircut, sits in the passenger seat of her father's car, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. The car hums with tension as they drive down the road, the passing scenery reflecting the girl's inner turmoil. She was about to meet her doom.  

She gazes out the window, her expression a mix of anger and frustration. The weight of her resentment hangs heavy in the air. 

“I can't believe you're making me go to some stupid all-girls boarding school, Dad. This is so unfair!” she grimaces. This had been her constant complaint ever since receiving the news, but somehow, like a broken record, she still held onto those words, praying it would be enough to make her dad rethink his decision. It wasn’t.  

Her father, Mr. Deschamps, a middle-aged man with tired eyes due to his rushed businessman life, glances at her with a mixture of concern and regret. “Claire, we've talked about this. It's a better opportunity for you. You'll have a chance to focus on your studies and discover new interests.” he insists softly.  

Claire scoffs, her frustration boiling over. 

Her voice sounds angry as she replies, “Better opportunity?! What about my life here? My friends? You're ripping me away from everything I know!” 

Her father's grip tightens on the steering wheel, his tone laced with remorse. 

“Claire, honey, I didn't make this decision lightly. It's for your future. You'll make new friends, and have new experiences. Please try to understand.” 

Claire's gaze remains fixed on the passing scenery, her umbrage simmering beneath her rebellious exterior. “You simply don't get it, Dad,” she says resentfully as the view keeps changing dramatically into a more rural area. “You don't know what it's like to be uprooted from everything familiar, to start over in some stuffy boarding school.” 

Her father's voice softens, laced with a tinge of sadness. “I know it's hard, honey,” he admits sincerely. “But sometimes, we must make sacrifices for the greater good. Trust me, I only want what's best for you.” 

Claire's anger doesn’t wane, even though she is tempted to soothe at her dad’s words. “Change can be scary, but it also opens doors to new opportunities.” he continues, tenderly. “You're strong, Claire. You'll adapt, and who knows, you might find something incredible out here.” 

Her gaze shifts from the passing greenery outside to her father's warm and understanding eyes. She takes a deep breath, slowly releasing the pent-up frustration. There was no point discussing this with him, he would never back up on his word. And the truth was, ever since he got together with that Malibu Barbie wannabe called Blanche, this was destinate to happen. She had waited for the rug to be pulled from under her feet as her distrust in life itself was a rooted injustice carved deep in her heart, but now that it happened, she tried desperately to hold onto a shimmer of hope.  

And how tricky it was to expect, to wait for someone else to take the reins of one’s life... No one would come and save her, that was clear. So why not save herself? 

“Sure thing, Dad.” Claire mumbles resigned. At least for now.  

A bittersweet silence fills the car as they continue their journey, both aware that this new chapter holds challenges and possibilities that neither can fully anticipate. The beginning of a plan to escape the boarding school, however, started to thread like a lightning bolt in the girl’s mind. 

She would make sure no one would see it coming. And one thing was certain, Claire Deschamps would never settle into a life in the middle of nowhere, nor a life she hadn’t chosen herself.

━━━━━━━━━ ✦ 

Claire steps out of her father's car, her jeans bomber jacket with wide shoulders and lots of sewn trinkets contrasting greatly with the more conservative uniforms of the other students passing by. Their plaid skirts had at least two full hands more fabric compared to the black leather one she used.  

She takes a deep breath, bracing herself for what lies ahead. Mr. Deschamps opens the trunk, retrieving her suitcase and opening space for two employees to try and lift the big chest full of stickers that also belonged to Claire.  

“Here you go, honey.” He hands the lush green suitcase to her. “I hope you find… Some great things here.” 

She takes it, grudgingly. “Don’t be so disappointed when I don’t.” 

Her father shows a sympathetic smile on his face as he pauses to take in what she had just said. “I understand, Claire.” He opts to say. “Take care of yourself. Call me if you need anything, okay?” 

Claire nods, unable to hide her lingering resentment. Her father gives her a last reassuring smile before driving away. 

As she sees the Rolls-Royce disappearing on the dirty road, the Headmistress Winters, a stern and composed woman in her fifties whom she had already seen printed on the flyer advertising the school, approaches Claire with an air of authority. The disapproving expression that she wears only exacerbates Claire’s dislike for her furthermore.  

“You must be Miss Deschamps, our newest student,” the woman says, inspecting her closer. “I trust you had a pleasant journey?” 

To that, Claire rolls her eyes discreetly, her guard already up. “Oh, joy,” she mutters under her breath.  

Putting on a polite facade, the Headmistress takes a step further, “As you know, I am Headmistress Winters. Your father and I talked on the phone. Welcome to St. Victoria’s Academy. Here we expect our students to uphold the highest standards of discipline and academic excellence.” She waves her hand in a high class and fluid motion, introducing the grand structure of the school behind her.  

There is a moment of silence as Claire fights the urge to scoff, her skepticism apparent. 

“Sounds like a real party,” she mutters dryly under her breath.  

Headmistress Winters's eyes narrow not catching what the girl has to say, however, judging by the lack of excitement on Claire’s part and her many years of experience when it came to building character, she maintains her composed demeanor. She knows a troublemaker when she sees one.  

With thinly veiled annoyance she adds firmly, “Respect and compliance are expected from all students, Claire. You'll find that St. Victoria’s Academy offers numerous opportunities for personal development and camaraderie. I suggest you keep an open mind.” 

Claire's expression remains guarded, her disdain for the headmistress palpable the more words fell from her mouth. Her tone is pure cynicism as she answers. “Sure, Mrs. Winters. I'll keep an open mind while I'm here.” 

Begrudgingly, she follows the older woman through the school's grand entrance, the imposing architecture and hushed conversations heightening her unease. 

The Hall of Entrance in the all-girls boarding school exudes an air of elegance and tradition. Polished marble floors stretch out beneath the students' feet, reflecting the soft glow of the chandeliers that hang overhead. Tall, arched windows line the walls, allowing sunlight to filter in and cast a warm, inviting glow on the surroundings. 

As Claire steps into the hall after the Headmistress, she is greeted by a flurry of activity. Girls in crisp uniforms pass by more eagerly than the ones she saw outside, their eyes darting to and fro, their hushed whispers carrying snippets of gossip. The hall becomes a stage for both fellowship and rivalry, as cliques form and dissolve with each passing moment. 

The sound of clicking heels and rustling skirts mingles with the gentle murmur of conversation, creating a symphony of feminine energy. Some girls walk with confidence, their heads held high, while others seem more reserved, their eyes darting nervously as they try to find their place within the social hierarchy. 

Portraits of past headmistresses and notable alumnae adorn the walls, their stern gazes reminding the students of the institution's legacy and the high expectations placed upon them. Some peak Claire’s attention. One of the spaces in particular, the one dedicated to the sports league, shows boys’ teams and trophies they earned against them, but she can’t find the right moment to ask what it is about as Mrs. Winters walks like a thunderstorm.  

The aroma of freshly polished wood and the faint hint of perfume linger in the air making her curiosity calmly dissipate, creating an atmosphere that is both refined and pansy. 

A grand staircase, its banisters intricately carved, leads to the upper levels of the school. It serves as a focal point, drawing the eyes of the girls as they ascend and descend, their interactions playing out on the stage of the hall. 

Claire becomes acutely aware of the watchful eyes as she makes her way through the bustling crowd, trailing the steps of Mrs. Winters. Some girls shoot her curious glances, sizing her up and speculating about the newcomer. Whispers trail in her wake, snippets of conversation filled with intrigue and speculation. 

Mrs. Winters then suddenly turns to face her once more, revealing behind her shoulder line a girl who matches Claire’s height, with bangs and a cascade of hazel hair. The girl’s warm and open expression contrasts greatly with Claire’s defensive demeanor.  

Noticing Claire’s disinterest, Mrs. Winters starts, “Let me introduce you to your new roommate, Claire. She’ll help you settle in.”  

Extending her hand politely and rather excitedly, the girl before her greets, “Hi! I'm Ella. It’s really nice to meet you!” 

Claire reluctantly shakes Ella's hand, her guard still up. Frustrated by the already lack of choice on her end she mumbles, “Yeah, hi.” 

Headmistress Winters nods curtly, signaling the end of their interaction. “Miss Dubois, why don’t you show Claire to your dormitory and explain how things work around here? I was in the middle of a rather urgent matter when she arrived...”  

Without missing a beat, Ella promptly nods, understanding the task at hand. “Sure thing, Headmistress. Follow me, roomie!”  

The newfound nickname makes Claire hiss internally like a cornered cat, but she plays the part, thankful to finally get herself rid of the Headmistress's presence.  

Before the two of them can walk further away, Mrs. Winters dismissively points again, “Very well, off you go. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules and expectations of this institution, Miss Deschamps.”  

Claire raises an eyebrow, her rebellious spirit flickering to life. “I'll keep that in mind, Headmistress,” she replies defiantly, turning her back to the woman.  

Leaving the bustling hall and the scrutinizing eyes of the older woman, Claire turns to Ella, a sense of complicity forming between them as she notices how much more relaxed her new guide seems to be.  

Smiling, Ella reassures her. “I promise this is not all as daunting as it seems.”  Claire takes a deep breath, her apprehension giving way to a glimmer of hope. She follows Ella, ready to navigate the challenges of this new environment, determined to find her place amidst the rules and expectations she so vehemently resents. Who knows?, she thinks, maybe her new roommate can give her an escape route without even noticing. She could be escaping St. Victoria’s much earlier than she had predicted.

━━━━━━━━━ ✦ 

Claire wasn’t convinced if Ella had what it takes to be her newfound ally. The headmistress seemed to trust her enough which made her either valuable to the plan or a stone in her shoe. Although Claire was pending more to the former since the girl seemed very friendly as they kept a light conversation and she led the way through the bustling hallways. More often than not, the veteran would gush about her own friends as she vibrantly pointed to Claire how their day-to-day was, and for moments, more than to seek intel to architect her plan, the brunette found herself momentarily forgetting about her purpose as she got infected by Ella’s contagious energy.  

Their footsteps echo softly as they step onto the serene patio, where blooming flowers and neatly trimmed hedges create a serene oasis within the school grounds. The sound of laughter and animated conversations drifts through the air as girls gather in small groups, enjoying moments of respite and fellowship. 

Claire’s eyes scan the scenery, and they get caught in the ruckus three girls are making right by the center fountain of the patio. The one standing in the middle, a blonde with a high ballerina bun, dances excitedly as she flashes a knitted scarf to her peers. “You think JK will like it?” Her voice travels through the open space as she points specifically to the initials engraved in it.  

Noticing Claire’s mind is far away from whatever she is saying, Ella leans closer, whispering, “That’s Vivienne for you,” she chuckles as Claire’s glance shifts quickly back, “Everyone calls her Vivi and you’ll soon hate her too, trust me.”  

To that statement, Claire’s eyes return inquiring to Ella’s, her nose scrunching in doubt.  

“You see, she delusionally believes she and some trouble boy are meant to be. We’re all tired to hear about it, or witness moments like this.” Ella points with her head to the blonde once more. “There she goes, making him a scarf he won’t probably use. Tell me about waste of time!”  

Claire mildly snorts entertained, looking at the scene as well. “Poor girl.”  

“Oh, believe me!” Ella exhales, walking away and her roommate follows, “That one is nothing of the sort. Imagine Regina George in real life. That’s her, right there.”  

In a lack of response from the brunette, Ella gestures towards a row of benches shaded by a grand oak tree. ”Anyways, this is our patio, Claire. It's the perfect spot to relax and soak up some sunshine during breaks. And see over there? That's the canteen.” 

The delicious aroma of freshly cooked meals fills the air as soon as they step closer to the precinct. Girls line up at the serving counter, chatting and exchanging stories as they eagerly await their turn. The room is alive with vibrant colors, with posters and artwork adorning the walls, adding a touch of creativity to the space. 

“We refuel here, obviously.” Ella glances excited to see Claire’s reaction. “The food is surprisingly good, and there's always a variety of options to choose from… Well. When the boys don’t join, that is. They can be savages.” she chuckles nonchalantly. 

Suddenly Claire’s eyes perk with curiosity. Every bit of information she had gathered about the school before arriving said this was an all-girls academy, but then again, there were existent photos of boys displayed in the hall. Not to say Vivienne’s parade a second ago. Do they have a day off?, she muses, Could this be an opportunity? “What do you mean boys? Isn’t this an all-girls school?” she voices her thoughts as Ella takes the lead again, taking her on another stroll.   

The energetic roommate greets some girls that pass by them with a sympathetic smile before returning her focus to the newcomer beside her.  

“Well, yeah. The Alarie boarding school for boys is right across the river, and we often have classes together. You know, lack of teachers in the far countryside.” she shrugs. 

Before she can inquire further, Ella is already distracted, smiling at the passersby.  

“With Jimin? Again?! God, what’s her secret!” They hear a girl gasp to a friend as they crossways.  

Oh. I see..., Claire’s thoughts put the pieces together. She quickly looks at the hazel-haired girl making her company.  

By the raise of eyebrows that she gives her and the flicker of frolic that flashes in her eyes, Ella is quick to warn, “It’s strictly forbidden to hang out with them boys, Claire. No smogging. No funny hands.”  

“But she just-” Claire refuted pointing behind her shoulders to the girl that passed by sharing her indignation a bit too loudly.  

Ella gave her a warning yet laid-back glance, “Alright, people go on with it in secret but as you can see, nothing is really a secret around here. And then when you least expect it, bam! You’re in trouble!”  

“Are they at least hot? Or I don’t know... Worth the trouble?”  

Ella thinks for a second and then shrugs with a naivety Claire knows to be fake, “How would I know?”  

“If you say so!” Claire pretends to salute dramatically, a bickering well read by the other as to the current square state the Academy insisted on following rules. And so, Ella pulls her to a quick jog entertained, and a bit tempted to show her new roommate she also knew how to break a few of them. Even if the rules she was breaking weren’t as grand as Claire deemed them to be. The students passing by confirmed the thought as they judged their behavior, and Claire laughed even louder at their tedious conformism. The rule about not running in the hallways was true indeed.  

As they arrive at their shared dormitory, their footsteps grow softer as they enter the hushed ambiance of the living quarters. The dormitory is a cozy space adorned with tasteful decorations, featuring two neatly made beds, desks adorned with books and personal touches, and small corkboards for photos and reminders. 

Ella jumps to sit on her own bed, bouncing on the mattress as she does so. “And here we are,” she gestures. “Our humble abode. It may not be the biggest, but it's home.” 

Claire looks around the room, a hint of curiosity dancing in her eyes as she imagines the memories that will unfold within these walls, even if for brief moments. Ella seems a nice girl, but she won’t be around to discover much more about her. She needs to escape this. Her real friends await in the big city.  

“Yeah, it's not bad…” 

Ella grins with the comment, her warmth shining through. 

“We'll make it cozy, you’ll see,” she says encouragingly. “Plus, you still have to meet my girls! They are rooming right in front of us. It’s great to share stuff and to keep gossip in day!” She laughs at her own behavior.  

As Claire sets her suitcase down and begins to unpack, a bit aloof to her roommate’s words, a newfound sense of optimism fills the room. To Ella is the beginning of a new friendship, even if her roommate was a hard one to crack. But she was patient, everyone had their personal time after all. To Claire, it is a journey through a path she had never charted before, but her father was right about one thing---she is strong. And she will prevail.  

“We’ll meet them in a few!” Ella continues, snapping Claire out of her thoughts, “They went to pick up your uniforms for you.”  

Claire eyes her with gratitude, showing for the first time a smile, even if timid, and her roommate mimicked the action. Only hers was as big as her enthusiasm for finally having a friend to share her bedroom with.  

Still sitting by her bed, Ella watches as Claire takes only her toiletries out of her green suitcase, as well as a portrait of her and what the girl gathered to be her mom. The tall wild child discards the pouch with her cosmetics by the bed, as she walks toward the bedside table, closely placed to the window, adjusting the portrait on top of it. Her clothes, still inside the suitcase, didn’t seem important and were left forgotten still inside it, untouched. Or so Ella thought so.  

“Your mom is beautiful,” she comments gently, looking at how Claire’s eyes seem to hover with longing at the picture.  

The brunette opens a small smile, thanking her roommate almost in a whisper, eyes still glued to the image of her mom. How she missed her.  

And then suddenly a loud pang interrupts the moment, making her jump and Ella scream. Startled by the sudden impact of a ball against her bedroom window, she had fallen back onto her bed, her heart racing. She swiftly rises and storms towards the window again, fueled by annoyance and ready to unleash her frustration on the culprit responsible. 

Seething with anger, Claire flings open the window of her dorm room on the second floor, ready to give the culprit a piece of her mind. Ella knees on her bed to look at the indicted herself. “Shit.” She manages to say.  

Claire’s words, however, catch in her throat as she locks eyes with a boy she has never seen before, and taking by Ella’s reaction beside her, it was clear that wasn’t her case, her roommate knew him.  

His mischievous grin and charismatic presence immediately captivate her, and a flicker of curiosity replaces her initial anger. Still, she stands her ground and through gritted teeth, she lashes, “What's your problem?!” 

Both girls watch as he brings casually one of his hands to shield his eyes from the sun, his smile gleaming with amusement. 

“Oh, I apologize, princess,” he says charmingly. “You weren’t supposed to-” he trails off, “Well, I wasn’t looking to make an impression on you but now…” he considers, his smile doubling the size.  

Claire tries to maintain her composure, but there's an undeniable pull towards the Alarie’s boy that she can't ignore. 

“Impression?” She scoffs slightly flustered, “If it’s at being stupid, you've certainly succeeded. Who are you anyway?” 

The boy takes a step closer toward the shade of the tall building to see her better, a playful glint in his eyes as he keeps looking up chuckling at her response.  

With a smirk, he replies. “You didn’t hear of me? I'm Jungkook,” he says as if it explains a lot, with a smugness that makes Claire crazy to punch out of his face. “I go to the Alarie’s, right next door.” 

“JK!” another boy shouts from a distance, and Claire’s eyes travel to the field to meet the face of Jungkook’s peer. A group of boys is joyfully hanging out there, waiting for him.  

As her eyes turn back to him, standing beneath her window, with a raised eyebrow, Jungkook says with yet another chuckle, “You never told me your name.”  

She sneers, “And I won’t.”  

Despite her refusal, Claire can't help but feel a certain curiosity pull toward Jungkook. His confidence and charm leave her intrigued, even if she tries to deny it or finds it too brazen. 

Jungkook sends another intrigued look her way, a hint of mischief in his voice. 

“Don't worry, princess. I’ll find it soon enough.” that answer only makes her blood boil further. “Besides, life's too short to be boring, don't you think? I like the mystery.” He shrugs with a smile, picking the rugby ball that was fallen by his feet, and starting to walk back. He turns once again to see her reaction, raising his voice as he adds, “And tell your rat roommate that the next one is meant for her!” He lifts the ball in his hand as if he raised a toast. 

“I'm not fucking interested in your idea of excitement, Jungkook. Save your charm for someone else!” She shouts defiantly but he only laughs in response, now fully turning his back and jogging swiftly toward his friends.  

She can't help but watch his back and carefree stance, even if Ella’s presence is made heard by her side. Under rushed and muted curses, the girl gets up from the bed, initiating an anxious breakdown as she paced back and forth inside their bedroom.  

Claire’s gaze finally moves away from the window to fall upon her roommate’s state. “Not that it’s any of my business, but... You wanna talk about it?” she asks, gaining no response apart from a full stop on the pacing and Ella’s hands coming to a desperate grip on her own locks.  

“Ella!” Claire calls her, closing the distance between them, “Hey, what’s going on?” The change of attitude of the girl was so brusque from her previous joyful self that it got her worried.  

She gently touched her shoulder, and Ella’s eyes finally found her own. “I’m totally, completely, fucked.” She confesses finally.  

“What happened? Is it about this Jungkook guy?”  

The hazel-haired girl gives her a nod and Claire’s eyebrows knit together. She manages to inhale, ready to question further but they are interrupted by the cheerful tinkle of shoes and greetings.  

“We got it!” It’s what she hears as she looks at the door to their room that had been left open. Two girls enter the space, both shorter than Ella and her. They look excited, probably having fun on the way there.  

“Hi! You must be the new girl,” The shortest one says, giving her a cordial smile. She has her long honey-blonde hair held back by a bow. “I’m Lola, this is Avery...”  

“And this is your uniforms!” While Lola has a royal aura to her, somewhat restrained and charismatic, Avery seems more upfront and girly. Her hair is like coal and so glossy that it shines hues of dark blue in the light.  

Taking the folded clothes from her hands with a smile of her own, Claire introduces herself. “Thank you, I’m Claire. And you really didn’t have to do it-” 

“It’s totally fine, we wanted to!” Lola insists bubbly, waving off, and the brunette smiles thankful.  

The blonde walks her way toward Ella’s bed, familiar enough to sit on it as she grabs a pillow to hug as she did so.  

“Girls. He knows.” To Claire’s relief, Ella finally enters the conversation. “I hate myself!” She adds, grunting.  

She notices how the other two react fervently to the comment as she places the pile of uniforms on top of her bed, ceasing to be the focus of their attention. They look at Ella with staring eyes, clearly on topic but still indignant about the rest of the information that still doesn’t come.  

“What do you mean he knows?!” Avery is the first to question. “How would he know? There were no boys in class that day...” 

To which Lola quickly made a comment with a nudge at her waist, “I told you there was! Louis, remember?”  

At the same time, Ella explained. “Now Jungkook sent a stupid ball flying up the window on purpose. After my head of course!”  

While Claire looked from one to another trying to unveil the situation, both Avery and Lola unleashed a series of wroth exclamations, to what Ella took part in instead of actually providing a clearer explanation.  

“I’m sorry.” Claire interrupted. “But can someone situate me here? What does this Jungkook know? And why is it a big deal? I’m lost.” She had a notion she was being brazen as she wasn’t close to the three friends before her, but not a couple minutes before she had witnessed a boy sending a warning in the shape of a rugby ball to her roommate. If this was to continue while she stayed there, she needed to know at least the basics.  

Avery and Lola look from her to Ella apprehensively waiting. So this is mildly important, she thinks. And then the latter sighs.  

“I wasn’t completely honest with you about the boys’ part...”  

To that statement, Claire slowly realizes that there may be more to this school than meets the eye, and consequently, more that she needs to unravel to make her flight seem a mystery. Glancing out of the window, Alerie’s boarding school for boys is starting to feel like a needed pit stop, as it stands tall between St. Victoria’s building and her much-wanted freedom.

✦ TAGLIST.

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[bluenpjm]

horus academy 5 — bts x oc

© horus academy | all rights reserved. do not repost, translate or claim as your own. if you find this work elsewhere besides the three blogs stated, please report it to any of the writers.

@singguks × @socksjinie × @bluenpjm

summary: in a school where greek methods rules, not everything is as clear as it appears to be. heart, mind, soul, and body. those are the teams of the horus academy and boarding school. but deep within the long corridors, lies dark secrets. the so-called loving families formed in the shapes of teams begin to tear when an anonymous source unravels their deepest secrets.

genre: high school au | mystery au | social au | angst | fluff

pairing: OT7 × OC’s

rating: M

word count: 15.2k

warnings: foul language, friends fighting, getting stalked, lies and threats, bullying. really, a lot of fights and harsh words.

chapters. 04, 05, 06 ✹ masterlist

 

Three days had passed since the games and the rumor still hadn’t died down. 

People would stare and bluntly gossip whenever Jimin or even the rest of the group passed by in the halls. And the worst of it, for the group itself, was that the realization of it was indeed shocking. It was one thing being the talk of the hour because of teenage behavior regarding breaking into the boys' dorm rooms… Another was actually sleeping with a teacher while being a minor. 

At first, Jimin had the brilliant idea of wanting to skip biology class on Tuesday morning, which everyone was against. It was decided that he would not only go to class as a normal and not guilty student would, but he was to behave and cut all communication with his lover for a little while. Just until the rumor died down and he could come to his senses and end the rendezvous himself. 

Kaya, the one sharing biology class with him, kept a hawk’s watch on his moves. And Jimin was actually doing his best. She could easily buy the facade he was putting up. The one inciting fire to the rumor was Miss Bellum herself, who couldn’t help but look at the boy from time to time. And if Kaya was noticing it, the gossiping leeches were too. 

As soon as the bell rang, Kaya shoved her notebooks into her purse and pulled Jimin by the arm, dragging him out of the class. His backpack was still half opened and he had to carry the biology textbook in his hand. 

She turned the first corner she came into, and went down a few steps of the stairs, coming to a stop in its middle. Jimin looked at her completely lost, glancing at his sides to see if people were passing by or judging the moment as weird as he was. 

“Wha–” he tried but she interrupted him in pure frustration. 

“I can’t believe you told her!” she burst, still trying to be as quiet as possible so no one could hear. And before he had a chance to come up with a lie or an excuse to stall, Kaya continued. “Don’t even try and pretend you didn’t. She looked at you the whole time as if the world was ending and you were some abandoned dog!” 

Jimin glanced back at the corridor before answering, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched all the time. “I had to, ok?” a tired sigh left his lips, and Kaya held her tongue so she could let him speak. Before continuing his reasoning, he put the textbook in his backpack, all while the girl looked anxiously at him. “She texted me on Sunday–Just to check on me after the fight with Archie! Relax!” 

“How. Will. I. Relax, Park Jimin!” she slapped his arms outraged while he tried to evade it. 

He searched for words but nothing seemed good enough so he opted to hug her instead. Kaya was as much on edge as he was. This wasn’t just a vendetta against him, this was a deliberate attack on the whole group. “Listen, I promised you guys I wouldn’t be in touch with her anymore and I’m not. But she deserved to know what was happening, so I told her, ok? Just so that if anything happened–If any student said something, she wouldn’t be caught unprepared. It was the least I could do.” 

Kaya nodded in understanding. She could at least breathe more at ease, and she held Jimin for a few seconds more, wishing that she could wake up from this nightmare named You. 

Before their moment of peace could last a little longer, Jimin’s phone buzzed in his front pocket, taking an arrow straight at both his and Kaya’s heart. Not again, he feared. 

They broke away from the embrace. She anchored herself on the wall behind her, crossing her arms to form a shield against whatever was coming their way. Jimin, in turn, reached for the device while mustering the courage he still had. 

Kaya saw his eyes reading the message but she couldn’t decipher his face. From where she was standing, and the way his eyebrows slightly furrowed, it didn’t look good. She gulped. “So?” 

“It’s Tae.” he said apprehensively, taking a quick look at her face. 

The air escaped her lips and he saw her entire body relax. Recomposing herself she questioned, “You still haven’t talked about it?” to which he shook his head. “Well… Good luck with that.” 

With a not-so-cheerful pat on his shoulder, Kaya was quick to leave her friend on the empty flight of stairs to resume her schedule. 

The sun shined bright in the sky, and although Elena was lying down on their usual table bench outside, she couldn’t seem to enjoy the warm beaming on her skin peacefully. 

Yoongi, Jin, and Jungkook sat by the table with her, while they waited for the twins to grab something from the cafeteria for their lunch. And although two of them were contributing to her quiet beauty nap, Jin couldn’t help but throw in assumptions of who could possibly be You. 

“Listen, I wouldn’t doubt that Archie was psycho enough to just come at us,” Elena could hear him say, “I’m just saying it isn’t his style at all to come at someone through social media.” and although none of them responded to it, she could tell that both Yoongi and Jungkook were thinking about his reasoning because so was she. Jin had a point. And so he continued rambling, “He’s too… Aggressive to be just like–Oh I know your secret ha ha ha! I feel like he would at least brag about it while taking a punch at our beautiful faces.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi agreed. “The problem here is that we know nothing about this You person to even try and assume who it is…”

A defeated silence followed. It was enough for Elena to open her eyes, only to have to turn her face on the bench so as to not be blinded by the light. She couldn’t see the boys, since they were all sitting on the other side of the table, but she could watch how some students passed by. Even from far away, they would glance at them with judgemental eyes. She inhaled impatiently. 

“What’s taking them so long, by the way?” Jin was the kind of person that lived in the moment. And at this moment at least, food was more important. Elena’s stomach would agree, but her head was seething with possibilities. And so she sat up, making the three boys before her pay attention. 

She inquired, “What if we got to know something about You?” they looked at her pondering. “Even the smallest detail would help, right?” 

“And how we’d manage that?” Jungkook finally spoke up, while the older two were already pondering for themselves. 

All they did until now was wait around and be there whenever You decided to use them as punching bags. Elena was fed up with it. There had to be some way to strike back. Plus, in her head, if this You person was working alone, they would have the advantage. They were a whole group. 

“Why don’t we counter-strike on social media? Since it’s this loser's playground and all. I figure that if we manage to have everyone’s support and throw this shade at them like they’ve been obviously throwing at us, You will lose it.” she said, crossing her legs on the bench. The thing was not to add more to the fire but she felt the need to make this You person realize they knew how to stand tall as a group. Elena could picture herself receiving all this negative attention alone, and if that were the case she didn’t think she would like it very much or even be that secure to repeat the process all over again. 

Jin sighed. He recognized that she was right but at the same time, it would be a bold move. “What would we even say? Again, we don’t know who this person is… So we don’t know how to push their buttons.” 

“How about we start at the ‘You’re behind a screen because you don’t have the balls to come say it to my face’ part?” 

As Jungkook tried to hold his laughter and Yoongi pensively looked down with his arms crossed, Jin was obliged to answer Elena’s thoughts. “That seems well articulated to me.” he nodded in agreement. 

“Well, good, let’s watch how this rat squirms after I turn some sides then,” She added, making a go for her mobile that had been forgotten on top of the stone table. The girl managed to unlock the device and tap on the app to start writing before Yoongi made himself heard again. 

He started by saying, “I don’t think this is a good idea, Elena.” which made her stop what she was doing to look at him. “You’re going to provoke them, and then what?” 

How she exhaled and gesticulated with her free hand made him know she was fed up to the point of quitting too much explanation. Jin for the first time got quiet, and Jungkook’s eyes were once again doing that thing when he got apprehensive; they would double the size. “I get it. I know what you mean by wanting to know their next move. You’re going to try and fit them into a team and track them down that way. Maybe even scare them enough to not come after us again. But it’s an unsure move. What if it gets worse? I don’t know…” Yoongi tried to reason with her before something else blew right in their faces. 

“I mean. It can’t get worse than this!” she looked around and so did Yoongi. People kept gossiping and scrutinizing their every move. “We need to take action. You know that.” 

And before anyone could say anything else, she finished writing it and pressed send.

There was some comfort in Elena’s post, even if no one said much more about it. She treated the situation as if all of the things they were exposed for doing were nothing but mere rumors, and there was a big relief on that. Almost as if they could resume what they have known before as normal school life. 

“If you two took a bit more to arrive here I swear I would pass out of hunger.” Jin pointed out as soon as he saw Taehyung and Freya approach them, each holding two silver trays full of food. 

The boys were quick to organize the table and pick their plates to start eating, failing to notice how Freya’s glance was locked with Elena’s. Taehyung almost managed to sit in the middle of the two, if it weren’t for his twin shoving him to the side. 

As soon as she passed her legs through and managed to sit, she whispered in Elena’s ear, “Care to fill me in on what that post was about?” 

“I’m just relieved I said something back” she confided, “We really needed a win around here.” 

“You did good,” Freya agreed cheerfully. They looked at each other and realizing what she had just said, she tried to fix it, “Not you as in You but like. You.” she pointed out and Elena couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh forget it! You know what I meant.” 

Out of the whole group, everyone met up during lunch, as per usual. Everyone but Namjoon and Jimin. The former had to skip it because of the captain’s duties. Psykhe’s leader had to stay longer in a monthly meeting about their team’s expenses and such. 

Jimin, however, was being avoidant. Taehyung knew him well enough to know that. 

He knew that as soon as he texted him saying they needed to talk, the first thing Jimin would do was this—avoid him at all costs. So excusing himself politely from the table, Taehyung went back to the cafeteria and picked some chicken wings with sauce as a peace offering, making his way to the boys’ dorms. 

It was actually the perfect time for some privacy, as the majority of people were hanging on the patio for lunch and Jimin’s roommate, Hoseok, was also out. 

He had to knock two times before the door was answered. Jimin opened it sporting nothing but a towel around his waist. He didn’t say much, just made way so Taehyung could come into the room. 

The tallest stopped by the beds, feeling a little out of place because of his best friend’s unbothered eyes and sudden irresolvable stance. He hesitated with the box of chicken wings still in his hands. Jimin kept moving around in false pretense, entering the bathroom and then coming out of it seconds later with a smaller towel in hand, using it to boyishly dry his drenched locks. 

Deciding to approach carefully, Taehyung said, “Brought you some lunch,” he slightly lifted his hand showing the white squared box that transpired a mouth-watering smell. “The canteen was about to close, so…” 

Jimin gave him a small smile in return, still busy with his chore. “Thanks.” 

“Alright.” 

The food was placed at the closest writing table. Taehyung had to press his lips to contain his inner fuming. He turned around to face his best friend with a wave of anger he was finding quite difficult to contain.

His hands found his hips as he managed to say, “So you’re the one that gets to be mad at me? Not the other way around? I see.” 

“Oh please, quit the sarcasm” Jimin spits quite impatiently himself. 

“Sure. Just as soon as you cut the bullshit.” Taehyung said almost immediately demanding from his best friend what they haven’t gotten ever since the secret had been out. The courage to face the truth. 

Jimin had a very different reaction from what Taehyung had envisioned for what was to come. He saw how his best friend rolled his eyes before answering, and Jimin’s voice sounded tired as he said, “Not you too.” he exhaled. 

Taehyung looked at him with daggers in his eyes. His eyebrows twitched questioning, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Excuse me?!” was all that he managed to blurt out.

“Go on. Spit it. I know you also have something to say.” 

 Still taken aback by Jimin’s reaction he scoffs. “Are you being serious?” His stance is as cold as the resentment he was feeling. His chest was about to explode due to the unfairness of the situation. The words fell short no matter what he thought of saying, and so he muted himself. The chocolate locks boy just stood there looking at his friend, feeling just as hurt. 

Impatient, Jimin ran his hand through his hair. “That was why you came here with the wings! Or do you think I’m stupid?” he said, panting in anger. His normally cheerful eyes were big and glossy. “We’ve been avoiding this talk long enough so just say whatever it is that you have to say.” his chest kept rising and falling in the heat of the moment. 

The boy before him had to take a second to answer. He stopped biting his tongue and all that fell from his mouth was the beginning of sarcastic laughter. Taehyung shook his head, scanning the room before meeting Jimin’s eyes again. “Yes.” He began, and the room turned to ice. “You do seem stupid after saying that.” he paused but Jimin wasn’t able to answer. A knot began forming in his throat. “And were we avoiding it?” Taehyung corrected with a pert yet sad smile, “Or were you? Because I didn’t see you coming to me to talk about it.”

Without much thinking, Jimin scoffed. “Stupid?” His words were laced with anger but his features told a different tale. “What else are you holding? C’mon, let it all out.” 

There was a pause. And a strike of realization from both ends. 

Taehyung exhaled. His eyebrows were knit together as his words began more paused and controlled than before. “I’m holding the fact that my best friend seems more eager to blame me than to actually understand what I really came here to do.” By the time his angry eyes meet Jimin’s, the latter feels drowned by his own guilt. “I’m not everyone else, you know…” Taehyung’s voice sounds hurtful. “I thought you knew that.” 

Jimin only understands his best friend had left the room as the sound of the door being hammered echoes. The anger consumes him and in a bashful split second, he grabs the first thing that comes into hand. Hoseok’s lamp is thrown at the wall. 

The din followed by scattered glass on the floor made him conscious of the mess he had just made. And that any mess could turn messier than what was thought possible. 

One by one the group started to disperse. The lunch break was a very needed one, but everything good in life came to an end. 

Yoongi was mindlessly scrolling his timeline in search of new song recommendations when he realized his friends had already moved on with their affairs. As he got up and grabbed his things he spotted Freya from afar. The girl was sitting by a big oak tree, basking in its welcoming shade. 

He had to get closer to note she had her eyes peacefully closed. There was a slight breeze that blew softly on her locks. From where he was standing, it looked like she was in a painting. 

“Not that is any of my business,” he said, plumping himself down right next to her. “But as your current fake boyfriend, I should say… Your brother sucks!” he joked, making her open a cheerful smile. 

With her eyes still closed, she asked, “What did he do this time?” 

“Well… He’s been hinting that he wanted to talk to me for a while now, you know–About us. But we still haven’t had the chance… All this You stuff and all.” Freya opens her eyes as she hears Yoongi sigh. “And now ever since Jimin’s thing came out he’s been all stressed.” 

The girl took a glance at him. Yoongi kept his eyes on the horizon, and if she knew him well enough, his head was spinning trying to find a practical solution to this mess. Even if his semblance was calm and composed. “And he’s been taking it out on you,” Freya states. 

“And he’s been taking it out on me, yeah.” 

Even though the boy beside her laughed about it, she knew it was bothering him deep down. She noticed how Taehyung was sharp and borderline surly to Yoongi during lunch. Her brother could be a bit too transparent about his feelings, never knowing how to suppress them. And she had a perfect notion she was a bit too much the same. 

“If it serves any consolation to you, he criticized my footwear of choice today,” she opts to say, keeping a light mood by clinking the heels of her recently acquired cowboy boots. Yoongi can’t help but laugh. Freya, as well as her brother, had always liked using questionable things when it came to fashion. And the thought of the twins having a discussion about the item can’t seem to leave his head. It felt so ridiculous that it immediately brought a smile to his face. 

Freya laughed along, pleased to hear his own loud one. 

Yoongi steals a glance at her as he leans his head on the trunk of the tree behind them. It’s been a while since they had been this peaceful, and he would hate to end the moment but at the same time, he felt the need to check on her. “And how have you been? On a more serious note.” 

“Same old same” 

“Freya.” He presses still looking at her profile. The girl sighs reluctantly and Yoongi can see the joy fading from her distant eyes. 

She turns her head so she can face him and give him the answers upon his request, as she sees no way out of it, but as soon as she opens her mouth she gets interrupted. “Hey!” her eyes leave Yoongi’s face and land on Jungkook’s. “Sorry…” The boy says as Yoongi’s gaze on him feels like a rebuke. As if he had interrupted a conversation that wasn’t made for his ears. “I–Mhmm… I hope I’m not interru–” 

“Hi!” Freya exclaimed with a sunny smile returned to her lips. “No, no! Sit!” 

Jungkook smiled along, doing as instructed, sitting in front of the pair. He rested his backpack by his knee as he sat cross-legged. “The bell rang and I have a free period right now, so…” Freya bit a smile as he fumbled with his shoelace still convinced he had to explain himself. “Everyone went their way and then as I came back from the canteen I saw you guys here–”

“Oh fuck!” Yoongi grunts getting up. He swiftly bats the dirt from his trousers and grabs his own backpack under the gaze of the other two. 

Freya chuckles in realization, “You’re late again aren’t you?” 

The boy flashes her a guilty gummy smile before confessing, “Pretty much! Mrs. Hough is going to kill me… Again!” He doesn’t take any more time before starting to run downhill with a lack of youthful spirit considering his age. “And we’re not finished!” Yoongi adds with a wink as he looks back at Freya, and Jungkook can’t help but wonder. The two looked nothing like a couple. Or maybe it was just his lack of experience in the matter talking. 

“So.” His eyes leave Yoongi’s back as he hears Freya say. When he looks at her he can’t help but gulp. 

“So…” Jungkook repeats her words. It had been a while since they last stood alone in each other’s presence, that specific day in the Wolf’s den dawning in his conscience, even so, guilt pairing in his heart or not, he had always felt intimidated by her stare. From the beggining. And sometimes he was convinced that if he got himself locked in her eyes long enough she would be able to read him like a book. Unravel all that there is to him. Nervously he adds, “You come here often?” 

Freya’s immediate reaction is to laugh. A burst of genuine laughter. There was something to his dorkiness that made her feel very comfortable. “Honestly? This is the first time I spend this free period here,” She decides to open up to his roleplay game. “I’m trying to find my new best place.” 

“And what does it take to be your new best place?” 

It seemed only natural to her to keep being true while looking at him. No need to even think before answering. “I’d say privacy is the first thing.” But to his insecure ears that sounded like a sign that he had crossed a line with her. “Ouch!” he lets out, finally breaking eye contact to look at the grass rubbing at his shoes instead. 

Realizing he misunderstood what she had said, she comes forward nudging his shoulder playfully. “Not you though!” He analyses her features again, a tad expectant. “You can exist with me.” Her voice sounds velvety and he feels the smile tugging on the corner of his mouth once more. 

With a faint of pink coloring his scarred cheek he asks, “And what’s the second requirement?” to which she answers promptly, “Mmm, I’d say a great view!” 

“And then?” Jungkook asks without realizing it, almost in a whisper. She had his full attention, and his brain couldn’t stop trying to match the nooks and crannies he had already seen around the school to fit her description. 

To her, much like to everyone else, the raven-haired boy before her couldn’t help but exude mysteriousness. A black translucent cloth covered him at all times from everyone’s curiosity. And it wasn’t shyness or just introspection. Freya had Yoongi to thank for being able to spot the difference. But sometimes, when the world outside seemed quiet enough–when there were just the two of them, she felt like she could glimpse the boy beneath such covers. In a trance, she mumbles just as quietly as he did before, “That’s it for now…”. They keep quiet for a moment, just enjoying each other’s features. If someone passed by them, they could easily mistake the moment for a stare competition, and the two competitors would miss the presence of the bystander just as easily. 

A sudden beep causes Freya to inhale sharply and Jungkook to jolt. Both of them exchange embarrassed chuckles as the girl takes her phone out to see what had snapped them to the real world. Jungkook eyes her expectant. 

She shrugs, tucking the device into her backpack once again. “It’s Yoongi.” 

“So the teacher didn’t kill him this time, huh” 

Freya leaned on the tree with a cheeky smile. She crossed her arms saying, “Not this time, no” as she watched how he fixed his backpack on the ground so he could rest his head comfortably on it. 

More silence follows. Jungkook keeps his eyes trailed to the scenery displayed to his right. He watches mindlessly as some students cross the greenery toward the main building. From time to time, when the wind hits his face, he feels compelled to close his eyes for seconds before opening them again. Freya doesn’t look at the view as he does. She couldn’t care less about those people passing by. Instead, she keeps her eyes trailed to his nape, and she watches how the hair there is starting to get big enough so it curves softly. She spots the scar on his left cheek and thinks of how it came to be, and how it seems so fitting that it was there. 

Jungkook fumbles with his lip piercing, still looking at the crowd below them. They all look so small from there. So distant. “Maybe I could help you find it,” he says as he turns his head to look at her. 

He notices how her eyes were already on him. How that summer blush spread across the line of her cheeks and nose as if she had been the whole day under a scorching sun at the beach. “I would like that.” 

He nods and the crinkles of his eyes start to appear. “Today after classes?”

“Deal.”

The rest of the free period is spent in comfortable silence. Both of them exist in each other’s presence, in wonder, basking in the sunlight. Enjoying the peacefulness of the breeze, and ignoring their surroundings. Caught not wanting that moment to end, but also anxiously waiting for the next encounter. 

Kaya decided to accompany her brother and Namjoon to the library post lunch after receiving a notification from the system saying the literature teacher would be canceling classes that day.

The boys were supposedly in their sociology class, but the extensive course was normally divided into two hours—one for research and the other for debating. So while they came up with a grounded speech, the girl fumbled through books, settling to catch up on the subjects she would have for the rest of the day. 

She was running her fingers through the numbers carved on the massive wood bookcase, eyes searching for the physics copy she needed, when she was laced by her hips and pulled to a dark corner. 

“What are you doing?!” she whispered, desperately glancing around so as to not be caught. 

Her captor didn’t pay much mind and kept kissing her neck. By now he was more than used to her apprehensive behavior. “My brother is right there!” she hissed again. On the tips of her toes, she tried with all her might to disentangle from the arms she loved so much. She just couldn’t be caught, and this was way too risky for her liking. 

“He’s focused on the task at hand,” The boy said, laid back. “I doubt he’ll get up before cracking that book first. You know how he is.” 

He pulled her closer, diving in for a kiss, sure that he had eased her mind just enough. To his misfortune, his lips were met with her hand. He tried again, playing it cool, but Kaya turned her head as she shoved him back. “Namjoon, please.”

He inhaled, as he rubbed his temples frustrated. 

Namjoon had never been a pushy guy. And he had always taken Kaya’s concerns into consideration. That was why they had been dating secretly in the first place. Because to him, they would have already come clean to everyone—including Hoseok—a long time ago. 

“Just tell me what you want Kaya,” he says plainly and she is taken aback. 

“What do you mean?” 

He sighs as the girl in front of him seems more preoccupied with checking around if anyone is listening to their conversation. More and more he felt tired of this. There was already too much on the table for them to be worried about. 

Namjoon leans on the bookcase behind him, crossing his arms. “It’s been a while now since we last were together,” he says carefully and her eyes search for his. “Ever since Freya took the blame in our place, to be specific.” 

“Ok…” she opts to say, as the words dissipate in her brain. 

“No. It’s not ok.” he huffs annoyed. Kaya knows him too well, and the moment he clenches his jaw in a pout, swinging it back and forth, she realizes he’s been piling this up for too long. “You’re my girlfriend. Yet I can’t see you in public or in private. I can’t kiss you or touch you–We can’t even talk like this without you looking around as if you’re up to something you shouldn’t be up to!” he whispers hushedly, calling her out. 

Kaya’s eyes are suddenly teary and the boy before her starts to get blurry. “But what can we do, it’s–” 

“We could just be together.” his eyebrows knit almost pleading. He is certain that he loves her. And he is certain that she loves him too. What hurts the most is that it doesn’t seem enough. Not for him, or her. 

Kaya starts shaking her head, eyes trailing on the wooden floor. She can’t deal with this right now. Not when her brother is mere meters away from finding the truth. 

“Let’s not do this now.” 

“Then when, Kaya?!” Namjoon can’t keep his cool anymore and she quickly covers his mouth to shush him. She looks apologetic at him, realizing how on edge she was being. He softly takes her hand out of the way. “I know these past couple of days have left us all walking on eggshells,” his voice sounds temperate again, the tone only loud enough for her to hear. “But I also think we can’t stop living our lives because of it.” 

She closed her eyes with a sigh. Kaya knew Namjoon was more than right. She just needed her scale to pend to the other side instead. Right now, she still has a lot to lose. “I know, it’s just–” 

The sound of a book dropping way closer to them than they thought possible, made both of their heads snap toward it, alarmed. Kaya’s breathing increased considerably and she froze on the spot. Namjoon looked around, and not seeing anyone in sight, he went toward the next row of bookcases. 

There was a single book left on the ground, scrambled from the falling. He looked at the cover as he picked it up, but the title didn’t say much to him. Before returning it to its place, he looked around once more. Kaya came from behind, quite apprehensive. Looking at her eyes, he followed her frightful gaze. On the other end of the long corridor of books, sat at a table for four there was Momo, Mark, and Tzuyu. The latter, unlike her Sarx companions, wasn’t writing or reading. She had her eyes craved on Namjoon. 

The Psykhe’s captain decided not to look too much, or read too much into the situation. He had to avoid looking suspicious. Recomposing himself, he put the book on the shelf once again and turned his back to Tzuyu’s prying eyes. 

“Let’s go back–” 

“She’s still looking,” Kaya whispered with concern. And before he could say anything else, she made rushed decisions for the both of them, “We’re stopping this for now. We can talk later.” 

As she turned the corner leaving him no space for refutation, Namjoon couldn’t figure out if they were stopping the conversation or their relationship altogether. He had to swallow his frustration as he was well aware his back was still being stared at. 

And who knew who else was paying close attention too…

Summer still lingered in the air as the students from class 104 dozed off to the sound of Mr. Perry’s soothing voice and the ceiling fans. Philosophy felt like a drag whenever the class was theoretical instead of practical. 

Elena sat in the last row of desks, sharing one of them with an absent-minded  Jungkook. She took notes from time to time just to keep herself busy and although throughout the first part of the class, she thought the boy beside her was doing the same, it became pretty clear that was not the case as she peeked to the side and saw a view from what she pegged being the Psykhe’s tower drawn on his notebook. 

She whispered so only he could hear, “That looks amazing”, and he took his while perfecting the twinkling stars on his pitch-black sky before answering with a brief chuckle, “I try”.

The class continued irrespective of Elena’s admiration and Jungkook’s pencil lining. The room was a stage for a lazy symphony composed by Mr. Perry’s throat being cleared here and then and some bored sighs at the end. The time of the class helped the preposition to be lulled instead of trying to create a ruckus with chitchatting. 

But then a notification sound reverberated alongside the teacher’s voice. Some heads, from owners that still had some stamina left, turned to the guilty one holding the phone. Elena’s included. The student apologized sheepishly doting a sheer of red on his face while turning off the device as if it had been a coincidental mistake. Mr. Perry was about to restart his explanation with an unbothered stance when the girl sat by Belle’s side, right at the front row seats, exclaimed reproachfully with her phone at hand. 

Some students exchanged glances, and others paused what they were doing to look at her expectantly. “What is it, Vanessa?” someone asked from the back. The teacher tried to pay no mind going instead to write on the imponent board behind him. 

Suddenly both Vanessa and Belle turn around and stare in Elena’s direction with pitiful eyes. The girl is taken aback by the gesture but tries to deflect them by looking back with a shrug. 

“Holy shit…” one of the boys let out while scrolling his phone. Elena looks at him apprehensively, and Jungkook finally lifts his head peaking above the shoulder of his table mate to grasp the situation. While the constant noise of chalk being dragged on the board serves as background, the class starts to get restless. Phones are being pulled out of pockets to kill the famish curiosity pairing in the air. Elbows jerk and eyes turn inquiring toward her. 

Elena panics and suddenly she knows. It’s You… Again. 

She doesn’t take the time to check. Jolting out of her seat she grabs her purse and rushes toward the door, exiting it with a minor bang. 

“Elena, wait up!” Jungkook has to sprint to catch up to the girl, ignoring the teacher’s warnings. The strap of his backpack hangs loosely from his right shoulder. “What happened?” 

She faces him with teary eyes, lips in a pout, as she manages to say through a sob, “I’m fucked.” 

The boy frowns. Not knowing what had caused her to be in such a state makes Jungkook panic a little. He had been a victim of Elena’s emotional side more than once but he was never alone to calm her down. “Let’s just take a deep breath.” He sounds more shaken than confident in the solution he was able to find. 

The girl dismisses his words as she keeps on cursing under her breath, phone up to her ear. Jungkook keeps on hearing the faint recording of the call being directed to the voicemail.  

“Should we go outside? Catch some fresh air?” Jungkook attempts again, this time even more uncertain. 

The girl doesn’t give him an answer, instead hastening her pace towards the courtyard. Her focus is still on her device and through the corner of his eye, Jungkook can make out the messages app open as she types feverishly into a group called The Runaways. Jungkook recognized the photos of the other two members of the group–Freya and Kaya. 

Taehyung had been the kind soul to explain the name to Jungkook once he heard Jin referring to the girls like that. His facial expression must have shown how confused he was by the nickname and so his peculiar roommate explained that the trio had tried to escape from Horus Academy one night during their first year there and got caught–of course. Kaya was a mess because of the two weeks of detention and Hoseok even added that she had palpitations from having to visit the dean’s office so soon after her arrival at the school. 

The group was close, regardless of all of them being so different. And to Jungkook that was something that was sometimes revealed to be difficult to comprehend. They were good people, that he was sure. Despite all their quirks and inevitable penchant for secrets. No wonder he had fit so well. 

“Was it You?” Jungkook finally dares to speak. They had already reached the courtyard and Elena had sat down at one of the picnic-style tables scattered around the place, her feet tapping on the bench rhythmically. The girl nods in response and Jungkook’s curiosity gets the best of him, “What did they say?” 

Sighing, Elena shows the phone to the boy and the way he frowns as his eyes scan the text on the screen makes her realize that she’s in for a hell of a couple of days.

“Is–is it true?” Jungkook asks hesitantly. The second the words come out of his mouth he regrets it. His stomach is in a twirl and he would rather not know the truth. 

“Of course, it is. Whoever that psycho is, they are deep into our lives and know all about our darkest secrets.” Elena speaks angrily. Jungkook’s question doesn’t bother her. He has been with the group for a while now and she trusts him. He has been loyal to them despite all the attacks they have been under since day one. Had she been in his shoes, she doesn’t know if she would stick with such a problematic crew. She always wondered why he stuck with them in the first place, and she had gotten close to asking him about it a few times, but Kaya cut it off after all her attempts, advising her to ‘not be rude and ask’. 

“Yoongi was right–” Jungkook flops down next to Elena, finding a seat on the picnic table. His tone isn’t accusatory, like a parent reprimanding a child, but mostly hopeless. “We shouldn’t be poking the bear,” he looks her in the eye, seriously. “it’s going to poke back.” 

Scoffing, Elena gets back up on her feet, hands finding a firm grip on her hips. “Of course, we should! We all got secrets, Kook, I know–”  She glares at the boy, huffing as yet another tear rolls down her cheek, “We want them buried but I’m not going to sit here and let it hold such power over my life.” 

“But–” 

“This person is insane. What if they start blackmailing us? Pinning us against each other?” Jungkook shifts in his seat but the action passes unseen by the revolted girl. “Are you going to sit by and watch the house burn down?” 

Eyes stuck to the floor, Jungkook finds comfort in analyzing his fingers. Elena’s words are marked on his brain as if she kept on asking the question over and over again. Pressing his lips together, he doesn’t manage to look her in the eye as he reaches the final verdict, “I–I don’t know Elena.” 

“I know Yoongi was right. But fuck this.” Elena’s focus is back on her phone. “Jesus Christ why is no one picking up their phones!” 

Relieved by the change of subject, Jungkook tries to uncover more of the newest secret You had revealed, “Are you trying to call your mom?” 

“Heavens no. If she got word that we were being harassed she’d come down to the school and take me out of it. I would never see you guys again.” Elena laughs drily. “What about yours?” 

Jungkook tilts his head, confused by the question. “What?” 

“What would your parents do if they knew you were strapped to a tree for an entire night?” Jungkook hadn’t been a target of You yet–at least not directly–and so far, the Sarx folks were the most fitting candidates for the shoes of psycho. 

Jungkook’s eyes are big as Elena sits down on the bench next to him. In an attempt to diverge from her stare, he takes out his notebook from his backpack. “You know–the same.” 

Glancing at the girl lets him know she was analyzing his not-so-confident answer. “Do you want to see more?” Jungkook is quick to ask as he lands on the page he had earlier been drawing on. The Kardia girl’s eyes light up as her lips turn into a smile, pleased to have a distraction, “Yes, please.” 

Word around Horus always traveled fast. But nothing could quite compare to bad news. With cell phones prohibited in class, it was astonishing how people had already begun whispering in the hallways about the latest rumor of the all-star group attending the boarding school. 

The first period of the afternoon had barely ended when the courtyard where Elena and Jungkook were, began to fill quickly. The raven-haired boy was quick to find a distraction for the girl that made herself heedless of the preying eyes in an almost impeccable way. 

“Damn…” The hand that rested on Elena’s shoulder had been what startled her but Jungkook was only aware of Jin’s presence when he made his voice heard. The Dianoia member was facing the opposite direction of the other two, back leaning against the table as he took a sip from his soda can. 

Jungkook swiftly shifts on his seat, his legs standing on each side of the bench. He can now see Elena and Jin perfectly. 

“Not that I thought you a straight record, but when you pulled a Regina George today on that psycho, I at least thought you were secret safe,” The expression on the oldest face says how incredulous yet disconcerted he is with the situation. He was in a complete mix of feelings. 

“Excuse me?!” Jungkook notices how Elena’s eyebrows furrow and how her once relaxed demeanor is quick to leave her body. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t say I told you so!” Jin reassures, lips wet from the last sip he took from his soda. He scootches closer toward Elena, casually crossing his legs while he still stands. “That will be Yoongi.” 

“Oh, fuck off Jin.” The girl in turn stands up from the bench, now leaving an empty spot between the two boys. Her phone is quickly retrieved from her pocket and placed on her ear once more.

“You kinda did, though,” Jungkook whispers to Jin, lips pressed. “You kind of said it.” 

Jin widens his eyes, distant, not really focusing anywhere. He then takes a last sip from the can in his hands, before spurring in Jungkook’s direction unable to suppress a nervous laughter. 

“Who are you trying to reach?” The doe-eyed boy opts to ask Elena instead. She had been nervously pacing back and forth. Her thumb rests between her lips the whole time as she nibbles on its skin. “Maybe I can help?” He offers again.

The proposal sounds weak despite his best intentions, and as a consequence, he ends up being ignored by the other two. 

In the distance, as he looks over to distract himself from the situation, Jungkook can make out a duo that skids through the increasing crowd. Taehyung and Jimin spurt toward their table, the latter���s hand already in the air, signaling his presence to the group. 

“Hey, you okay?” Taehyung reaches the girl first, hands finding her shoulders as he looks her down, almost as if examining her physically. “Is it real?” He questions as his hands slide toward her neck and his thumbs gently force her chin up so he can scan her eyes. 

“Of course it’s real.” The Kardia boy spats, passing by on his way to the vacant spot between Jungkook and Jin before Elena had a chance to answer. Taehyung sent a death stare to his back, biting on his tongue so as to not make the situation worse. The tension between the two best friends was so palpable even their algebra teacher had noticed that the pair was odd—as they used to spend the class playing games in each other’s notebooks or talking, now they avoided eye contact. It was impossible to deny that there was some unresolved business between the two. 

“Jimin–” Elena is taken off by the sudden attack of her best friend but before she can continue, Taehyung cuts her off, unable to look past Jimin’s pretentious eyes as he sat down and stared back. 

“Just because you tend to make shitty decisions it doesn’t mean everyone else follows the example so stop being–”. 

“It’s not that ludicrous. It happened to me, too.” Jimin shrugs and Jin scoffs at the sudden outburst, somewhat entertained. 

“Ludicrous? Huh,” He laughs. “Aren’t you a committed student...” Taehyung is quick to bark back. 

Jimin’s eyes are filled with fire, but he decides that ignoring his best friend is a better response. "Why would you even do that?" He directs his words at Elena instead. "What dumb thought crossed your mind that made you think that it would be a good idea to go after You after what happened to me?" 

"Dumb thought?! Was I supposed to just sit and watch this shit show?!" Hands anchored on her hips, Elena's focus is no longer on her phone.

Jimin laughs incredulously as he shakes his head and looks at the crowd. People kept staring at them, waiting for more drama to unfold. "Are you happy now that everyone is giving you the side eye?" 

"You certainly seem to be." Elena pokes at his chest, index finger waving in accusation. 

"Me?! I didn't even know you were going to do this. Let alone that you had this secret.” Jimin looks at her with accusatory eyes, and differently from Jin, Jungkook can’t help but think he should do something to stop the arguing. “Good job at being a best friend, by the way! If every best friend kept a secret like you we would all stand equally as strangers!”  

“You-!” Elena lifted her finger once more but was gently pulled back by the boy behind her. Taehyung couldn’t care less if people were beginning to stop their own conversations to eavesdrop on theirs. 

"Like you told me about yours?! Or any of us, for a matter of fact?" He is quick to jump back into the discussion. 

"This isn't about me." Jimin stands his ground, clearly upset.

“Do you know where Namjoon is?” Jin shifts on his seat, his arm resting on the table as he supports his head in the palm of his hand, eyeing Jungkook directly. He seems too comfortable with the ruckus happening not even two feet from them. The youngest doesn’t even get a chance to answer before Jin continues in a tired voice, “We need Namjoon to make them hold hands again.” 

“Hold… hands?” Jungkook furrows his eyebrows. The concern he once felt completely dissipates, leaving space for confusion instead. 

“I’ll tell you later.” Jin nods his head, reassuringly. “It’s just that Namjoon made them hold hands another time. When they fought, you know.” 

“Oh, God!” Elena raises her voice, gaining the attention of the two whisperers and the other two bickerers. “Where is Kaya!” 

“She shouldn’t take too long,” An out-of-breath Namjoon takes a seat where Jimin has previously sat by the picnic table. “I lost her and Hoseok in the crowd.” 

“We have a dumpling situation again,” Jin comments, pointing at the two boys standing. “Make them hold hands, for the love of God, I can’t hear them anymore!” He complains nonchalantly. “Lucky me I don’t have a mirror otherwise I’d see for myself I aged ten years while I sat here listening to this crap.” The Psykhe’s leader can't help the chuckle that escapes his lips as Jin rambles as fast as a bullet. "First things first, what happened?" He exhales as he asks the group, now recomposed.

"Elena bossed up and went after the psycho and now the psycho went after her, but much more effectively." Jimin explains, and the girl in question glares at him. 

Jungkook can’t help but rub his eyes frustrated. His right leg embraced a frenetic rhythm afraid the bickering would restart. “Not again…” He mumbles to himself.

Namjoon nods silently, glancing around to assert the gravity of the rumors. In his peripheral vision, he sees Elena ignoring Jimin, preferring to show attention to her cell phone instead. Taehyung looked at him expectantly but he was just as lost. He just couldn’t show it to his peers. Perhaps by being a leader he had picked up the habit, but something in his being told him it had to do with all those eyes prying at them instead. "It does nothing for us to be going at each other's throats…" Namjoon reasons with them, his voice low enough so only his friends could hear. He preferred to wait for the rest of the group to arrive before discussing their situation. He also prayed Yoongi or Hoseok would bring with them some sort of solution. Or at least help to calm the other’s down. 

"Freya, where the hell are you?" Elena asks, visibly relieved when her call goes through. The boys all look at her awaiting the answer to her question. As she huffs and looks at some point past the courtyard, listening to what Freya was saying, she feels the urge to interrupt with a plea. “Run faster then,” she says, “I can see her already and she is ready to kill me. I just know, alright? Just run… Ha-! Well, because you don’t sound like running to me!” 

The second Elena clicked on the red button to end the call, she realized Kaya had shortened the distance between them way too fast. Faster than she imagined, even if she was well aware her roommate was fuming. Hoseok stopped right behind his sister, panting from trying to helplessly keep up with her pace. 

Namjoon got up from his seat instinctively, worried that neither Taehyung nor Jimin, who were standing by, could do something to stop the wrath of his girlfriend. “I just can’t believe you!” Kaya exclaimed. “Wasn’t it enough seeing Freya, Yoongi, and Jimin being targeted?! Why would you do something so reckless, Lena? For heaven's sake!”

Elena sighs, fingers massaging her temples as she turns her back on her roommate. “Not you, too.” she says, and both Jimin and Taehyung are struck by déjà vu. 

“No, no, no! Don’t turn your back on me.” Kaya speaks through gritted teeth. “Don’t you even think that you will get away with this.” 

The shortest one doesn’t hide her arched eyebrow as she turns around. “Last time I checked you weren’t my mom, Kaya,” she says decisively. It takes a good minute for her roommate to process her spiteful answer, and a longer one for the silence that broke amongst their peers who watched the exchange like statues. 

“Just stop.” Hoseok cuts sharp as a knife. “It’s not the time to fight about who’s at fault here.” He glares at the both of them and as Elena mentions to speak up he continues, “I don’t care. I just want to know who the hell is behind this. Who could have this kind of information–All the freaking time!” 

Namjoon feels the need to intervene as he looks around and all of them, besides Hoseok who had a desperate demeanor to his face, had their eyes trailed to the floor, hopeless. In a space between the harsh revelation of both secrets, they had gathered no information about their stalker or even a thread of where to start looking. They were completely in the dark. “Let’s wait for Freya and Yoongi–Who are just much part of this as Kaya has said. And then we can all sit together and make a timeline of events. We’re gonna find something–“ The leader tries. 

For brief seconds Jungkook remembers how to breathe again, certain that this time Namjoon’s approach had worked out. It was visible how everyone collected themselves, pondering his words. He was right, after all, there was no point in arguing without everyone present. They would be just circling back and forth, wasting the little time they seemed to have. Even Jungkook, who was never the most patient one, could understand that. 

Students begin passing by them quicker, seeing there was seemingly no secret conversation to overhear. To them, the all-star group looked like showcase dolls being exhibited in the courtyard. 

“What did I say?” their heads move together as they hear Yoongi’s familiar voice. He circled the table with his arms crossed, making Jin scooch closer to Jungkook so he can sit on the bench as well. “I told you exactly how this would go down, didn’t I?” he says, looking disappointed but not at all surprised at Elena. 

And it is enough, just like a snowflake is to trigger an avalanche. 

“I will say it slow enough for you all to grasp it–Fuck. You.” Elena bursts. “It’s my secret.” she points to her chest with a wave of moved anger. “My choice.”

“Elena–”

The strawberry blonde one couldn’t find in herself the patience to listen to any of them anymore. The shock of the situation finally untied her naturally proactive self. “No!” she exclaims back. “I won’t shut up about it! Whoever this creep is, they deserve someone barking back.” 

“HEY, hey!” Freya comes like a tornado. It’s clear that the girl had been running to get there as the sunglasses that are almost always securing her hair back is crooked to the left. Her locks are tousled. “Finally!” Namjoon gasps. 

Freya places a hand on Elena’s shoulder as she comes closer, and it works like magic. The shortest one’s uproar quickly ceased. “Before we mess this up,” her voice is steady despite her rush, and commanding enough to make them all pay attention. “Let’s move this circus to a more private tent, alright.” Her over-expressive eyes pointed at the crowd beginning to surround them again. Some cell phones were being aimed like guns at them, ready to shoot and record the perfect evidence. 

Kaya, different from the rest of the group who tried to discreetly look around, was too possessed to notice anything but what was happening between them. “Heavens! Stop trying to make us forget what this is all about!” 

“I’m not the one that stops things from happening, Kaya. You got me confused.” Freya adverts. “Just get out of your head for a second and look around.” her eyebrows do the work this time as they shoot up. And for the Dianoian girl’s terror, she was the center of attention. 

"Freya is right," Yoongi speaks tiredly. Not that he was bothered by the ridiculously noticeable glares of the other students. He had been used to being the freak everyone stared, pointed, and laughed at. But this You person had really started to get on his nerves by assuming they could get rid of them as easily as possible. 

"Do you remember the spot of the last trial of the games?" Namjoon is already pulling the strap of his bag over his head as he speaks. He walks around the table, arm swinging around Hoseok's shoulder as he pushes him out of his ecstatic state and forces his feet to levitate from the ground. "Let's meet there in 10. All of us." 

Namjoon leaves with Hoseok. Being the captain of Psykhe had thought him a thing or two as the whole group—even the ones that were from different houses—respected his words. 

A stare-down happens between the two roommates, now not-so-seemingly best friends, and Freya stays right in the middle of them. The boys on the table don't dare to move. Until Elena lets out a dry chuckle, eyes rolling as she makes her way to the table to fetch her bag. "Will be seeing you all in… 8 minutes." Her sarcastic smile is directed at Yoongi, who sighs in response as he too gets up to go and try to get rid of the people who could possibly trail them. 

"You better go somewhere else." Taehyung coldly speaks to Jimin before skipping after the Kardia girl that was about to quickly get lost in the crowd. 

"What did I do?!" Jimin whines as he's about to be left alone by the table as Kaya storms by herself, and Jin seems to make his way to enter the main building again. "Jin–wait for me!"

Satisfied that everyone listened to Namjoon, making the rest of the students confused as to who they should follow, Freya pulls Jungkook by the hand toward the stadium. She wasn’t a fan of crowds. Passing by all those that were surrounding the courtyard—even if Horus Academy didn’t have that many students to begin with—felt like a nightmare. The grand stadium seemed the right choice as the structure was placed on the other side, they just had to cut through a grass path and some isolated trees. 

Not a soul seemed to follow the two. Jungkook made sure to look back every time he heard a different noise that wasn’t his own feet clashing with the dirt ground or Freya’s. And as some distance was already put between them and the unpleasant moment they had just experienced, Jungkook cleared his throat. For the first time, he was bothered by Freya’s silence amidst this chaos. “This, uhm… It wasn’t what I had in mind when we said we’d be meeting each other after classes…” 

The girl doesn’t slow her pacing, and neither does he, as they are still locking hands. “That’s because technically we’re still in classes. So this ain’t it.” She shrugs with a rapid smile. 

Jungkook chuckles and keeps his eyes on the back of her head. She wasn’t being her carefree self, he could notice. He wondered while she lead him astray from the path to the stadium and down a small ravine through the woods if she seemed distant only due to her best friend being targeted. Again, her relationship with Yoongi crossed his mind. It seemed odd that he was the one holding hands with her and not her boyfriend. 

He wondered if he was crossing a line. “Why isn’t Yoongi here?” he decided to give it a shot. 

“What do you mean?” The girl seems more preoccupied to point to him where he can’t step in order not to fall than not falling herself. He holds her hand tighter as she slips once before replying, “It’s just that he went alone. And you’re here–with me.” 

Freya’s eyes travel from the ground to his face and she halts her steps. They are right at the base of the ravine and the only thing they can hear is the whisper of the trees dancing in the wind. Jungkook nibbles on his lips as she eyes him without an answer. Suddenly his questioning seems rubbish to himself, his actions quite inappropriate and selfish, and the girl in front of him a dream within a dream. 

She opens her mouth to reply with a prepared lie, but nothing comes out of it. Not even an excuse for him not knowing well the paths around school, or looking seemingly lost back at the courtyard. Would it be so bad to tell him the truth?, she thinks to herself. His fingers laced on hers seems the answer and the fire that ignites her bold decision. “Yoongi and I, we–” 

Beep. 

Beep.

Their phones going off at the same time is enough to cut her sentence short. Their hands fall from each other as they grab the devices instead.

Jungkook’s eyes leave the screen first to check on the girl in front of him. She zooms in and out of the picture posted to check its veracity. As she glances up to see him, Freya is nothing but decided. Hints of anger flash in her irises. “We’re almost there. Are you up for a sprint?” she asks and he nods promptly. “Be careful with branches. They’re bitches for ankles–trust me.” 

They run, succeeding in avoiding smaller rocks and the tree branches the girl advised him about. Both had been here before for the games, but this felt more urgent. More secretive. And by the nature of You’s recent posting, much more treacherous. 

"I can't believe you." It’s the first thing they hear as they arrive panting. Everyone is already there, which confirms to Jungkook they had been the ones taking the longer route. Yoongi drops his bag on the floor. He's fuming. "I can't fucking believe you, Elena." 

"Oh, and here he goes again." Elena mimics his actions, bag, and jacket dropping right by her feet as she places her hands on her hips. "Here comes Yoongi, on his high horse." 

The boy in question chuckles. He rubs his forehead as he sighs, looking up at the treetops swinging, trying to choose wisely his next words. He didn’t want to start a fight, far from that. He knew their real enemy was clearly You, and whatever he did, he for sure wasn’t going to be compliant by serving exactly what that deranged wanted—them all fighting each other. "Just–What are you trying to do? I want to understand because it seems simple to me that this person isn’t one to be messed with" They now stand close to each other and both Taehyung and Jungkook feel the need to take a step forward. 

"I told you–I'm not going to stand down." Elena simply shrugs. "We've been friends for how long now, Yoongi? …Is it really too much to ask you to back me up on this?" 

It’s clear to them all how Yoongi ponders as he looks her in the eyes. "You're being selfish." Kaya spits. "You're just thinking about what you want." 

Elena turns to her roommate with a scoff, "And you're not?" 

"How am I selfish?!"

The look Elena gives her says enough to have both Namjoon and Freya on their toes. "Kaya…" The boy threads lightly. He has to stop himself, the craving of holding his girlfriend's hand driving him mad.

Jimin however is the one that moves, but away. He shakes his head as he goes to sit on a stem, looking defeated as he leans his forehead on his arms. Hoseok catches a glance at his roommate’s lack of spirit, deciding to intervene for him. "El, please. We've just been to hell and back with Jimin." He says harshly, as he leans against a tree with arms crossed. It was a rare sight to see Hoseok like that, and if the circumstances were other, the discussion would have ended with his word. But not everyone standing in that glade wanted to be picked at, and some had less to lose. 

"She's not wrong…" Freya points out, unafraid to be looked upon by Hoseok’s hard judgment.  

"Thank you!" Elena throws her hands up in the air, exasperated. Freya glares at her, clearly not finished with her point. Before some of them can revolt, she adds, "Lena is being reckless and she does need to calm down, but she did prove something." 

"Oh, c'mon Freya, don't encourage this." Yoongi complains and Jin feels the need to add, “People, this isn’t Law and Order for you to be proving stuff!”

Freya unlike the others wasn’t carrying a backpack, but she did take her glasses off her head, dropping them on top of a pile of things that rested next to a tree trunk. Her hair fell in the process to frame her face. “Listen–” she began, hands coming to her sides to put them all at ease. "You posted real proof. They had the evidence ready to go. Just like that." She snaps her fingers to add to her case, “This seems somewhat already thought through, no? Or at least it has to be someone that is able to get this kind of thing–Documents and shit.” 

Hoseok looked at Namjoon to confirm if he had to be worried or not, depending if the leader had bought the argument. The engines on his head worked speedily. "And that only makes everything worse," Jungkook says, breaking his silence.

"How so?" Namjoon is intrigued by the sudden intervention, and he is not the only one. Taehyung stares intently at their group’s novice expectant to finally hear his reasoning. Even Jimin looks up. 

"For starters this person is insane,” Jungkook states blankly. He wasn’t used to reasoning things out loud, but all eyes were on him, pushing him to speak further. “They have already proved this to us… With Freya, Jimin… Yoongi’s thing that day at the games as well… And now this Elena thing–And honestly, it's bothering me how normally you're all treating this situation–" 

"Normally?" 

There is some confusion pairing in the air, some eyes trailed to the floor reflexive over the last weeks. But the novice tries to avoid those so as to not lose himself in his own argument. "How are you not afraid, El?" Jungkook's eyes widen as he looks at her instead. She doesn’t answer as her point of view differed tremendously, and he tilts his head unable to comprehend the coolness they exuded faced with such things. "I don't know about you guys but I never had something like this happening to me. I was tied to a tree by a bunch of psychos–who still study here by the way, and Tzuyu is even Freya’s roommate–And you guys keep on getting threats…? They found out about Jimin being with a teacher and–no offense, man–but the logic of this person is to share it online to intimidate us and here we are, making secret reunions in the middle of the woods." 

Jin is the one to cut the silence by laughing nervously, "When you put it that way…" he adds, “No wonder we are being targeted.” 

Jungkook’s eyes are still unable to search for anyone else’s as he adds. "I just think we shouldn't worry about figuring out who this person is or what they want. I think we just need to know how to get them the fuck away from us." His voice sounds defeated as his focus shifts to a rock poking on the ground. He leans his body forward and kicks it.

"One thing very much so implies the other, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news." Elena points out, and as soon as she does Taehyung gives her a reproachful look. She mouths him a questioning ‘what?’ in silence, as he shakes his head. 

Freya doesn’t listen to the comment, however, as her feet work just as intently as her head by drawing patterns on the grass as she paces around. "It can't just be anyone…” she says, deep in thought, more to herself than the others. “It's someone smart, clearly… And they have a motive."

"Stop it, you two!” Kaya’s outburst makes her brother jolt surprised, leaning further away onto the tree to shore himself. “For heaven's sake, just stop!" she begs, frustrated. Jin is quicker than Namjoon to side-hug her, and the Psykhe’s leader inhales relieved as he sees Kaya burying her face onto Jin’s shoulder, returning the hug. “This is getting out of line.” Hoseok comments fed up. “Look at what they’re doing to us!” he gestures emphasizing their defeated postures. 

"You're the ones allowing it." Elena shoots, crossing her arms. 

Kaya turns into Jin’s embrace in a flash upon hearing her words. "What is your problem, Elena?!" she mentions to walk toward her roommate but Jin wraps one arm over her shoulder line, pinning her in place. Still, she points an accusatory finger at the Kardia girl. "You're going to end up putting everyone in the front line with how you’re handling this." 

"It was one thing to play the rumor card at lunch but now…" Yoongi commented resigned as he closed his eyes. He too crossed his arms, and to the ones watching, he looked like basking in the sunlight that poured through the clearing as his face was tilted up. He opens his eyes and looks at the shortest girl before adding, "You just proved that everything they post is real. You showed that they are a credible source. You know that, right?" 

"So what?” Taehyung questions. “Just because they have proof of Elena's doesn't mean the rest is true." he shrugs in discontent. "And besides, she hasn't implicated anyone but herself." 

There is a sense of veracity in what he says, or better, how he says it, and the group goes calmer as they let his words sink in. Jimin is the only one that shows unconformity as he stands up with a scold plastered on his face. "Funny how when it's her, it doesn't matter, but then when it was my secret or Freya’s it was that big of a deal.”

Taehyung dismisses his remark with a simple side eye, and a scoff is heard before Elena adopts a sarcastic smile to her features "Are you seriously comparing being in a fucking deranged relationship to getting in an accident?" 

“Okay let’s–” Namjoon tries. 

"It wasn't just an accident. You were driving drunk, Elena." Kaya insists, untangling herself from Jin’s arm and retrieving her phone to showcase You’s report. "And according to this, I'm pretty sure your next stop was a stomach wash at the hospital." 

"Are you serious?!" the hurt in Elena’s voice is able to be sensed a mile away. 

"Am I wrong?" 

The group has a second of stillness as no one can think of a better thing to say, or even how to proceed from there on. Freya looks from one girl to another, fearing they were stranding too far for a possible rescue. She can tell how frustrated and fearful Kaya is being, but she can also see how profound the embarrassment in Elena’s eyes is as she shifts her stares through the group. “You know what?” the strawberry blonde adds, “Fuck you, Kaya.” 

"Am. I. Wrong?" Kaya keeps pushing with a clouded mind and the tallest of the three finally shouts a reprehensive ‘Hey!’ so as to break their flare. 

With drained faces, they all seemed a little out of orbit. The group has had its fair share of disagreements before, that picnic table in the courtyard of Horus knew how many spiteful arguments Taehyung and Jimin shared. The halls of the school were tainted with bickering. But it never felt like they were standing with a cliff between them before. And the fall, Namjoon feared if he didn’t stop it, would be too decisive. 

"That's more than enough." The leader spoke with bravado. "We came here to try and figure a solution out. This was not to go at each other’s throats!"

"No–Absolutely not. I’m not wasting time with this anymore.” Elena shakes her head, fed up. “I've had enough of your bullshit." She eyes Kaya as she speaks. "Always running around like you're Miss Perfect. I'm tired of this–I'm tired of you."

She walks toward the pile stacked by a tree, picking up her bag, resolute to walk away as Kaya replies. "If I’m the Miss Perfect for thinking of others before doing reckless things–Fine! Be it! I will rather be labeled as that than be labeled as a freaking selfish bitch."

Elena ties the sleeves of her jacket around her waist as she angrily rebuts, "Oh, don't you fucking worry, Kaya–your stupid little secret is safe!" 

The shock on Kaya’s face is tremendous as she gulps down her anger faced with the threat. Both Freya and Jin feel the need to barricade whatever reaction she was about to have, as he places a hand on her shoulder and the girl grips at her arm. On the other end, Yoongi is about to stop Elena from leaving, as he is still firm about coming to a conclusion for this unexpected and needed reunion when they all hear the snap of a branch nearby. 

No one says a word, as heads perk toward the sound and all pairs of eyes are busy scanning the foliage. 

“There’s no way… Right?” Jungkook questions almost in a whisper and a chill runs through their spines. More silence follows, no one dares to say a word. And although no one is able to indeed spot someone in the woods, watching them, they know in their hearts—You was somehow there. “MhmHm.” Hoseok shakes his head, picking up his backpack. “I’m done here,” he adds, as he starts to make his way to leave, pulling Jimin alongside him and signaling Kaya to follow. Elena’s last statment about his sister awakening a paranoid distrust in the pit of his stomach.

In a matter of seconds, the group is scattered. They leave in pairs, trios, and some even wander alone, but none is able to shake the awful sensation of still being followed. 

“I thought I might find you here…” Namjoon says as he approaches Kaya carefully. She had been skittish lately, especially with him, and much to his misfortune, the Psykhe’s captain couldn’t blame her even if he wanted to. Deep down he knew her reasons, even after their rocky encounter at the library. “I think–”

“Listen,” she interrupts him. Kaya fixes her position by the feet of the giant Gaia statue so she could stare at her boyfriend’s eyes properly. She had discovered that statue by chance due to venturing inside the maze, only a few students knew existed, in the gardens of the imponent boarding school. Lately, the girl felt perhaps, aside from her girlfriends, only she and Namjoon knew of its existence. “I know what you’re going to say. And I love you for caring but I really don’t need a lesson right now.” 

The boy before her lows his eyes to the colorful crystal-clear pebbles adorning the floor, and opens a smile as he tucks his hands into his pockets and kicks softly one of the tiny rocks. “Seems I can still surprise you after all,” he says and looks up to see her reaction. “I actually came to say I get how you feel.” 

As she looks suspiciously at him, he shrugs. “I get that just like me you know nothing about this ‘you’ persona and that all of us are scared.” he continued. ��And I also get that you have a lot to lose in case your secret–Our secret comes out, and that is frightening.” 

Kaya looks at her own hands, curled in her lap while weighing his words. He then takes the opportunity to take a few more steps toward her. “Not knowing what could be thrown at us is scary and I would definitely take a more…” he stops to think of the proper choice of word. “Cautious approach. But that is my style, my personality faced with danger. So is yours.” 

Their eyes meet again and she takes force in his argument to let her anger out. “Exactly! So why–” Namjoon places a hand on her thigh, coming a little closer. 

“That doesn’t mean everyone will behave identically when confronted with the same situation… I get you, and I get myself for thinking the way we think, but I also get Elena.” 

Kaya scoffs, her anger still not subdued. She crosses her arms as she says “So much for saying you weren’t giving me a lecture.” and all Namjoon can do is laugh as he wraps his arms around her frame. 

“And I’m not! I was just saying I get everyone for having the reactions they’re having at the moment. Was it a bit imprudent of Elena to go at that psycho? Yeah, a bit… But I get her. Some people run, some people hide, others much rather grab the bull by its horns.” he says and she gently leans her forehead on his chest. “Besides, we do need to take action. That thing in the clearing…? It happened at the library with us.”

As the girl inhales deeply, with her eyes closed, Namjoon caresses her hair with a soft touch he only knew how to invoke for her. In this sense of security, Kaya is brave and steady enough to uncross her arms and place them around his waist. She pulls him closer, compensating for all the time they stayed out of each other’s reach. “You’re like a very much-needed cup of tea,” she says diverging subjects and looking up at him. Her chin is now the one being pressed against his chest. 

“Out of all things, a cup of tea?!” 

The smile reaches her eyes as he exclaims indignantly. “It’s the only other thing besides you that manages to calm me down.” she says.

His eyebrows waver and she sees how he is pondering her statement. It’s in moments like this that she finds Namjoon precious. She knows he will find the beauty in her phrase and intent, and because of that, this moment will be significant forever. He will make sure of it, as he had done countless times before by sneaking little poems he had written himself inside her books. 

“If that is the case… Alright. I’m good with being a cup of tea.” He muses, showing off his dimple. “Healing properties, right?” 

“Tons!” she says, grabbing him by the collar of his tee and locking him in a kiss.

Freya liked the transition from afternoons to evenings the best. There was something calming about how the sun would set every day just as she would. With a big breath of hers, it was already hidden away again, all of the stress that burned her shoulders gone within those bright and scorching oranges against the deep sea of blue. At least until tomorrow came.

The Psykhe tower was the best place to watch it happening, but ever since she found out about the shocking truth of someone stalking her from there, she hadn’t felt comfortable hanging in her old spot. And because of that, she found herself taking a stroll around the school grounds, searching for her new safe haven. Only the sun knew how much she needed some peace and quiet away to drown her frustration after the recent events and their last meeting at the clearing. And Jungkook, after their shared encounter earlier on. 

She had her headphones on, whispering soft melodies into her ear, and because of that, she didn’t take notice of someone walking behind her. She was really close to the borders of the woods, staying close by after having left the group’s rendezvous but opting to skip classes to uncloud her thoughts. When she looked up at the sky, the oranges began to fade, and all that golden light blind-sighted her. At this rate, she would lose the sunset. 

Then a gulf of wind hit her face and a chill ran down her spine. A pair of hands came in contact with her shoulders and she shivered, remembering the last moments before she and her friends were scared away from the clearing. 

Taking her headphones off in a hurry, she turned around startled. The sound of laughter invaded her ears before she could even meet the eyes of her jumpscare. 

“Got ya!” the tall golden retriever-like boy exclaimed as soon as she came face to face with him. 

“Mingyu!” she stressed. “For fucks sake, I almost died!” 

The response she received was more whole hearty laughter and that eased her mood. She smiled seeing him have fun but something else clung to her heart. 

Ever since the games, the both of them had grown slightly close. Every time they crossed paths around school, there was a smile there paired with brief hellos and sincere curiosity. By Monday morning a mutual invitation to be each other’s lab partners in one of the few classes they shared—chemistry. 

Still, he wasn’t the laughter she sought to hear when all that orange was about to clash with the soon-to-be night sky. 

“So what are you doing around here?” Freya asks and the brunette has to wipe his joyful tears to be able to answer. 

“I was on my way to the dorms actually. Just got out of practice.” 

Freya still couldn’t help but admire his genuine smile and how his freshly washed hair dropped some water droplets on his face. But at the same time, her head was dancing elsewhere. A few yards away, to be exact, where under an oak tree she had made a deal to meet after classes. The sun was setting, but she was still to hear from her free-period companion. 

“I saw you walking by and decided to say hi.” Mingyu continued searching for her eyes. 

“And that’s how you say hi?” she laughed. 

“Next time I’ll try to be more… Charming about it.” 

“Next time?” her eyebrow raised. She couldn’t say she ever paid attention to a guy from school before that year, or that she ever really liked a boy from there. Well, besides her friends of course. And that was mostly because she was afraid of things that required too much vulnerability on her side. And a tiny bit because no one had ever seemed worth the struggle she called trust. Did they genuinely like her, or did they just want the status? So the story unfolded naturally. There were too many eyes, and being a great wall to climb became a trait of personality she was too comfortable with to change. 

Ever since she got unrightfully exposed, however, by sneaking into the boys' quarters, some freedom of choice was returned to her in that regard. No one was interested in knowing who the next guy in her love life would be. And so she perhaps was beginning to feel ready to come out of her shell. Both in love and new friendships. But the former wasn’t the risk she wanted to take when it came to Mingyu… Possibly if someone else hadn’t arrived in that department first.

He seemed to understand her line of thinking as his eyes got bigger and his expression turned sour. Suddenly he was apologizing. 

“Oh–I’m so–So sorry!” he shook his head as if realizing what he had just done. “You have a boyfriend. I’m being disrespectful. I’m sorry.” 

At first, she was confused. Boyfriend? She didn’t have one. That wasn’t her point at all. But then the recent events hit her like a truck and she had to inhale hard to get hold of the little patience she still had. 

She liked Mingyu. She could tell they could be good friends, amazing even. So she took a leap of faith. 

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked. Freya didn’t have much to lose at this point, and she needed this. A safe space of her own. 

Mingyu nodded attentively. 

“Yoongi isn’t my boyfriend. We never even hooked up.” 

She could see in Mingyu’s face how surprised he was. All the engines of his brain working to make sense of what she had just confessed. Freya was relieved, however, to finally get it out of her system. That someone knew the truth besides her and her girlfriends. That she was at least in control of that tiny little confession and somehow still free. She almost did it earlier on that day anyways. 

“Why…?” the words fell off his lips, afraid to lengthen the subject in question. Freya offered an encouraging glance, waiting for his inquiry to be resumed. He got hold of what her eyes wanted to convey this time. “Why are you two pretending to date then?” 

“I guess Yoongi knew how much bothered I would be by the amount of gossip even though I pretend I’m not… And he also knew people wouldn’t shut up about it until a name was given to the starving crowd. So why not his? Everyone already assumed we were together anyways.” 

“I’m proud to say I’ve never thought that,” Mingyu confessed, raising his hand as a solemn promise. “I even argued otherwise.” 

Freya chuckled, finding it endearing. “You would have been the only one then.”

The darkness of the night was already covering every nook of the school like a cloak when the group of friends received a text from Elena. 

Nothing but three words. Classroom 202 now. 

Receiving a text from the girl after what went down that afternoon seemed hard enough to conceive, let alone one so encrypted like that. And so, each and every one of them immediately stopped what they had been doing and rushed in secret through the marble tiles of the main building in search of the room she invited them in. 

One by one they entered. Elena was already there, pacing back and forth when the first of them arrived—Taehyung. It was evident that she possessed some kind of information that she would much more like to be false thinking of her part. He didn’t need a second look at her to prove that. 

Hoseok and Namjoon entered right after. Kaya was a few seconds behind them, and they all felt the same. Besides being afraid of possible detention for running through the halls so late at night, all sat in silence waiting, taking in the gravity of the situation by glancing into each other's eyes in the dark. And it didn’t get better as the more they waited, the more impatient and eerie they all got. 

Elena still paced, cryptic. Sometimes she would look out the window or check the door for the ones missing. She would hear some of them whispering to each other questions she couldn’t lose time answering, nor had the patience since she was still hurt by their last meeting. At least not unless everyone was present. 

And then Yoongi opened the door, everyone looked at him frightened and relieved at the same time. Some searched for something behind his back with their phones flashlights and that made him turn around to check the hallway. It was too dark.

“What?” he asked, spooked, searching for their eyes once again. His hand is still on the knob, keeping the door open, as he too turns on the light from his device.

Elena paces quickly in his direction, pulling him into the classroom and peeking outside to check if he was indeed alone. She closed the door rushedly. “Are you alone?” 

“Yes,” Yoongi replied confused. “Shouldn’t I be?” 

“We’re missing my sister,” Taehyung said, going toward the window alarmed. The only thing he could see through that darkness was the woods silhouette. 

“Ok…?” Yoongi continued completely clueless, barely making sight of everyone present in the room due to the poor illumination. “What am I missing? We better have a fucking good reason to be out here.” 

But no one replied. Or even attempted to. 

Both girls looked at each other in a silent question about Freya’s whereabouts, putting their resentment aside momentarily. They reached the same conclusion with a hopeless shrug of shoulders. And Hoseok’s concerns didn’t help to lift the mood. 

“You don’t think she was attacked like Joy… right? She wouldn’t…” As soon as he questioned it Jin slapped his arm with a hard stare and he shut up flustered. But the possibility taunted everyone present. 

There was a pause. Time halted in that classroom. In a flash, Elena pulled her phone to text Freya in desperation, the faint flashlight from her mobile turned off in the process and the room got darker than it already was. 

“I’ll go look” Jungkook offered, a dagger piercing his stomach for missing out on both his and Freya’s promise to spend the after classes period together. Right at the same time, Taehyung crossed the room to the door. 

“C’mon…” Yoongi mumbled as he pressed his mobile closer to his ear, trying to call the girl in question. He had finally grasped the gravity of the situation. 

Jimin and Kaya were by the big window, swiping the landscape beneath them inch by inch. A red bleep twinkled by the edge of the forest and Jimin leaned his nose against the cold glass to try and see it again. He squinted his eyes, but nothing appeared. When he was beginning to think his eyes were playing tricks on him, he got startled by the sound coming from the door. He turned back in a flash. As soon as Taehyung opened it to set foot outside he came to a halt. Jungkook consequently bumped into his back like a domino. 

“Get inside!” They heard Freya’s hushed voice demand. “Turn that off. Now!” 

Suddenly the room was engulfed in a deep blackness. The kind of dark that makes the hairs on your nape jump. The one that makes every fear you have come true. No one dared to whisper a word out. All they could do was search for each other’s shadows and listen closely for the haunting sound of thumping against the cold marble floors of the corridor. 

A few minutes passed, maybe seconds when Yoongi lit his phone again. Time was hard to pinpoint when faced with the extreme nothingness of a total blackout. Soon, all convinced that the night guard had moved on from that section, they all turned the soft light of their screens back on again. 

“Sorry–” Freya was the first to break the silence. “I was already outside… Had to go around that security.” 

“Just. Please,” Kaya begged on edge, “Let’s get on with this–Whatever this is and go to our rooms. Please.” 

In a silent agreement, all eyes turned to Elena. 

The strawberry-blonde girl lifted up from the crouch she was previously hiding in and leaned on the teacher’s desk. The ones close to the floor followed, sitting by the empty wooden chairs in front of the class. Only Jungkook and Yoongi were up. One leaned by the wall and the other by the door to keep watch. 

“I texted you all here because I think I figured it out,” Elena says, a bit taken aback by her own statement. 

“What do you mean…?” Jimin inquires, and everyone looks as if the world would end. Because in fact, it was. 

“I know who You is.” 

next chapter.

[jisungsdaydreamer]

The Boy On My Rooftop

«GENERAL M.LIST» · «NAVIGATION» · «TALK TO ME» · «TAGLIST»

SYNOPSIS Appearances are always deceiving, especially with someone like him.

Pairing: Jungkook x gn!reader Genre: high school au, hurt/comfort, angst Warnings: Parental abuse (physical), domestic abuse (physical), swearing, implied depression, brief mention of bullying Word Count: 1.4k

P.S. ♡ If you like my work, please consider giving me feedback in the form of reblogs, comments, and asks! ♡

Late at night, you sometimes feel like the world has come to a standstill. The chirping of the crickets is locked into a constant drone, the minuscule lettering of the words in your textbook don't register in your mind, and your one salvation, the air conditioning, has shut down, leaving you sweltering in the early September heat. 

Everyone else in your house is fast asleep, leaving you in your misery alone. The clock doesn’t seem to move, prolonging your torture. There are less than four hours before you’re supposed to be getting ready, but you’d rather stay awake now than have to be so rudely pulled out of your slumber and back into reality. School.

You’ve always been quiet, but it feels like your voice has been silenced even more than ever since you came to this town two months ago for your father’s job. Throughout the crowded halls of your new high school, you keep your head down and blend into the background, losing yourself in whatever book you can get your hands on. You sit in the back of class, diligently completing your work and fulfilling the role of a good student from afar, where others won’t question you. But you harbor your own queries, and they all concern him.

Jeon Jungkook. The most popular boy at school, the one who you’ve deemed tragically handsome. There’s a quality of sorrow associated with his looks, because that’s all people can seem to love, especially when you’ve personally observed a much more captivating aspect about him.

He’d calmly defended you from some pathetic bully looking for a bone to pick. After the offender had slunk off, you tried stuttering out your gratitude to Jungkook, but he interrupted you.

“It hurts me to see others unhappy. Take care of yourself.”

He merely shot you a small smile and walked away, back to class and away from your questions. After that, your wandering eyes had yearned to capture another one of his cryptic moments of weakness. 

The fact that he’s your neighbor pulls at you even further. Your two houses are separated by a great oak tree, both of your windows nearly connected by the ancient branches. Many times, you’ve inadvertently noticed him through his window that he doesn’t bother covering. These are the serene slices of his life that delicately pull you in, from the way he quietly finishes his homework without getting distracted, to the way he just sits by his window, gazing out with a forlorn look in his eyes. 

In the small rectangle of his window, illuminated yellow by the soft light of his bedroom, Jungkook lives peacefully in your vision. You keep trying to draw his dimensions, but fail when you see him laughing with his boisterous bunch during lunch or loudly complaining about school to his friends, when in fact, you know he’s been secretly passing all of his classes with flying colors. You know that there’s much more to him than the vapid facade he masquerades around in at school, but for now, he remains a static character. He may be kind, but no less shallow than all of the others.

However, he’s not your primary interest in this reserved suburban hell that’s masked by the enticement of the big city surrounding. For those restless nights, you found a way to climb out of your window and up through the beams on the side. You like to lay on the coarse rooftop and gaze up the moon, when it's not obscured by the wispy clouds.

That’s what you resolve to do on this particular hopeless night, unlocking your window and carefully scrambling up the side of your house, anticipating the midnight view. However, you lose your balance and catalyze your accidental descent that will surely end badly, startled by a dark figure sitting in your spot. 

But the intruder reacts quickly, their hand grasping yours and pulling you up in an admirable display of strength. You both topple back onto the rooftop, and before your unwelcome savior creeps off, you pull back the hood that obscures their face. Jungkook.

Your eyes widen in surprise, but you quickly recover, narrowing your eyes in suspicion instead. “What are you doing?”

He shakes his head, casting his eyes down in a display of apology. “I’m sorry. I watch you come up here a lot.”

“But why are you here?” You don’t mind his presence, sharing this sacred place with you. You don’t hate the idea of a companion. But you don’t understand why he of all people would need to come here.

“I used to come here all the time, before you moved in. Your roof has a better view, and I don’t know. I just needed to get away.”

“Get away from what?”

He chuckles dryly. “You ask a lot of questions.”

You just decide to answer truthfully, because you don’t see a point in the opposite. “That’s because I have a lot of them. About you.” 

“Oh, really?” Jungkook examines you closely, and you feel yourself heat up under his gaze. “Ask away, then. What do you want to know?”

You just gape at him for a moment, taken off guard with his invitation to satiate your curiosity. But then you focus on his lips, or rather, the small trickle of blood that runs from the corner of them. “Is that from when you pulled me up?”

Jungkook immediately raises his fingers to his mouth, swiping the red away. “It’s nothing.”

You stay quiet, just watching Jungkook. He reaches his arms back and rubs his back, wincing in discomfort. You let the minutes pass, before his incessant squirming becomes concerning.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?”

He looks up at you, and you’re surprised to see the tears glistening in them. His expression is nothing but exhausted, too broken to cover up and too pained to put off. “Fuck, I can't take it anymore. Can you please see if it’s still bleeding?”

“See wha-”

Jungkook cuts you off by pulling his heavy black sweatshirt up to his shoulder blades, angling himself so that his back directly faces you. And the sight is sickening, the way the individual lashes— obviously induced by some kind of a belt—pile on top of each other in a mishappen criss-cross pattern. Some are older, while others are fresh. The latest batch manifests in a raw, angry gash, tainting the pale skin of his back with the stickiness of the maroon liquid. Further down his spine bloom more bruises, in shades of purple and black.

You feel dizzy at what’s displayed in front of you, not because you can’t handle blood, but because of the repulsiveness that you feel for yourself. You hate yourself for criticizing Jungkook’s character, for deeming it banal and empty, when this is the struggle he had locked away from prying eyes like yours.

“You- there’s so much blood,” you sputter dumbly.

Jungkook sighs, pulling his sweatshirt down and turning back around. He has blinked away his unshed tears, only guilt remaining in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have shown you. I know it’s a lot.”

You shake your head in disbelief and at a loss for coherent words. “...How?”

“My dad. His main victim was my mom, and after she left, it became me.” Jungkook grimaces, fear written all over his expression. “Please don’t tell anyone. It’ll make everything worse.”

You want to, though. You want to call the goddamn police and scream at them for failing to do their jobs. You want to march over to the neighboring house and give that bastard a taste of his own medicine, to tear him apart like he’s done to Jungkook. But you don’t. You keep your mouth shut. 

Instead of everything you should be doing, you move closer to Jungkook and hug him tightly to your chest. He finally collapses into you in heaving sobs, taking comfort in a stranger’s embrace. You rub your hands down his body, carefully avoiding the wounds on his back. You stroke his soft hair, trying not to let your own tears escape your eyes. 

The moon shines its silvery sheen on you both, a reminder of the hope that you yearn to harbor right now. Tomorrow, you might go back to being strangers. Or maybe you’ll be friends. You hope for the latter option. The minutes ticking by hurt like hell, more than anything, but you both will still cherish them as a time of vulnerability and trust. You’ll remember this moment with the beautiful boy on your rooftop.

«GENERAL M.LIST» · «NAVIGATION» · «TALK TO ME» · «TAGLIST»

©jisungsdaydreamer 2023 | All rights reserved. I do not condone translations or transfers of my work onto other platforms such as Wattpad, AO3, etc. Tumblr is my only platform. Acts of plagiarism are strictly prohibited.

[euphorajeon]

of basketball, bruises, and a black-haired boy — pt. ii | jjk

— pairing: basketball player!jk x named oc

— genre: fluff, angst (a bit) | high school au, childhood friends au, neighbors au, friends enemies to lovers

— word count: 3.8k

— warnings: harsh words, jeongguk being annoying, junghwa being annoyed, high school shenanigans, cliches!, they're cute so it's okay hahah

— summary: being neighbors with the star player of the school's basketball team has never seemed like a big deal. until he plays at three in the morning—and misses a shot.

— author's note: this is a part two of the same title, please read part one if you haven't~

masterlist | basketball player!gguk masterlist

His name is Jeon Jeongguk.

Junghwa’s first meeting with him was when they were both in third grade, when Jeongguk had just moved into the neighborhood. Junghwa was on her way home from an extra math class in school when she got called over by her mom who was talking with Jeongguk’s mom in front of their house. Not long after, Jeongguk was called as well to come out of the house so he can share his name with Junghwa. Eight-year-old Jeongguk had only taken one look at eight-year-old Junghwa before mumbling out his name in muffled syllables, quick in his introduction before going straight back into his house. Junghwa had just assumed he was a shy one.

It’s safe to say that Jeongguk had always been a constant in Junghwa’s life since then, going through the awkward phase of adolescence together. They didn’t go to the same elementary school, but they spent every hour after school playing together. Sometimes they rode their little bicycles around the neighborhood, which often ended up in Jeongguk crashing the front tire of his bicycle into Junghwa’s, making the little girl yelp and the little boy laugh. Jeongguk’s laugh was contagious though, so he was able to pull out a laugh too from Junghwa.

When they weren’t in the mood for some good bicycle-crashing, they hung out in Jeongguk’s house with his many game consoles. Jeongguk had one older brother, so it was a given that they both would fight over games (and everything) all the time, which explains the number of game consoles they have. Even with Junghwa added to their little circle, each of them still had one game console in hand. Junghwa’s favorite console to play was the gameboy (because it was the only console that had the Kirby game) but it didn’t hurt to beat Jeongguk in Playstation’s Tekken once in a while.

Jeongguk and Junghwa grew apart when they were starting middle school. Jeongguk’s school was a lot farther from their houses than Junghwa’s, so he had to go to school earlier than her. He was a lot busier too, always getting home hours after Junghwa did. Because of that, they rarely saw each other and in turn, their gaming and bicycle-crashing days were over just like that. Junghwa could only watch from afar as the kid with bowl-cut hair, chubby cheeks, and two big front teeth slowly grew up into a teenager with side-swept bangs and defined jawline. He still had the two big front teeth, though, which made him upset every time people pointed them out.

It was also in middle school that Jeongguk found interest in basketball. He made it into the school team on his sophomore year, and was declared captain on his junior year. Sometimes he took his team home to practice on the small basketball court right next to Junghwa’s house, shouting out game strategies and encouragements to his team. Afterwards they always headed to Jeongguk’s house to cool down, and Junghwa never missed the opportunity to follow Jeongguk’s steps with her eyes, wondering what happened to their childhood friendship.

In one of her many visits to Junghwa’s residence, Jeongguk’s mom excitedly told Junghwa that Jeongguk was going to attend the same high school as her. They went together on the first day of school—as per Jeongguk’s mom’s insistence—but quickly separated ways as soon as they reached the building. It felt weird, having Jeongguk by her side again, both because it had been such a long time since they spoke and because sixteen-year-old Jeongguk was definitely not eleven-year-old Jeongguk.

He got into the school basketball team again and became one of their best players in a short amount of time. With it, came the popularity, the girls, and the secret admirers. Not only once or twice had Junghwa heard people talking about her childhood friend’s greatness in playing basketball, along with hushed whispers about how good-looking he was. Every time that happened, Junghwa only rolled her eyes and slammed her locker door shut to block off those whispers.

There was a period of time when Junghwa wasn’t being herself and ended up always waking up late so she missed the bus to school. The first morning that happened, Junghwa was speed-walking in front of the Jeons’ house when Jeongguk stepped out of the house with a helmet in his hand. His mom followed a second later, and her eyes caught Junghwa’s. Before Junghwa could have a chance to bolt her way out of there, Jeongguk’s mom had called out to her in a cheery voice and told her to go to school with Jeongguk—on his motorcycle. Junghwa remembers how a slight frown had etched itself onto Jeongguk’s face before it disappeared as he moved his backpack to his front so Junghwa could sit behind him.

When they arrived at school, it was chaotic, to say the least. No one had remembered that Jeongguk and Junghwa had gone to school together on the first day, so everyone was left wondering who the hell this girl was. Junghwa remembered how Jeongguk told her to go to class first so they wouldn’t be seen walking in together, but they both knew it was useless as everyone had already seen them when they entered the school gates. That day, Junghwa got more glares in the hall than she could count on both hands.

So Jeongguk announced to everyone that they were neighbors.

(He said it was better if he was the one who did it because people would believe him more than they believe Junghwa, which made her frown but she had to admit he got a point.)

Then-Jeongguk was so adamant in saying “We are not dating!” whenever someone mistook them as a couple, so his words lately saying the opposite thing only confuses Junghwa. He never treated her as ‘one of his girls’ either, so Junghwa wonders what prompted him to say those things he did after she went out and yelled at him for playing basketball at three in the morning.

Junghwa also wonders what present-day-Jeongguk has in his eyes that convinced her to go with him to the small basketball court next to her house. They sit against the wall, shoulder to shoulder, and say nothing for minutes that feel like hours. Junghwa refuses to be the first one to talk and Jeongguk is trying to avert his eyes away from Junghwa’s red and swollen eyes. It’s obvious she has been crying. Because of what, he doesn’t know.

“If you’re not going to say anything I’ll just go back home,” Junghwa says in a low voice while moving to get up from the ground. Jeongguk’s hand shoots up to grip her wrist in a gentle hold, not letting go until Junghwa looks at him with a confused expression.

“Let’s play some ball,” he says, getting up himself to fetch his basketball that sits a few steps away from where they are sitting. Junghwa’s confused face morphs into one with a frown. “I can’t play basketball.”

Jeongguk has started running around the court, dribbling the orange ball with quick steps towards the hoop. He does a lay-up, gets the ball in, before dribbling the ball back to where Junghwa is standing. “Your turn.” He places the ball in Junghwa’s hands.

She shoves the ball back to his chest. “I’m not here to be your laughing stock, Jeon.”

Jeongguk traces Junghwa’s face with his eyes—the taut of her eyebrows, the puffiness of her eyes, the frown on her lips. He chuckles before shaking his head, giving the ball back to Junghwa. “You’re cute when you’re angry.” He gives the girl in front of him a smile. “First to ten point wins.”

Then he smacks the ball away from Junghwa’s hands with a loud laugh. She blinks her confusion away, and by the time she comes to her senses, Jeongguk has already scored a point.

“I told you I can’t play basketball!”

“Liar,” Jeongguk smirks. “With the way you always watched me whenever I have practice here, I’m sure you know a trick or two.”

Junghwa splutters in disbelief. “Watching is not the same as doing it!”

“So you admit to always watching me play?”

Junghwa’s mouth drops open.

Jeongguk only laughs again. “Come on, I’ll teach you how to play.”

“I told you I can’t do lay-ups!”

They’re both currently drenched in sweat, Jeongguk has even taken off his blue jacket and thrown it somewhere on the bench. His hair is sticking to his forehead, making him comb it away from his face with his hands over and over again. It now sits on his head like a bird’s nest.

“Alright, alright, no lay-ups for you,” Jeongguk heaves out, taking the ball Junghwa throws his way with ease. It pisses her off how easy all of this seems to Jeongguk, from dribbling the ball to shooting it into the hoop. He does it with so much grace, feet stepping into the correct spot at the perfect moment, hands letting go of the ball just right so it goes smoothly into the hoop. It’s like the heaven ordered its best angels to do nothing but help the boy named Jeon Jeongguk.

“I’m done, I’m tired.” Junghwa breathes out, sliding down the wall like her legs just gave out. She spots a water bottle in Jeongguk’s backpack and takes it without thinking twice, immediately gulping down the water like she hasn’t drunk for days.

Jeongguk comes up to her with his eyes on the bottle, which just lost half of its content courtesy of Junghwa. She smiles up at him innocently before gulping down some more water just because she can.

“Because you stole my water, you have to practice shooting the ball into the hoop with me.” Jeongguk takes the water bottle from Junghwa’s hand and drinks the rest of the content in one go. It makes Junghwa’s head spin thinking about how moments prior her lips were the ones touching the bottle—and now it’s Jeongguk’s. He puts the bottle back in his bag before grabbing Junghwa’s hands to pull her up. “Come on.”

“Noo—” Despite her protests and lack of movement, Jeongguk still manages to pull her back to her feet. Him and his strong-ass body. “Jeongguk, I don’t want to shoot. I’m tired.”

The boy drags her to the middle of the court in silence. Then he places himself behind Junghwa, giving the orange ball a few dribbles before placing it in her hands. “Shoot.”

Junghwa rolls her eyes. “I bet this is the part where you do that cliche thing—where you put your arms around me in a poor excuse of teaching me how to shoot, and then you pull me close to you, cover my hand in your bigger ones—”

Jeongguk takes one step forward so his chest is now in contact with Junghwa’s back. He lowers his mouth so it’s level with Junghwa’s ear, and whispers out: “Exactly.”

Junghwa refuses to admit that the shivers that ran down her spine was because of him.

Jeongguk proceeds to do the things Junghwa listed as cliche in their respective orders, not backing off even when the basketball goes into the hoop just right. He waits with bated breath for Junghwa’s reaction, and when she turns around, it gives him a bit of satisfaction seeing the surprise in her eyes upon realizing just how close they are standing.

“If any of your girls sees this, I’ll be dead in a second.” The moment breaks with Junghwa’s sentence, and Jeongguk watches as she walks away with her head down. He catches up with her before she can go back into her house.

“Hey,” he calls, putting his hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking away. “What do you mean with ‘any of my girls’?”

“Seriously?” Junghwa scoffs. “You’re the star basketball player of our school, known for his three-pointers and good looks, and you still ask me what did I mean with ‘any of your girls’?”

Jeongguk blinks and opens his mouth to tease Junghwa (“You think I’m good-looking?”) but the girl doesn’t even let him let out a single word from his mouth. Junghwa turns to face him fully and shoves a finger to his chest, angrily stomping until Jeongguk steps backward with every step she takes forward.

“You asked why I went home early today, right?” She bites out. “Well, you can ask Jiwoo, or your beloved girls what happened at school today. They happened, Jeongguk. After that hugging incident they confronted me saying I took you away from them. That I convinced you to date me and not tell anyone of them, because I want you all to myself.”

Junghwa’s eyes start becoming watery again but she fights the urge to cry. “They said some really mean shit, Jeongguk, I wouldn’t even dare repeat them to you. When I said we weren’t dating they just called me a liar and started pulling at my hair, clawing at my arms with their long-ass nails. One of them even almost slapped me had Jiwoo not stepped in. She called the principal on them and took me home. There, that’s what happened. You happy now?”

Jeongguk is quiet, trying to process all the new information Junghwa has just given him. After some seconds of just staring at each other, he lets out a question that has Junghwa closing her eyes in frustration: “How come I didn’t know about this?”

“Because!” Junghwa throws her hands up in anger. “You were in basketball practice, like you always are! Besides, I think no one would have told you anyway, they’re all scared of your so-called fanclub that they choose to keep what they know to themselves rather than risk facing their rage. And I’m only your neighbor anyway, not that significant that you have to know what happened to me.”

Junghwa takes a deep breath before looking back at Jeongguk. “I told you to stop approaching me at school, didn’t I, Jeon? Look what—”

Jeongguk pulls her into his arms, buries his face in her hair. He doesn’t care that both of them reek of sweat, shirts wet with perspiration and skins covered in dirt. He just didn’t realize that he has a following who could do terrible things to other people, much less to his own neighbor—and friend. He feels really bad that Junghwa is in this situation because of him.

“I’m sorry, Junghwa, I didn’t know,” he whispers into her hair. His tightens his hold on her, and it surprises them both how Junghwa hasn’t even attempted to pull away from the hug. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that.”

Jeongguk suddenly pulls away and holds Junghwa by the shoulders, gripping them so hard that she’s cringing. “But are you okay now? Are you hurt anywhere? Should we go to the hospital? Oh, God, your nose just healed a few days ago, I can’t believe you had to put up with so much of my shit in a span of mere days..”

Junghwa waves her hand dismissively. “Yeah, I’m fine now. Spent the whole afternoon crying on my bed like some pathetic loser.”

Jeongguk is about to hug her again when she puts a hand on his chest, stopping his movement. “You smell awful, stop hugging me.”

He puts his hands up in surrender, backing off a little bit so Junghwa has enough space to breathe. Looking to the side, Jeongguk seems to be in deep thought as his eyebrows crease and his lips purse ever so slightly. He was so deep in thought that maybe he doesn’t realize he’s still standing in front of Junghwa when he lifts the bottom part of his shirt to wipe the sweat on his forehead, exposing his taut abs. Junghwa makes a surprised sound before turning around with her cheeks ablaze.

“Don’t do that! You’re outside for fuck’s sake!”

Jeongguk chuckles from behind Junghwa. “Sorry, bad habit.” He puts his hands on Junghwa’s shoulders to turn her back around. “It’s safe now. You can see my abs another day.”

Junghwa’s grumble of I don’t wanna see them gets lost in Jeongguk’s next words: “What do you think about making their words come true?”

“What words.”

“The ones that said we’re dating.”

“No. They will do worse things to me than what they did today.”

“They won’t, okay, listen to me.” Jeongguk actually looks like he has a plan inside his head. “I’ll protect you. I’ll tell them not to mess with you again or they’ll be banned from my future basketball matches—or something, I’ll think about that later. Or I can yell at them, threaten to hate them if they dare mess with you again. Anything, so they can’t hurt you again.”

It’s not convincing even the slightest bit, but Junghwa keeps her mouth shut because Jeongguk looks like he still has something to say.

“Or instead of doing this for them, do it for me?” He voices it like a question, eyes hopeful. “I was telling the truth about me falling off my bike because I was distracted by you, all those years ago. I was always so happy whenever we played games together, you know, I even let you beat me on Tekken just so I could see you smile. Junghyun used to tease me a lot about you, I don’t know if you realized but I feel like you should have because he wasn’t subtle about it at all. He was also the one who suggested I bring my team home to practice when we were in middle school, saying that you always watched me whenever I shot hoops in this small basketball court. I always looked at you every time I scored a point, do you remember? And every time, without fail, you would avert your eyes away like you didn’t want to be caught staring at me while I was playing.

Oh and that day when my mom forced us to go to school together because you were uncharacteristically late? I told you to go to class first because I was nervous to walk in together with you. I didn’t want the whole school to know how much I like you because for sure it was going to be plastered all over my face. And that day I was really upset because I had to tell everyone that we were neighbors. I wanted people to know that we’re together as a couple, not just mere neighbors who have known each other since childhood. God, it was really hard for me, Junghwa. So hard.”

Junghwa is spiraling because who would have thought that the kid with bowl-cut hair, chubby cheeks, and two big front teeth has secretly been crushing on her for the past six years?

“But why did you always tell people that we are not dating whenever we get mistaken as a couple?”

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I made sure people know that we weren’t a couple, because we were not. It honestly also served as a reminder to myself, because sometimes I get lost in my feelings and look at us as a couple too. Like a reality check, or something. But hey, wouldn’t it be cute if we became a couple since a long time ago? Childhood friends and neighbors, turned lovers. That’s some movie material right there.”

“You’re rambling.”

“I know,” Jeongguk grins. “So? Be my girlfriend?”

Junghwa fakes gagging when Jeongguk shoots her a quick wink after his question.

“Come on, that way I don’t have to tell your mom that I’m not actually your boyfriend. I also promise to stop playing basketball at three in the morning—”

“Right! That! Why did you start playing at an ungodly hour? It’s really annoying.”

“To get your attention, what else?” Jeongguk answers like it’s an obvious and known fact. “I know you’re always awake at that hour, and I love your reaction whenever I dribble my basketball too loud. That time when you came out and yelled at me? You looked so cute I wanted to come up and squish you in my arms. Could be considered the best day of my life, even. I’m sorry about the window incident, though. I really didn’t mean to hurt you like that.”

“I’m sorry too, for being too hostile to you afterwards. I just can’t help but feel … like I was ‘one of your girls’, you know? I didn’t know how you treated them but that was certainly not how you treated me in the years we know each other. You’ve always treated me like a friend, or a neighbor, not a lover, that when you showed just a little bit of change I freaked out.”

“Don’t worry, Junghwa. For me, you’re the only one.”

“That’s gross.”

“Hey!”

“You know I still feel weird about this, right?”

Jeongguk and Junghwa are currently seated in Junghwa’s living room, the TV playing in the background serving as white noise. There’s some space between them, one that Junghwa created because she still finds it weird that now the boy with the black hair in front of her is her boyfriend.

“That’s fine. You don’t know how it feels to be pining for your neighbor for six years straight, so I can imagine this is all so sudden to you.”

“Thanks, Jeongguk.”

“Yeah, Junghwa.”

Junghwa chuckles upon hearing their names being said one after another like that.

“You know, one of the girls today said to me that my name is a sham because the first syllable is Jung, just like yours. She said I was so desperate to get your attention that I had to have the name ‘Junghwa’, a name so similar to yours. She sounded really stupid that I couldn’t come up with a response. I just tried my best not to laugh in her face.”

Jeongguk scrunches up his face. “Really? I’m offended that I have a ‘fanclub’ that stupid.”

“Better educate them better, then.”

“I’d rather educate my girlfriend on how to do lay-ups properly. She’s short so she will have a hard time but I’m willing to teach her my ways so we can play together in the future. Who knows, maybe she’ll become a star basketball player just like her boyfriend.”

“Nope. No more basketballs. I’ll just watch you from the sidelines and clap whenever you score a point.”

“Can I kiss you every time I score?”

“No.”

Jeongguk pouts. Maybe he’d have to steal kisses at three in the morning, while Junghwa yells at him for dribbling his basketball too loud. Maybe he’d have to steal kisses in the morning that Junghwa is riding to school with him. Or maybe he could steal kisses when they play basketball together, just the two of them. He’d teach her how to shoot again and do the cliche things in their respective orders just like what he did today.

“You can kiss me after you win a game.”

And the black-haired boy laughs, brighter than he ever has in the past six years.

— a/n: thanks for reading! tell me your thoughts here and pls wait for the last part of ggukhwa hehehe :)

[ldysmfrst]

Writing Update as of 5/29/24

Wow! Okay, like, WOW! Chapter 8 has 11,456 words and is available on Patreon for a paid member's early release benefit!

Chapter 9 is in the works and currently has 6,864 words. It looks like another long one is coming. I am also breaking the YA wall and taking American Mate into Mature/MDNI reading land!😶

There is also currently a poll for members on Patreon, which will impact how the story progresses!

Chapter 7 of Breaking and Entering totaled 3,639 words and has been available to paid members since May 28th.

A membership poll about Chapters 8,9,10 is also available to paid members.

I am excited to see where the poll takes the story because who lets us into their side of the story will determine a lot of what you, as the ready, will find out.

I want to thank you all for being patient with me. Writing with a broken ankle while still trying to take my youngest child to school and my oldest (special needs) child to their appointments has not been easy.

If you choose to become a paid member of my Patreon page, I will be forever grateful for your support as I have not been able to work and am currently trying to see if I qualify for temporary disability.

Thank you for your patience!

💜💜💜

[gard3nias]

01 | Love is all around

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wc: 4.23k

date: 12/04/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: La Descrizione Di Un Attimo by Tiromancino ✫

Early in September, just hours before midday. The sun is not high yet but shines light through the whole town. Like the weak and bright sunrays, Daphne's dad drove on the road, pushing through the fresh waves of the summer morning breeze. As background noise was crunching stones produced by the tyres. 

Breeze combed the hair strokes. Morning freshness caused the rise of goosebumps. Butterflies in the stomach showed how excited Daphne was about moving. Yes, moving.

Usually, they'd come to the countryside only for the summer holidays but now she would stay longer. A smile was printed on her face as she observed. She was going to like this, she thought. She was going to like this place, this new beginning. She started regretting ever complaining about moving in the first place.

Her mother was in the passenger seat explaining how the town was beautiful, her fingers pointed at random spots occasionally. Daphne wasn't even listening to her. She only thought that her mother could save her breath because she didn't need any more convincing: the view before her spoke for itself.

Daphne lowered her window and, with an arm swinging outside, she observed, she beheld the sight. The car took a turn and now they were riding up a hill along a road surrounded by beautiful houses.

It'd been long since she last came here but she couldn't tell if the place had changed or she'd just forgotten.

Women were spreading out the laundry, dusting carpets, watering flowers. Pink, yellow, red, purple flowers. They painted the street. Some kids were playing in their front yard. Dogs barked and ran to their gates as they drove by. The bottom floors housed a variety of shops and all had a little banner on the doors that said 'open'. A flower shop. Greengrocery. Ironmongery. A bakery. A butcher's shop. And many more. The people looked friendly as they greeted them. She happily greeted back, and her smile expanded.

"This place is beautiful, Mom," her words caught the respondent off-guard as she immediately looked in the backseat to agree with her daughter, glad she wasn't angry anymore. "We're almost there," the dad informed, taking another turn.

The road they were riding led away from that loving neighbourhood of flowers—fields on the left and a few farms on the right. Daphne's dark hair waved with the breeze. The smell of manure filled her nostrils but instead of feeling unpleasant, it reminded her of how lovely living in the countryside was. Horses were munching on the grass. Bells on sheep rang as she passed by the flock. The manure smell was soon replaced by the one of grass coming from the left where tractors were working on the field. The big vehicles were shaping the dried grass into big blocks reminding her of her childhood and how she used to spend her time watching the whole process.

Their destination was her grandparents' place. It was a huge white two-story building with a dark brown roof, divided into two separated yet joined houses: one for them and one for the grandparents. They were struggling financially in the city so they opted to move to the countryside since they couldn't afford to pay the rent. She didn't fully oppose their decision but living in the countryside for God knows how long scared her but now that she was there, she wasn't bothered anymore.

As mentioned before, the place wasn't completely foreign to her: she'd come here with her family for the summer holidays and she enjoyed her stay with the difference of knowing she'd go back to the city and therefore back to her friend. Yeah, her friend. Singular. She didn't have friends here if not her grandparents' neighbours' daughter, Cleo, who, though, was her complete opposite: while Daphne liked spending sunny days reading on a spread-out blanket in her garden, Cleo liked running up and down and playing. Daphne felt like Cleo was like a child whose energy you must match, or else they just drain you out.

"We're here," the dad informed as he took another turn out of the long field-side road and climbed up towards a house slightly hidden by trees. Their new home. By the gate were her grandparents happily waiting for them with two big dogs beside them.

The road leading to the house cut through a mildly thick forest. The house was directly facing the road while their neighbours' were on the sides.

Daphne's smile broadened as she hopped down the car and then into her grandparents' arms. Kisses, compliments and continuous reminders of how much she grew as they hugged her before hugging the parents. Now her attention was on the two dogs that couldn't hold back from barking, hopping left and right with wiggling tails. Loki and Luke, the first was an Australian shepherd and the second was a German shepherd. They too have grown so much and she felt it the most when they got up to greet her and reached her shoulders.

Playing with their fur, she wondered whether to help her family with the bags but they read her mind and told her to go inside and not bother. She'd normally insist further but this time she didn't stay any second longer and rushed inside the house. The two dogs ran after her.

Her parents and she would live in the house on the left while her grandparents were their next-door neighbours on the right. The front door was unlocked. She quickly left her shoes outside before going inside. 

It was just as she remembered it. Just as they had left it. Beneath her naked feet, the tiles were cold and of an umber brown that would create a mocha shade if mixed with the milk colour of the walls, a gradient colour that from the bottom starts in brown, slowly fades into caramel and finishes in a paler tone topped by the white-coloured painting ceiling. Matching was the chocolate brown curb.

The floor started with a rectangular anteroom. On the right was an umbrella rack, above it hangers for jackets and hats; on the left was space for shoes, a bench to sit on and put them on, hangers for keys and the staircase. Further in, the space was divided into three: the living room on the left, the dining room on the right and in the middle, leading to the garden, her second favourite place in the world, was a little space.

The living room was placed between two walls, the right one was covered in tall glass windows facing the garden, and the right one welcomed a door opening that led to a tiny hallway presenting two doors, one was the of the store and one of the bathroom. Cream sofa with green uniquely shaped pillows. A brown armchair on the left and a little swing chair on the right. Between the couch and the fireplace was a coffee table decorated with a vase of flowers and a cascade of books on the second layer. On the floor was a wide oval carpet. The fireplace was against a wall between two door openings leading to a study room.

The dining room was composed of a round table surrounded by four chairs. Further to the right was the kitchen, simple and traditional, light-brown in colour. The counters were covered with utensils, flower pots and miscellaneous items. On the tile-covered walls were hangers holding gloves, kitchen tools and aprons. The stove was as empty as the sink. The coffee machine on one side, the microwave on the other. Hanging by the handle of the oven was a chequered green cloth. Next to the stove was the dishwasher and in front of both, on the floor, was the kitchen mat. Pots resided in the wide drawers, plates in the cupboards. A double-door fridge finished the kitchen design.

She gently quieted the dogs and took her time to examine the room. A smile lit up her face whenever she took notice of any small details that reminded her of her childhood. She strolled through the kitchen, running her finger across the counters and was pleased to see that everything was sparkling clean. She couldn't stop grinning as she thought about how excited her grandmother must have been while cleaning the house in anticipation of their arrival. It was always heartwarming to see her grandmother filled with joy. She'd get very energetic and talkative unable to contain her happiness. Witnessing her grandmother's happiness was infectious, making her feel just as happy as her.

Daphne quickly rushed and ran upstairs, the dogs matched her vibe behind her. The walls that ran along to the top floor had a light floral print that gave the house the vintage and cosy look of a cottage.

While Loki and Luke ran around, she slowed down: in front of her was the little nook where she'd spend her time reading during rainy days while on the left, behind the railing, were four doors: her bedroom, her parents', her sister's and the bathroom. She missed her sister so dearly. They could meet only during summer break because she was studying abroad but she didn't linger on it much and proceeded to her bedroom. As she opened the door, the dogs ran inside. 

It was just as she'd left it and that had her tear up a bit. On her left was her little bookshelf, on her right was her dresser and a little farther away from it, was her bed. The bedsheets were identical and not dusty to the touch. Another sign of her grandmother's hard work.

The blanket was light. Pink floral prints. White pillows in front of which sat her plushie, an adorable teddy bear her grandmother had gifted her when she was five.

The nightstand welcomed a lamp and adorable miniature decorations she found in her grandparents' attic. Opposite the bed was the window brightening the room. In front of it was her desk and to its right, in a little nook, was her wardrobe.

After walking around the room for a few moments, she dropped herself on the bed, the softener scent filled her nostrils. She stared up at the ceiling. In the corner of her eyes, she could see the waving tails of Luke and Loki as they roamed around before walking by her legs and caressing her with their soft fur.

She was certainly going to miss her only friend in the city. Daphne had particular difficulties with making friends because she found it hard to vibe with a lot of people so finding her match was a real struggle. It took her a long time before she met Margot. The two matched like pieces of a puzzle. They vibed with each other so well. They had so much in common. To understand it better, Margot was the type of neighbour Daphne was wishing for rather than the one she had in reality because Margot was just like her. While Cleo would scrunch her face and call her boring whenever she'd say that she'd rather read all day than play, Margot would agree with her and sit down so they could read together. Margot was the type of friend who didn't feel as overwhelming. The type of friend whose simple presence was enjoyable: you didn't have to talk, play or do anything in general. Daphne and Margot brought ease to each other by simply being in the same room or space.

But Daphne also couldn't fully blame Cleo: she'd met Margot in 10th grade while she had known Cleo since when they were kids. Any child would find reading all day boring. A straight-up form of torture.

Downstairs she could hear her family rustling with stuff. One of the dogs rushed out of the room while she still lay on her back, arms spread, looking up at the white ceiling in pure bliss. She didn't budge for a few more seconds and probably wouldn't have at all for minutes if she hadn't heard an unfamiliar voice come from downstairs.

It was a voice that sounded brighter than she'd ever heard in a long time. She was sure she'd left just her grandparents and parents downstairs but the voice she was hearing was female and sounded brighter than her granny's and mom's. So she sat up. Instantly. Almost robotically.

As her, the dog sensed the presence and rushed out of the room. Daphne followed right after but she didn't go downstairs. She was about to but she noticed the dogs weren't barking up and down which meant that whoever it was knew them. They were already familiar with them. A strange feeling settled in her, a feeling that held her back from going down the stairs and simply had her stretching over the railing to see. A bit shy, you can assume.

"She's upstairs," she heard her grandmother say, leaving Daphne increasingly confused. Who could be coming up to see her? She had no idea, but from the bubbly demeanour of the person, she could tell they were happy to see her. A shy smile emerged on her face just as the person appeared on the stairs. "Hey, Daphne," the voice sang as they saw her leaning on the railing. They rushed upstairs and were now standing in front of her. "Do you remember me?" Daphne's shy smile grew. How could she forget her? Caramel brown bouncy curls, freckled cheeks, moss green eyes, and lips as reddish as her cheeks. She hadn't changed a bit. She had grown, but it was still the same Cleo. 

"Course I do," she happily answered and Cleo giggled. The bright smile that decorated her face made Daphne regret everything she was thinking about earlier. The smile behaved like a vibrant filter animating her memories. "Granny told me you were going to move here and I've never been happier. I thought we'd never meet again," she happily spoke while Daphne came out of her trance, grabbed her hands and led her to her bedroom.

As happy as the latter was, Cleo couldn't hold back from giggling all the time unaware of just how much happiness she'd put in the other girl's heart. A few moments ago, Daphne was thinking about how making friends was so hard for her only for Cleo to happily hop into her home, all happy to see her. Never would Daphne have thought that someone could be waiting for her so excitedly. It warmed her heart so much.

"How have you been?" she spoke first. Cleo's face glowed even brighter as she started talking.

Amazingly bored, she said. Amazing because she's fine, no illness nor body ache or particular border to carry. Bored because, aside from Daphne, the neighbours were younger than her and therefore felt more like kids to babysit rather than people to make actual friends with. Granny started cleaning the house a month in advance, she narrated, and she helped her out on it. Said she enjoyed cleaning while listening to Granny telling stories about Daphne. It increased her excitement and her will to help Granny. She spent days here at the house with granny and never got tired. Granny tried to tell her not to worry but Cleo was just as excited. She'd spend the day cleaning and preparing and then would head home for dinner after which she'd be crocheting little cute things for the both.

Daphne listened with a never-ending smile. All of this for her? Wow. "I have them at my place. If you wish, later I can take you there and give you them," Daphne simply nodded. Eagerly. Happily. A happiness that then spiralled into taking Cleo in for a hug. "I'm just as happy to see you. I thought I wouldn't make friends here," Cleo dramatically gasped and clutched her chest, denying all of Daphne's beliefs. "You'll never be friend-less. Not under my watch," they both laughed before they heard a slight knock on the door. "Granny is going to prepare lunch and asked if the two of you would like to join".

—Now playing: The Way Things Go by Beabadoobee ✫

"I caught enough vegetables from my farm so we could have fun," Granny spoke to the girls' happy faces. They were going to make pizza. Pizzas. Granny had already prepared the dough. They now had to set the ingredients and make unique pizzas. Cleo took on the onions while Daphne took a few zucchini to chop. In the fridge was a container of mozzarella and one of cheese. They had everything at their disposal.

They spent the following forty minutes chopping all the ingredients, blending tomatoes for the sauce, cutting the mozzarella into blocks and grating the cheese. Once done with that, Granny started working on the dough while the young girls buttered up the pans and prepared the oven. Next door Daphne's parents were unpacking and settling in.

"So, how was the city?" Cleo asked, starting a conversation. "Nice, in its way. Yeah, nice,"

"You've got friends you'll miss?"

"A friend, yeah. Margot. We met in 10th grade. She's a great person but knowing her, the distance is going to make the friendship falter," as she spoke, Granny smiled. She was listening and knew who she was talking about. Granny and Daphne's mother were more like sisters than anything else. Daphne's mom always kept her updated on her life and Daphne's so Granny knows how hard it is for Daphne to make friends. She'd suspected it since the girl was a little child because she could see how socializing wasn't on the list: Daphne could spend an eternity of time by herself and never get bored or feel lonely. It didn't bother Granny much but as Daphne grew so did her mother's worries. Whenever Daphne's mom called, she'd never forget to state how bothered she was about seeing her daughter be all reserved so you can imagine how happy she became the day Daphne asked her if she could invite a friend over. 

"A friend? A friend! God, yes, invite your friend over! I told her. Ooh, I'm so happy. Like, I get it. She finds solace simply in herself which is a good thing, awesome in fact, because it means that no one can hurt her because, you know, out there are monsters in human form ready to just hurt people but just one person once in a while never hurts, you get me?" she told Granny on the phone. Daphne's mom is a talkative person who's scared of miscommunication and misunderstandings so whenever she's speaking, she can't hold back from clarifying every single thing she said making her wholly sound in panic.

 Granny found that adorable, just like Daphne's dad did. But Daphne wasn't like her mom, she was like her dad and like Granny too. A person of a few words. Someone who enjoyed listening more than speaking.

"Oh, why's that?" Cleo asked. "Our friendship isn't really the type that goes on both physically and virtually. We... we don't text," Cleo nodded in acknowledgement before focusing back on transferring the dough from the board to the pan. "Thank god we're neighbours then," Cleo giggled. Her words warmed Daphne's heart who couldn't help but giggle as well. In the background, Granny struggled with holding back her smile.

"Are you still the bibliophile I used to know?" she proceeded. Another warm smile on her face as Daphne nodded, "I got tons of books at mine. I don't exactly classify myself as a bibliophile too but I do read. On special occasions, but I do"

Daphne chuckled and assured her she'd explore her bookshelf. Cleo giggled in response. She continued, "Do you have any specific thing to do these days?"

"No, not exactly. Why?"

"I was planning on giving you a town tour. A tour of my house, our neighbourhood, the neighbouring neighbourhoods, the town centre and, eventually, our school. You down?" Daphne quickly looked at her grandma in search of a nod of consent which she found and followed through with, agreeing to Cleo's plans. "We'll do all that today?"

"Oh, no. My god. If we did, it'd mean I carelessly showed you the place but that's not what it'll be. Once we've done the town tour, we'll go pre-school shopping. I know a store that sells the cutest school supplies I've ever laid eyes on".

They talked about their favourite school supplies: Daphne admitted to having a passion for decorating diaries and planners; Cleo's the same but decorates notebooks. Cleo got to know how a perfect academic performance was a priority to Daphne. She wasn't surprised. Daphne got to know that Cleo didn't change much and cherishes a good time above bending over a book and reading all day. She, as well, wasn't surprised. While Daphne is a dog person, Cleo fancies cats. Cleo adores sunny days, Daphne'd rather stay under a downpour than a burning-hot sun. Daphne's an early bird. Cleo's a night owl. 

Overall, Daphne could tell that they were two different faces of the same coin. Equally different. Cleo was going to be a hit of fresh breeze to her pretty monotone life. She's someone who loves indulging in the same routines but, in that moment, she was ready to change them all for Cleo.

Can't really blame her. You have yourself someone eagerly waiting for you despite having seen you years ago and then we talk.

—Now playing: Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet ✫

By noon, all the pizzas were ready, hot and sizzling delicacies. As they waited, the whole family, Cleo's included, helped with setting the table on the veranda. Eight chairs. A round wide dining table. A floral print tablecloth. A vase of fresh flowers in the centre. Scattered evenly were jars of water, fresh and sparkling. In front of each chair was a plate sided by a fork and a knife. No need for spoons. 

Birds chirped. Dogs barked. Cutlery clicked on plates. Water hit the kitchen sink whenever someone washed their hands or rinsed a utensil.

"Food's going to be up in minutes," Cleo announced and soon everyone was sat at the table. Granny and Daphne's mom came on the veranda with pizzas placed on round wooden boards. Everyone seated exclaimed in joy, complementing the cooks.

Once they've brought enough, they finally sat at the table. They said the grace before they started sharing the pizzas into slices. One helped the other and soon everyone had something on their plate, a bite between their teeth.

Cleo sat next to Daphne. They each had a slice of the pizza the other prepared and were complementing each other on the result. Smiles never faded away. Beside Cleo was her brother, Cole. He too was smiling, laughing in fact, with the adults. Beside him, his father.

Daphne had met them and had a little conversation with them. Cole had just graduated high school and would go to the University by October. He had a car of his own and was working on getting an apartment too. Daphne didn't see the mother and no one mentioned her so she didn't pry further but that didn't stop her from wondering.

Cleo's father loved dad jokes. He couldn't help but stick one every two sentences. They made people laugh for the sole reason of being hilarious, so stupid that it has you wondering how can someone even come up with them. He had a deep voice that made everything he said sound serious which made the jokes come off even funnier. Cole took after him. He too had a deep voice but he didn't make any hilarious jokes. Everything he did and said sounded very mature. Daphne assumed that he probably read a lot or had a good academic performance. He just sounded like he could be the class president, like the type of teenage student who could argue with a scumbag of a teacher pushing sixty who feels heavily entitled. 

Cleo's voice contrasted theirs. She was the bright moon on a dark and starless night. Her voice was as chirpy as her laugh. She looked like the type of person who could rock golden shades because she glowed. She glows. She looked like the type of girl you'd always want to be happy, never sad, never see cry. The type of girl whose sad face could induce the watcher into a great state of melancholy. The type of person that can make anyone empathic. 

A part of her almost reminded Daphne of her mother with the only difference that while her mother talked so much in fear of causing a misunderstanding, Cleo talked so much because she was simply made like that. Her mind was a running film strip.  A very fast one and she was always in a hurry to talk about it in every of its details.

The lunch went on like this. Laughter was the only thing you could hear. Some dad jokes here and there but all for fun. All in happiness.

Daphne in that moment thought that her past life wasn't a life. Was she dead the whole time because she started feeling alive only this day, in this instant, sitting between her mom and her old-yet-new friend, eating pizza in the wonderful atmosphere of the sunny day.

Yeah, she was probably dead the whole time. Or at least a zombie.

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[k-nayee]

Hybe High public school au

wc: 8.3k Heavily inspired by Blackmilkbangtan's post

Dreamer M.List

ˏ⸉ˋ‿̩͙‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˏ⸉ˋ‿̩͙‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˏ⸉ˋ‿̩͙‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‿̩̥̩‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˊ⸊ˎ‿̩̥̩‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˊ⸊ˎ‿̩̥̩‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˊ⸊ˎ

"____!"

You take a peek at the clock only to let out a pained groan.

5:40 A.M.

'Why the hell is this woman waking me up so early?'

Letting out a yawn, you snuggle back into the bed, too tired to even move.

"____!" The sound of someone coming up the stairs echoes around your room until the door bursts open.

Despite wanting to ignore her and go back to sleep, you knew it would only end with an immediate ass-whooping if you did.

So like the good daughter you were, you obediently sat up and faced your mother.

"Ma'am?"

Her eyebrows raise at your groggy answer, arms crossed with a spatula in hand. "Oh, so you don't hear me now?"

"Yes ma'am I heard you. But school don't start until 7:15."

"Okay and? What this gotta do with me? I don't care what time school starts. You still gotta get out this house before I leave for work."

With those final words, she turns and walks out the room.

Waiting until her footsteps go distant, you fall back to the bed with a groan and close your eyes.

'I'll get up in a few more minutes.'

"And you better get your ass up! Let this be the last time I have come up there to come get you."

You sit up with a glare. "Or not..."

════════════════*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═════════════════

The sound of the radio fills your head as you reach the bottom of the stairs.

Walking into the kitchen, you smile at the sight of your mom placing a plate of scrambled eggs in front of your little brother.

"Morning~"

She gives your appearance a look before letting out a hum of approval. "Seems like you took heed of my words."

You lightly scoff at her playful words and kiss her on the cheek. "Yeah, either that or I'd end up six feet under. Hey Bubba!"

"Bubba!" [Brother Name] begins to bounce in his highchair at the call of his nickname, "Bubba! Bubba!"

"Yes it is Bubba! Yes it is!" Swiftly picking him up from the seat, you laugh when he squeals.

"Aight enough of that, let my baby eat his food. And we don't have a lot of time left so come eat." She shakes her head at the interaction with a giant smile.

"Yes ma'am," placing him back in his seat, you grab a plate only to freeze at the sudden ring of your phone.

____, Slow but Faithful Hoe🤷🏾: Aye can you pick me up for school in the morning? 9:42 PM ADORAble💝: No problem but you better hurry up or imma leave your ass 9:46 PM ____, Slow but Faithful Hoe🤷🏾: 🙄 Whateva. Night 9:47 PM ADORAble💝: See you in the mornin' 9:47 PM ADORAble💝: Hey I'm outside 6:20 AM

"____ get off that damn phone and come eat!"

"Sorry Ma, but I can't." You send her an apologetic smile as you pick up your backpack from the floor.

"And why the hell not?"

"Because my ride's outside waiting for me." Quickly grabbing a piece of toast, you stuff it in your mouth and walk towards the door. "See ya later! Love yo-ack!"

Your words are cut off by the yank of your collar, forcing you back into the kitchen.

Turning around, you're faced with your glaring mother as she forces a foam plate into your hands.

"Uh-uh. This ain't no movie-type shit where you get only one thing and bust out of here. Girl if you don't make a plate and eat it on the way there. I didn't raise you to be wasting food like that. And I sure as hell didn't slave over this hot ass stove just for nobody to eat it."

Head bowed in defeat, you pile up your plate with food.

"And put enough on there for your friend. I know they probably didn't eat since they came to pick up your wasteful ass."

"Yes ma'am," putting twice as much on there, you cover it with a bag before giving both her and [Brother Name] a kiss on the cheek.

"See y'all later, love you."

Halfway out the door, you stop at the sound of your mom's voice.

"And don't be having no damn attitude just because I'm trying to make sure you eating right either!"

"Ma ain't nobody having an attitude!"

"Who you raising your voice at?!"

You rub your forehead in exhaustion. "I only did it cause I'm almost outsid- nevermind. I'm heading out right now."

"Oh, so you mumbling under your breath now?!"

"I-bye Ma!"

Walking out of the house with a groan, you let out a sigh of relief at the sight of a familiar red car.

"Hey Adora!"

"Don't Hey Adora me! I been waiting outside for damn near twenty minutes." Your friend/neighbor sends you a glare as you slide into the passenger side.

You raise an eyebrow at her words. "Oh really? So I guess you don't want breakfast then. Tch, and to think my momma made me make you a plate."

"Breakfast?" Adora perks up with a smile before making grabby hands at the sight of food, "gimme gimme hoe! I'm starving."

"Nah-uh. You can eat once we make it to school."

"Now that shit's unfair! You know your mama's food is good as hell."

"I know. That's why I'd be damn if we crash cause your dumbass tryna fight over the last piece of bacon with me."

Smacking her lips in defeat, Adora rolls her eyes and started up the car. "Whatever...but I am getting that last piece tho."

"Bitch just shut up and drive!"

════════════════*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═════════════════

"So ____, you heard what happened with Kim Taehyung?"

You stop eating your pancakes with a sigh before turning towards the gossiping girl. "What happened?"

Adora quickly swallows the food in her mouth with wide eyes as she leans forward. "Aight, so it was brought to my attention that he got Suri pregnant."

Choking on your food in shock, you look at her. "Suri? You talking about that ugly bitch from second-floor Economics class?"

She nods her head. "Yeah! But you know it's all low-key and all since-"

"Kim Taehyung don't fuck ugly bitches, period." You roll your eyes at the phrase that's been around ever since his Freshmen year.

"Aw shit...there they go."

Following Adora's gaze out the car window, you catch sight of the black limousine pulling up to the school.

Usually, there'd be crowds of students gathering around the vehicle to see who's inside, but now, everyone knew.

Bangtan Sonyeondan, other known as the Bangtan Boys of Hybe High. They are considered the It group, everyone loved them...

'Dammit, them sons of bitches are here today?'

...well everyone except you.

Being the only one in the school who didn't fall for their good looks or charms, it seemed to make them gravitate towards you the most.

Some would say it was a blessing, but you said it was a curse.

"Hey ____, don't you have classes with all of them?"

Banging your head against the dashboard at her question, you prepare yourself for the day's encounters. "Yeah..."

~𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃~

Already dreading the next six periods of the day, you walk into the classroom with a sigh.

Your eyes skim over the class only to stop at the person in a black hoodie that you knew all too well:

Min Yoongi.

He was the only person in Bangtan that you never actually spoken to.

Instead of being the focus of attention, he took the role of that one quiet dude who sits in the back of the class.

No one- I mean no one has ever come close to holding a normal non-school-related conversation with him other than his small circle of friends.

In the school, Yoongi's considered the living, breathing form of intimidation: cat-like eyes staring at you as if anticipating your next move, face void of all emotion.

It's hard to even sit in a five-foot radius of him, but truth be told...the kigga was fine to not even try.

You'd hear of the countless attempts of girls trying to confess their love only to chicken out the moment his dark gaze landed on them.

Dude didn't even know people found him attractive until this one bold chick came up and told him so.

You will never forget the day he flushed pink as a look of confusion fell over his face.

"Alright class," you're forced from your thoughts at the voice of Ms. Johnson [English Arts teacher], "today I'm going to finally assign partners for this quarter's project."

As the whispers of who's going to be with who fills the class, you bow your head in prayer.

'Lord, I've been a good person right? Right. I do all...most of my work on time, I listen to my parents, and I even volunteer at the food shelter from time to time. Now I know you won't do me dirty with this project. All I ask is to not be assigned to no slow as- pardon, a person with a deficiency in common knowledge and book work. Oh, and please, please not Min Y-'

"Min Yoongi? You will be with ____ [Last Name]. Everyone's all partnered up? Good! Now please get to your assigned person."

'Yoongi...shit.'

Slowly turning around with pursed lips, you find him already staring at you in boredom.

His head nudges toward the empty seat next to him and you high-tail your ass over in avoidance of making him mad.

"H-hEllo" You wince at the crack in your voice as he pulls out some paper with a nod.

"Is everything good here? Need any more instructions?" You look up to find Ms. Johnson standing in front of the desk.

Yoongi pointedly looks at you causing your body to stiffen. "Nah we good Ms. Johnson. Thanks anyway."

"Aye yo Ms. Johnson! What was we supposed to do in the last part?"

Giving you one last smile, she turns and bends down to help another student.

"Goddamn! Ms. Johnson thicker than a bowl of oatmeal."

Eyes wide, you slowly turn towards Yoongi as he continues to look at her ass with an intense gaze before bursting with laughter.

"What?" He begins to laugh alongside you with a gummy smile.

"R-really dude?!" You wheeze out, arms wrapped around your stomach as tears filled your eyes, "S-she's damn near 40. Probably your momma's age."

"Shit, that don't mean nothing. With an ass like it's twenty, I'll gladly go for it."

Laughter grew louder than before, it was to a point where you didn't notice how the class went quiet and focused on the two of you.

"Ms. [Last Name], Mr. Min," you immediately stop laughing at the strict voice of Ms. Johnson and innocently look at her.

"Yes ma'am?"

"You want to tell me why you're causing such a disturbance in my class?"

Making eye contact with Yoongi, you bite your lip to keep from laughing more. "N-no ma'am. There's no reason."

"Uh-hm," she studies you for a few more seconds before finally dismissing it, "don't do it again or I'm putting you out...the both of you."

"Yes ma'am."

As she walks off, you share quiet laughs with Yoongi, ignoring the heavy gazes of nosey students around.

"You know ____, you kinda cool."

You scoff at his words. "You don't need to tell me that, I already know boo."

It was his turn to scoff. "Yeah, yeah."

Going back to the paper to start the project, a small grin adorned Yoongi's face the entire time.

Surprisingly, instead of doing the work, the rest of the class period was filled with both of you silently roasting other people.

Yeah, you're definitely gonna be sitting back there for the rest of the year.

'Maybe he's not as bad as I thought...'

~𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃~

"So...you just sat there and hanged out with him the whole time?" Adora raises her eyebrows as you walk down the hall to second period.

You shrug your shoulders. "Pretty much."

"I can't believe you bonded over Ms. Johnson's ass." She shakes her head in disbelief.

"I mean hey, have you seen it? Sis got a whole chariot back there."

Mumbling a you kinda right tho, she continues to walk forward as you stop at your classroom door.

"See you at lunch okay?"

You catch sight of Adora throwing a peace sign before disappearing into the sea of students.

"Good morning Ms. [Last Name]." You send a smile to Mr. Coleman [U.S and World History teacher] as he greets your fellow classmates.

"Morning Mr. Coleman! How have you been so far?"

The corner of his eyes crinkles up at the sincere question. "As great as always! Now, I want you all to get out your textbooks and open up to pages 2-"

His words are cut off by the sudden slam of the door, causing the class to slightly jump in surprise.

You turn towards the culprit only to let out a low groan of annoyance.

'Please, for the love of all things holy and pure...anyone but him.'

"Mr. Kim," Mr. Coleman's smile tightens into a grimace as the said student walks into the room with a cup of Starbucks in hand.

"Yeah? The fuck you calling my name for? Tell me whatchu want, I don't have all day."

Everyone holds their breath at Jin's words, body tense with worry as he saunters over to the desk next to you.

You look at your teacher only to find him rubbing his temples with deep breaths of air.

"Mr. Kim, please refrain from using such vulgar language in my class. Now what we were doing before you came in here was turning to pages 262-270 in the tex-"

Jin cuts him off with a squeaky laughter, hand slapping the desk as if he was told the funniest joke all of existence.

His eyes widen in shock once seeing no ounce of humor across the older man's face. "Oh, you serious? You must be out of your goddamn mind if you think Imma actually do this bullshit work."

"As you should know, I am nearly forty years your senior. So what you are saying to me is very disrespectful Mr. Kim."

"You right Mr. Coleman, you are nearly three times my age. But the question is: the fuck you gon do? Beat my ass? TUH, I think not."

The room goes quiet, the only sound being heard was of Jin sipping on his latte with raised brows.

Had someone from another school came and witnessed this, you're sure they would've had a heart attack.

But everyone here already knew what was happening and patiently waited until class started once more.

There was one golden rule that circulated throughout Hybe High: whatever Kim Seokjin does and says goes, no matter how wrong it is.

Being the son of two powerful people, it came with some very useful perks.

And one of them consisted of teachers being unable to kick him out in fear of being fired.

Another reason why he was untouchable was because of his looks.

Jin was fine as fuck, and he knew it.

There was never a day of him not wearing Gucci down to the socks like Big Poppa was his motto.

Saying homeboy was richer than Richie Rich wasn't an exaggeration.

Minutes passed before Mr. Coleman turns to the board and write down today's assignment.

"Okay class, I want all of this completed by the ring of the bell. Turn it in at my desk before you leave out."

Sitting down in his chair, he goes to his agenda to plan out future work as if he didn't just get his ass wrongfully handed to him.

"You so fucking wrong for that."

Jin frowns at the disapproving glare on your face. "The hell I do?"

"You really gonna ask me that?" You shake your head in disbelief and open the book to start on the work, "Bruh I swear...you rich people need to learn respect. Let you meet my momma and act that way. You'll be a brand new person messing with her."

Thankfully, it goes silent between you two which gives you enough time to finish everything.

Laying down on the desk for a nap, you peek through your arms when someone pokes your shoulder.

"What?"

Jin sends you a bright smile. "Can you help me with my work?"

"The fuck? You damn near smarter than me. The hell you need my help for?!"

"I know but," His plump lips form into a pout, eyelashes fluttering as he gazes at you, "I don't like doing this boring ass work. So can yo-"

"No." You turn away from him and lay back down.

"But ____!"

"Don't call me! It ain't my fault you ain't doing your damn work. What this gotta do with me? Jack-squat."

"I'll buy you lunch."

Slowly turning back with narrowed eyes, you observe his face for any deceit. "Anything I want? And I don't want that cheap ass lunch-food either."

"Deal."

"Aight, say no more fam."

Scooting your desk closer to his, you open the book once more. "So the first thing you gotta do is..."

~𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃~

"Yeah, I want a triple hamburger with extra cheese and a medium vanilla milkshake."

"Oh! Tell him I want extra french fries. Wait, and make sure it's an extra-large." You giddily bounce on your feet as Jin walks down the hall.

He rolls his eyes at your excitement before turning back to the phone. "And make sure to add extra-large fries...yes that's all. I want it all here before 12:30. Bye"

Hanging up the phone with a sigh, Jin looks down at you with an eye roll. "Tch...you better be lucky I like you enough to go through all this trouble."

"Don't forget that I helped you with your classwork you ungrateful ass child."

"Pssh whatever, just get to class."

You turn and realize that he had walked you all the way to your third period.

"W-how the hell did you know what my next class is?"

"I'm Kim Seokjin, I know everything," He sends you a wink, walking down the hall along with the other students.

"Stop doing shit like that dude! That ain't cool, and we sure as hell ain't no couple."

Walking into class with a huff, you slow down when seeing your teacher collecting his things.

"Um...Mr. Clark? Where are you going? Aren't you supposed to be in front of the class?"

He looks at you with a shrug. "It seems that he already knows today's lesson. So I figured why not just say fuck it and let him teach."

"Good morning third period!" Just as Mr. Clark sprints out of the room, you turn to find exactly who your teacher was talking about:

Kim Namjoon.

He's one of the most-in fact the smartest person you've ever met during your time in high school.

Being in the top ten of Most Handsome of Hybe High along with a deadly set of dimples, Namjoon was for sure a long-time crush of yours.

You would think he'd be the most sought-after person, but frankly, he's not.

With the tendency of playing the role of the smartass teacher's pet, many would find him more on the he fine but don't wanna hit it side of the spectrum.

"Mane dude get outta here! Don't nobody wanna hear your shit today!" A voice calls out causing Namjoon's eyes to narrow.

"Oh? And please do tell me why not." He crosses his arms with a fake smile, "because I would gladly be happy to fix the lesson if it causes you unsatisfactory."

"Nah bruh you hearing me wrong. It's not the lesson, it's you. I don't know why you think we forgot about what yo ashy ass did. Just because these thirsty ass hoes say it's okay doesn't mean we do."

You look at the glaring faces of all the black dudes in the class in confusion.

"What the hell happened?"

Their gazes shift towards you before softening. "I forgot you came here in 10th grade and don't know. Why don't you tell her, homeboy."

Namjoon begins to fidget, a nervous smile appears as he pulls on the collar of his shirt. "C-can we not bring this up?"

"Well since he ain't telling, Imma go ahead and say it," the dude closest to you leans back with a sigh, dark eyes still on shifty male, "back in freshman year ya dude here thought he was black and got a perm."

"P-perm?" You sputter out in shock, wide eyes looking around to see that they were serious.

"Oh, it didn't stop there. Should've seen him at the time! Sagging, grills, jersey shirts; all of that mimicry shit. Football team had to beat his ass when he said Nigga."

"Really Namjoon?!"

"H-hey! In my defense, I was uneducated as fuck and learned most of my English from Living Single and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

"Yeah, but really Joon? You really went that far?"

Namjoon's face grows red from shame, his hands covering the skin to hide it from the class's view.

"Come on! I get it: what I did was wrong and I rightfully deserved that beat down. But it's been years since it happened. Can't we just let bygones be bygones now?"

"Oh we been forgave you, it's just funny to see you grow all shy 'n shit."

He visibly relaxes at the laughter and smiles filling the room. "So...we good now?"

"Yeah, we good."

~𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃~

"Okay guys! Homework's due tomorrow, I want it turned in the moment you stepped through that door." The voice of Mr. Clark fills the room as the bell rings.

Things already packed and ready for the next class, you wait at the door for Namjoon to finish talking to the teacher.

"Namjoon!"

His dimples appear after seeing it was you. "Hey ____! You still down for me to tutor you for math after school right?"

"Ah, sorry I can't. I have to look after Bubba while my mom's at work."

"Bubba?"

"Oh," your eyes widen in realization, head lowering to avoid his curious gaze, "that's...my little brother's nickname."

You shiver at the way his deep chuckles fill your ears.

"Bubba...that's cute."

"Ha. Y-yeah, I try."

It becomes a comfortable silence between you two during the walk down the hall.

"So ____, I was wondering if you and Adora would like to hang out with u-"

"____!"

You look behind you to the source of interruption with dread. 'Oh hell no.'

"Hey," Namjoon tilts his head as the figure gets closer to where you were, "is that-"

"Well that seems like my cue to leave. See ya later Joon!" Speeding down the hallway without hearing a reply, you dip out of his sight.

After minutes of staying camouflaged amongst the hormonal bodies, you finally make it to your fourth-period class.

"Hello Ms. Pain- um...who are you?" You stop your greeting once taking a look at the front desk.

Instead of your beloved Calculus teacher Ms. Paine, there in her place was a small old man.

"My...name is...Mr. Abdul. And...today I...will...be your...teacher." He wheezes out through his oxygen mask before pointing to the class, "please...have seat. And...write name...for attendance..."

Quickly writing your name down on the piece of paper, you sit down and pull out your phone.

____, Slow but Faithful Hoe🤷🏾: Bitch...Ms. Paine gone for today! 10:25 AM ADORAble💝: Foreal? Did she leave any work out for us to do? 10:27 AM ____, Slow but Faithful Hoe🤷🏾: Don't know, but there's this small sick-ass old dude for our substitute tho. I feel bad for him 10:28 AM ADORAble💝: Damn. What's his name 10:28 AM ____, Slow but Faithful Hoe🤷🏾: Mr. Abdul 10:29 AM ADORAble💝: Oh shit! You remember that prank I told you about the Soccer team pulling on that foreigner teacher I had a while back? 10:35 AM ____, Slow but Faithful Hoe🤷🏾: You talking about the one who was duct-taped to his chair? 10:37 AM No...that's him?! 10:37 AM ADORAble💝: Yup. 10:37 AM ____, Slow but Faithful Hoe🤷🏾: They going to hell for that one. 10:38 AM

"____~" you freeze once a familiar musky cologne fills your senses, head dropping to the desk with a thud.

'Calm down. Your reactions to his bullshit will only egg him on more.'

Turning around with a sigh, you give the fakest smile you could muster up. "Hello Taehyung."

"Hey bae, you been missin' me?"

"Hmm, let me think about that...hell no." With a glare, you pick up your things and move to the back of the class.

"Why you gotta treat me that way?" Taehyung gets up from his seat and begins to follow after you, "now you kn-"

"Oh Taehyung~"

Both of your attention shifts over to a group of girls seductively waving at him.

"See? They want you. Now stop..." Your sentence trails off once you turn to find him already gone and over there with them. "...bothering me."

Kim Taehyung.

Out of all of the dudes in school, he was the most desired one on all grade levels.

It really wasn't a surprise upon finding out that he fucked almost all of the girls here.

Like, the kigga got a serious body count under his name.

Hell, if it wasn't because of their young age, he would've probably already wormed his way through the Freshmen. [We stan a man who has boundaries here😤]

Somehow, you were able to brush past his panty-dropping charms and treated him as any other regular classmate.

Wrong fucking choice.

Ever since the day of you dismissing his advances, he's been dead set on making you his.

Now to be honest, with his low-key lightskin fuck boy tendencies flaring up more often, there were some close calls of where you almost fell for it.

And it seemed that today was gonna be one of them...

"So ____," he drawls out your name with his deep voice, hands pressed on the desk as he leans close to you, "about earlier."

You scoff at his words. "Boy if you don't get out my face with that buffoonery. Ain't nobody but yo hos got time for that."

"Oh so you jealous? I don't know why tho. Cuz when it comes down to it: they just for fun while you the real thing."

Taehyung looks at you through lidded eyes, hand coming up to lift your chin as he leans even closer.

'Don't fall for it...snap out of it!'

"Tae...if you don't back the fuck up."

He pulls back from you with raised hands, a smirk still resting on his face. "Aight Imma back up. Damn ____, why you gotta be so hard to get?"

You look at him as he sits down and observes the outfit he's wearing today with a hum.

How he makes a white t-shirt, grey sweatpants, and some white sneakers look like some Calvin Klein-type shit, you may never know.

'Hold up...' Your eyebrows furrow when noticing his pants more closely, '...is that-'

You choke on air, head looking straight ahead so he won't catch you in the act of peeking.

'Goddamn! Why the fuck he wearing grey sweats KNOWING his dick big? No wonder why all these girls chasing after him.'

"Aye ____"

"H-hmm?"

The hair on your arms raises when Taehyung's breath fans the bottom of your neck.

"How 'bout you stop staring and finally hop on it like you should've been doin'. I know you want to."

"Oh God!" You let out a mortifying cry, head falling to your arms to hide your embarrassed face.

"____...____," he lightly grabs your neck, forcing you to meet his dark gaze, "we both know that's what you gonna be screaming out in a few minutes if you keep on-ah!"

His laughter fills the class when you begin to hit him in anger.

"Stop. Fucking. Playing. With. Me!"

"Aight I'll stop! Damn you hit hard as fuck." Taehyung sends you a boxy smile, the once fuck boy aura disappearing without a trace.

Taking a quick look at the board, you almost break down at the big bold letters of Turn in before the end of Class, worth a test grade decorating it.

With a quick glance at the wall clock, your eyes nearly bulge out. '11:05?! When? Where? How?'

"Shit shit shit!" You begin to panic, there's no way you could finish in the remaining ten minutes.

"Here," A paper is placed on top of the desk causing you to look over at a relaxed Taehyung.

Picking it up, the shock is evident on your face when seeing that it was the work...only this one was completed.

A lost look appears on his face as you stare at him in disbelief. "What?"

"The fuck you mean what? How the hell were you able to do all this?"

"Oh that? Yoongi goes to this class before us, so he sent me the directions ten minutes before we moved." He shrugs as if it wasn't that hard to do.

"You did all of this in just ten minutes?"

"Well yeah. Can't you?"

"Hell no! Shit like this takes me damn near the whole period." You look at Taehyung in awe, your perspective on him now changed, "and to think I thought you was dumb."

"Nah, I gotta act that way for the girls. You see how dry Namjoon be with his intellectual headass personality."

"Mmm, true true."

After ten minutes of speedily copying his work, you let out a sigh of victory of finishing just as the bell rings.

"Thanks Tae~" With your work in the bin, you send him a bright smile before walking out.

"Aye, now gonna give me a chance right?"

"Lemme see...that's still a hell no for me! Thanks for trying tho."

Taehyung smacks his lips with a shake of his head. "Damn bae you play too much, just let me fuck with you. I'll drop all my hoes no cap!"

"Bye Taehyung!"

You ignore his whines of protest when Jin appears with a bag of Dixie Queen. Quickly running up to him, you take it and whip out your phone with a smile.

"Adora you gotta meet me in the cafeteria girl. Look at all this free food I got hoe!"

~𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃~

"Aw shit...I think I ate too much." You let out a groan of discomfort, rubbing your bloating stomach as you walk from the cafeteria.

"See that's what your fatass get! I told you not to be eating all that food." Adora shakes her head at your whining.

"I know...but it was so good tho!"

She snorts at your words before turning you towards your designated class.

"Now go inside and digest all that food you selfishly ate by yourself. I'll see you in seventh-period."

"You really upset about that?! I worked hard for that food and you know it!" You call after her as she walks to her class, "Plus, how you gonna be mad when you didn't even ask? I don't read minds!"

Knowing how useless it was to continue to yell after her, you walk into the classroom with a sigh.

"____!"

You look over to find an energetic male bouncing in his seat as he waves you over.

"Goddammit Hoseok! Calm down," Mr. Boyce's [your Biology teacher] voice booms out in annoyance causing the younger male to smile.

"Sorry teach! Will happen again though!"

Jung Hoseok.

There were only three words in the entire world to describe this dude: Loud. Ass. Clown

You don't know if his mother dropped him as a baby or accidentally took too much weed when she was pregnant with him.

But one thing for sure, the nigga is so out of pocket and he says the wildest shit. Ever.

"Hey Mr. Boyce," the fragile voice of Jimin brings your attention to the front of the room, "Ms. Johnson wanted to give you this week's schedule."

"Okay, you can just sit it on my desk."

Walking across the room, the soft-spoken boy quickly does what he's told before leaving.

"Damn Jimin! Whatchu doing out here with all that ass on a Monday? Double cheeked up in the afternoon, the sun still out and all."

The room goes quiet at Hoseok's words, everyone turning to focus on what he's talking about.

"U-um...bye!" Jimin speeds out in embarrassment once noticing the number of eyes beginning to zone in on his ass.

To make it worse, the poor boy's last class was Dance of the Arts and he had yet to change out the snug tights he was wearing.

"All. That. Ass. Hm-hm hmm," Hoseok shakes his head as his gaze follows after Jimin's trailing chariot.

Was it mentioned that everybody thought he was low-key gay? No?

Yeah, that too.

"Okaaaay? Anyways, since I don't have anything planned for today we just gonna watch a video."

Cheers filled the room when Mr. Boyce turns on the projector with some educational video on pause.

With all of the drapes covering the windows, the last thing to be done was to turn off the lights.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Mr. Boyce quickly turns on the lights at the sudden scream. "What happened?!"

"Bitch if you don't get your big-headed ass off me!" Heads turn toward you glaring at Hoseok as he buried his head in your chest.

"Hoseok, what's wrong?"

You push him off with a huff as he looks up to your teacher with a sheepish smile. "I just scream whenever the lights are turned off. That's all."

"Okay...okay!" Rubbing his forehead in exhaustion, Mr. Boyce throws his hands up in defeat, "no video. Just write a few notes from this short slideshow and it'll be the pass for this week's test. You fine with that?"

With reluctant mutters of agreement, the synchronized sound of notebooks opening echoes in your head.

There were moments where the whole class-even the teacher- would hold their breath and wait for some crazy shit to be shouted out.

But surprisingly, Hoseok was quiet throughout the whole thi-

"Aye! Where y'all get that pic of Jimin and Namjoon from?"

You look up to see a picture showing the difference between a circumcised and an uncircumcised dick.

"You know what? Y'all can have a free day for the remainder of the period."

Turning in what you've written, you turn at the sudden poke of your cheek. "What do you want?"

Hoseok smiles at your bored look, not once fazed by the Yoongi like personality.

"I was wondering how your weekend's been. That's all~"

You perk up at his words with a smile of your own, remembering why you love hanging out with him in the first place. "Okay so on Friday..."

Minutes passed of you venting out to Hoseok as he willingly listened. It was one of the most efficient ways for you to get rid of your stress.

"And then she gon tell me Oh so you mumbling under your breath now, can you believe it?! Goddamn! She be going off on the simplest things. Oh and don't get me started on this one time where I-"

You suddenly cut off your words with pursed lips causing Hoseok to lean closer.

"Oh shit! What happened?"

Letting out a nervous giggle, you quickly shake your head. "N-nothing too serious. It's not something to be worried about."

"Now I wanna know since you acting like that. What? Did you get caught fucking Taehyung? You pregnant? Don't worry, he'll own up to it since you ain't ugly like Suri. He probably happy that he got you cuffed. Always talking 'bout she better get as much dick as she can, cause the very moment I'm in ____ it's gonna be the last time she ever gonna get some from another nig-"

"Okay damn, I'll tell you!" You cut off the rambling male before leaning in close, "So what had happened was..."

"DAMN ____, YOU SAID YO MOMMA BEAT YOUR ASS CAUSE YOU LEFT YOUR DIRTY PANTIES WITH THE STAINS OUT? WOW THAT'S CRAZY."

Shrinking into your seat from the heavyweight of the gazes around, you send a withering glare to the still gossiping Hoseok.

"Goddamn bitch! This the exact reason why I don't tell your ass shit!"

~𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃~

"____ I said I'm sorry! You know I can't control how loud I speak sometimes. ____!"

You continue to ignore the whining male as he trails after you to your sixth period- other known as the free period of the day.

Walking into the class, you immediately go to the back and sit in an empty seat.

"____ please talk to m-oh hey Jungkook!"

You look over to find the said male focused on the device in his lap.

"Is that Mortal Kombat?"

Swiftly looking up at you, he gives a stiff nod before returning to his game.

Jeon Jungkook.

The up-most purified symbol of a game-ass virgin who lives in his parents' basement for independence.

From his wide doe eyes to the raven-colored locks on his head, Jungkook could probably pass Taehyung's count if he wanted to.

But there was just one slight problem...

The boy is weird as fuck.

It's 2020 and yet he still plays with his 2011 old ass 3Ds, all day every day.

If not that, he'd probably be cooped up in his room to play Overwatch or some shit.

Growing up with PlayStations and Xbox-360s in your family, it didn't bother you, so it was easy to befriend the introverted gamer.

Finish Her

Letting out a satisfied sigh, Jungkook places the game down with a stretch.

"Oh yeah!" You look over to see him pulling out a small red tupperwear before handing it to you.

"What's this?" Your mouth waters at the sweet smell once you open the top, eyes taking in the food's colorful designs in awe.

"O-oh," Jungkook rubs the back of his neck as he avoids your questioning gaze, "it's just that I missed lunch and never got a chance to give you this. It's called-"

"Mochi!" Hoseok bounces in his seat and looks at you with puppy dog eyes.

Rolling your eyes, you pop a treat into his mouth causing his face to brighten in happiness.

"So when are you gonna start opening up your social circle?" You study Jungkook's lean frame for a moment before reaching over to also feed him.

He looks over at you with a raised brow, head laid down to allow you to continue giving him bites of the treat. "Whatchu mean? I already have you, the guys, and games. What more do I need?"

"I mean other people. Human people. Guys and girls your age man! You don't see the number of girls flocking towards you these days?"

Hoseok scoffs at your words. "Who doesn't? Not only is he the youngest of the group, but the motherfucker is also the strongest? Plenty of coochies tryna be served on a silver platter to him."

It was Jungkook's turn to scoff. "I don't know what y'all talking about. I'm not even that strong."

"Dude, you bench-pressed a nigga and threw him on the ground for messing up your Mario Cart Go score." You deadpanned at him with a blank face, "And you got the nerve to say you not that strong?"

"Yeah, and since most of the dudes saw they now think he's scary as fuck while it just made girls want him even more. Cause you know, they like the strong ones who can pick 'em up and throw them against the wall."

"Well they can want me all they want," Jungkook rolls his eyes at Hoseok's words before picking up the 3Ds once more, "cause I ain't fucking with them when they leave-outs looking the way they do. Should be ashamed of those messed up ass things they called edges too."

As he goes back to playing the games, you turn to Hoseok with a sigh.

"He's forever gonna be a weirdo is he?"

"Yeah. Not to mention how he uses the restroom too. Cause whew chile."

"Use the restroom?"

He sits up at your question and frantically nods. "Yeah! Did I mention he pulls his pants all the way down to pee?"

'All the way down?' Your head tilts in thought as you observe Jungkook with a pout, 'he ain't worrying about the piss on the ground? A true one.'

"His dick big too-"

"This why people think you gay."

~𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃~

"Adora!" You call out your friend's name just before she goes inside.

Waiting until you reach her, you both enter the class and go sit near the windows.

"Goddamn Adora! So much shit happened in one day, I just can't!" You lean against her for support as she pats your back in comfort.

"There there, just hang in there a little longer. 'Cause the moment class ends, you can go home and watch a Spongebob marathon with Bubba. Don't that sound nice?"

"Yeah...it does."

"Ah! Did you get the papers I requested for today's assignment like I asked?" You turn towards Ms. Kim [History of Dance teacher] as she faces the doorway.

"Yes ma'am. I was able to print out a good amount before the printer machine stopped working." A soft voice that you knew all too well reached your ears.

"That's good enough! I guess we'll just have to get in groups of three until there's more made. Would you mind passing it out while I go see if there's any in my car Jimin?"

"Yes ma'am."

The moment Ms. Kim is out of the way, your eyes are immediately glued to one thing and one thing only: ass.

Specifically Park Jimin's ass.

It was no joke when Hoseok spoke of it during fifth period, cause when people say the dude's got ass...he got it.

No matter what he wears, it always ended up looking good because the JiBooty [your personal nickname for him] never fails at doing so.

So many girls envied him, and so many guys declared going gay if it meant being able to get a night with him [and DAT ass].

Like seriously, homeboy booty jiggles when he walks. Just like now as he goes through the aisles to pass out paper.

'Bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bou-'

"____ if you don't stop looking at his ass and focus!"

You turn towards Adora with a pout. "You telling me all that cake ain't making you want to follow and spank it?"

"Spank what?"

Flinching at the sudden sound of Jimin's voice, you look up to find him staring at you with raised brows.

"She talking about how she wanna spank yo ass 'n shit."

You look at her in betrayal. "Bitch..."

"Then stop staring at his ass and do your work!"

He continues to look at your bantering before interrupting it by laughing.

You turn and nearly coo at the way his eyes form into crescents, a light blush filling his round cheeks in a reddish hue. [Sadly...not the ass cheeks]

Jimin sits down with a sigh and places the assigned paper in the middle. "I was gonna ask if I can work with y'all unless you only my ass to be on the team?"

'Hell yes! That's all I need, you and Adora can leave. I'll find a job to support the both of us...maybe even buy a little puppy.'

"No! Of course not," you scoff at his words and send him a smile, "we'd gladly let you join our group."

"Okay! So what are we doing now?"

"Write an informative essay based on the notes we had taken yesterday of the origins of Ballet," Adora flatly explains as she brings out a sheet of notes.

"Oh..." Jimin trails off his sentence, a lost look adorning his face at the girl's words.

Pulling out a duplicate of your notes, you slide it over to him causing a smile to appear.

"Thanks ____~"

Adora's mouth drops open once she sees Jimin take out his wallet and hand you a five-dollar bill.

"You know you don't have to keep on paying me every day just for some notes right? I usually just go to the machine and copy it." Despite saying those words, you still took the money and put it in your pocket.

"Oh I know, but I like doing it anyway."

"Well ain't this some bullshit!"

Both of you turn towards the girl as she shakes her head in disbelief.

"What?"

"What? What? You seriously asking me that? You out here doing his notes for some measly five dollars while you see a bitch back here struggling?"

You look at your hands with a pout. "I mean...he still gives me money even when I don't do it."

"That don't mean shit!" Adora shifts her attention to Jimin as he rolls his eyes, "and you!"

"Tch, what I do now?"

She scoffs. "You need to stop dragging behind! How the hell are you one of the top leading dancers in this school but failing in dance history?"

"Because Adora, that shit's boring as fuck! Don't nobody wanna waste their time listening and reading about the past. I sure as hell don't."

"You will when you're unable to graduate and struggling to find a stable job."

"Pssh, I doubt it."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. I fail? Oh well. If you hadn't noticed all the designer shit I've been wearing, my parents got money boo. And to add to the facts, I'm the heir to Park's Incorporated after my father steps down. Plus with this ass and flexibility, I can easily be working that pole at night. Set. For. Life."

You shift at the tension between the two people, sweat grazing your forehead from their heated glares. "C-can we please just work on the essay now?"

"I swear... it's always gotta be about money," Adora ignores you and gives Jimin a once over, "I'll admit about the stripper one, but that's all you got babes. Cause we both know that if it wasn't for your dad, you'll be homeless by now."

Jimin sits up in his chair with a dark look causing your skin to crawl.

Most of the time he's all sweet 'n cute, but when you piss him off...he can turn into a scary-ass bitch.

"You talking about mines, but didn't yo daddy sell weed to support you? Oh okay. Come for me when you ain't no longer wearing those triple generation hand-me-downs from World War I."

'Goddamn...'

"T-that was only one fucking time! How the fuck do you know that?!" Her voice rises in pitch as a blush fills her cheeks.

"He told me himself. I knew from the start he didn't know a single thing about hustling the moment he started gushing about you when I said I attended here for school. Surprised he didn't get arrested from that shit."

"Guys!" Hands slammed against the table in anger, you finally grab their attention, "despite loving drama as the next person, now is not the time to be coming for each other."

"But-"

"Did I ask for an explanation? No! So do that shit after school!"

Jimin kisses his teeth with a sigh which caused your gaze to shift to him. "You!"

"Wha- the fuck I do?!"

"For saying that triple generation hand-me-downs from World War I shit. Now I'll admit it was funny, but then again them my motherfucking clothes she borrowed from me!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that! It ain't my fault you pulling it off while she looking the way she looking..."

"...okay Imma let you off because of the compliment. But I outta still smack the shit out of you for dissing my style tho."

He sinks into his chair with a pout, too afraid to glare directly at you so he does so at the floor.

"Now I don't know why the fuck you laughing!" Hearing Adora's laughter you turn towards her with an even harder glare.

She stops and looks at her lap. "Bu-"

"I ain't hearing shit from you! Stop starting stuff you can't finish, cause we both know that Jimin can easily flame your ass a new one. The bitch is a fucking Libra! Probably know all the messed up shit this whole town did over the years."

"Oh I do. Got eyes and ears all over the place."

You clap at his words in agreement while she looks at him with a sneer.

"Didn't you just hear me?! Stop terrorizing him! He even went after the damn Mayor and forced him to make October 13th the official Jimin Day and that no one else can have the same birthday as him. If that was possible, what makes you think you safe?"

"The fuck?" Adora looks at you in disbelief. "What the hell happened to the babies born on that day?"

"They either had to get it changed or be kicked out."

"...please say you lying."

"Nah, she's serious. Cause Park Jimin ain't sharing his birthday with none of these hoes. Period." Jimin leans back, dark eyes greedily taking in the way your friend pales in fear.

"Alright!" You turn towards the door in time to see Ms. Kim walking into the class, "it seems that there are not any more papers. So instead of turning in the ones you've done for a project, it'll be just extra credit."

The bell goes off just as she finished those words.

Collecting your things, you shake your head at the way he continues to taunt Adora before flicking his forehead.

"Shit! Why'd you do that?"

"Stop staring at her with that menacing ass smirk! You even making me feel scared from it."

Jimin's whole demeanor flips at your words. Jumping up from his desk, he coddles you in his arms.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you ____. Can you please forgive me?" He looks down at you with big bright eyes, lips forced into an adorable pout.

"Uh-hm, I'll see. But first, apologize to Adora. Poor thing almost looks like she about to hide away."

Jimin turns toward the flabbergasted girl and gives her a bow. "I'm sorry if I frightened you! Please forgive me."

"O-oh um..." seeing your encouraging nod, her lost expression melts into a nervous smile, "...it's alright. No need for that. All is forgiven."

You snort at the gleam of hope shining in his eyes as he looks your way.

"Yeah, I forgive you. But look at how maturely you handled the situation though! I'm so proud of you Jiminie~"

If this dude had a tail right now, you're sure it would be wagging like crazy.

Reaching up to give him an affectionate pat on the head, you also place a small peck on his soft cheek.

"____?!" By the way Jimin lets out a big gasp as he holds his face, you instantly regret your actions.

"Now Jimin," you hold your hands up with a grimace, "before you start freaking out. That was just a friendly kiss, so please don't go all out about this. I don't have time to deal with-"

"EEK! I HAVE TO TELL THE GUYS ABOUT THIS!" With a girlish squeal, he sprints out of the room.

You stare at the now empty spot, body shaking once realizing what the dancer is about to do. "...shit!"

"Wha-the hell?!" Adora yells out in shock when you yank her out the classroom.

"Keys bitch! Give me the fucking keys!" Your heart races in fear, eyes quickly zoning in on the red car once you step out of the school.

"What's wrong?! Why are we running?!" Despite asking she puts her trust in you and hands over the keys.

"By my calculations, there's a good five minutes remaining. That's enough time to get in and zoom off. We just have to leave before-"

"____!"

'Shitshitshit! I'm supposed to have five minutes!'

"Is...is that Taehyung?"

Refusing to look back, you tug on Adora's arm harder as you finally make it to the car. "Yes...and by the number of footsteps behind us, his after-school groupie is most likely following him."

"Tae what about us?!"

"Taehyung I love you!"

"Where are you going?"

"Taehyung I'm pregnant!

"Suri, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't fuck ugly bitches. Perio- ____ wait for me!"

You finally relax once you zoom off school campus, the crowd of people in the parking lot growing smaller as you drive away.

"Goddamn! You telling me you have to go through this shit every day?" Adora leans back with a sigh of disbelief.

Giving her a tired look, you purse your lips knowing there'll be hell to face tomorrow. "...yeah."

'Only at fucking Hybe High...'

[riverlili]

High school crush  (◡‿◡✿)

[kpop-in-hogwarts]

Wrong House Ch 3: How it starts is how it ends

Cast: Jeon Jungkook, Unnamed Trio, Jungkook's mom (flashback, kinda), Madam Pince (cameo)

Summary: Jungkook wakes up on Halloween Morning, and forgets that there's no class + a horrible day in general. Oh right, and he has an encounter with a warrior, or two, and the Gryffindor's Snake.

"How you start your day is how you live your day", is a phrase Jungkook has heard once and has never thought of again but for some reason. That morning. He remembered it. Remembered his grogginess at the time. Remembered the gentle tug as the blanket was pulled away from his body. Remembered his mother's voice as she said it and the way she laughed as he rolled off the bed, still half asleep.  

Jungkook hadn’t known it at the time, but his mother was right. The rest of his day was as confusing as his morning started.  

Not feeling too hungry at the time, Jungkook decided that staying in the library was likely the best place for him, I'll go study transfiguration in advance. He thought to himself as he ducked just in time to avoid a flying - was that a bludger? He turned to get a full look at whatever it was that came hurtling at him only a second ago but it was gone. 

Confused, Jungkook continued to the library only to find that he couldn't enter it. Or, more specifically, he wasn't allowed in. Madam Pince had all but pushed him back out the door as soon as she caught a glance of him with the instruction of "come back tomorrow", and the slam of the door. He must have stayed by the door for a few more minutes after that, mulling over what just happened and trying to figure out if he'd done anything that might have caused the librarian to act that way. He still has that charms book on his desk that he was supposed to return yesterday... Or maybe this was because of what happened last Friday... But if it was any of those, why was he allowed back 'tomorrow'?  

With that thought still running through his mind, he decided he'd try to ask her tomorrow and began his trek to the Great Hall for something to eat.  

The Great Hall was, with the exception of a few stranglers, deserted. Jungkook didn't bother looking around for too long before taking a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table, he knew none of the other first years in his house were up yet and a quick scan of the tables didn’t show/stand out any faces. 

Halfway through his breakfast of eggs and bacon, he looked up at the muttering sound. A trio sat at what was usually the Ravenclaw table but breakfast was typically eaten with whoever you wanted (unlike dinner time so no décor). They weren't talking very loud but in the large room with barely anyone around, the sound traveled strangely well. Snippets of the conversation reached Jungkook's ears and he tried to make sense of it out of curiosity, but the trio seemed to have sensed that someone was listening in and their voices became quieter. I shouldn't have done that, Jungkook thought, quickly finished the remainder of his breakfast, and made his way out of the Great Hall.  

[jimxnslight]

The Sex Contract | PJM

Summary: “A manwhore and a junkie… it’s a match made in heaven.”

Pairing: Park Jimin x Reader

Genre: High School au, angst

Warnings: 18+, substance use disorder/drug addiction (explict), PTSD, child abuse, be sure to check the warnings for each chapter as additional warnings may be added as story progresses.

Chapter Index:

01 | 02 | 03 | ongoing...

[taesclub]

The Wild Child, series masterlist ✦ BTS

✦ BTS x Fem! Oc's

━━━━━ ( SYNOPSIS. ) She is suddenly forced to attend the all-girls boarding school, St. Victoria's. Determined to break free, she tries to escape. Her only problem? To do so she must go through the neighboring boarding school and its notorious group, the Bangtan boys. Among them, one member captivates her the most, blurring the line between rebellion and romance.

CHARACTERS. ━━━━━━━━━ ✦ 

The Star Boys, Kim Namjoon ━ Kim Seokjin ━ Park Jimin ━ Min Yoongi ━ Jung Hoseok ━ Kim Taehyung ━ Jeon Jungkook

The girls, Avery Thomas ━ Lola Lemaire ━ Ella Dubois ━ Claire Deschamps

WRITING. ━━━━━━━━━ ✦ 

ACT I. « posted »

ACT II. « coming soon »

ACT III. « coming soon »

ACT IV. « coming soon »

ACT V. « coming soon »

© taesclub, 2023. all rights reserved. do not steal, repost, translate and/or claim these work as your own.