Enjoy!

“!” he swore loudly. 

I woke up with a start as his footsteps stomped up the stairs.

Not again…

“Why didn’t you buy the beer?” he slammed the door open, animalistic snarl on his face.

“I’m not legal,” I stood up from the bed. “I can’t buy it yet.”

“Don’t you dare ing talk back to me!” he growled and lunged, hands grabbing my windpipe.

Immediately I choked, my fingers desperately scratching at his own which were grasped around my neck, but he never relented.

“Who the do you think you are? Some smart- trying to talk down to her own father,” he raged angrily, strengthening his grip.

The edges of my vision turned fuzzy. Blood throbbed heavily along the veins of my temple. My fingers buzzed with pins and needles.

Just as my eyes began to roll up, he released me.

I collapsed onto the ground with a heaving gasp. My heart thudded painfully as I drank in the fresh oxygen thirstily like a starved madwoman. I could barely make sense of his tirade as the air flowed into my lungs painfully slowly.

“Why the aren't you listening?" he aimed a kick towards my stomach.

I cried out as his foot made contact with my ribs. I was flung across the room, landing with a smack against the wall.

“No more excuses. Get the beer by tonight,” he turned and stormed off.

The seconds ticked by audibly as I slowly uncurled from foetal position, tears pooling in my eyes. I touched the raw spot just beneath my left rib gently, wincing at the sharp fingers of pain wriggling up my entire body. Reaching a hand up hesitantly, I felt around the sore marks on my neck.

Hinsaek cawed from his box worriedly as I peeled myself off the floor and staggered to the mirror. True enough, there were purple-red bruises forming along the sides of my neck.

Sighing, I uncapped my foundation and smeared it all over, blending to cover the marks. I grabbed my uniform from the closet and slipped into it slowly, wincing every time something came into contact with my bruises.

“It’s time to go to school,” I smiled at Hinsaek, but there were tears pooling in my eyes.

“Croo~” Hinsaek sounded worriedly, hopping over to me.

“I’m,” I took a deep shuddering breath, “fine. I’ll just get an icepack from the nurse and it’ll be all better.”

Wiping my tears, I grabbed my bag and walked over to his box, squatting slowly.

“Shall we go?” I offered my two fingers to him.

With an indiscernible nod, he hopped onto my fingers and I opened the door slowly, grabbing a sandwich made the previous night from the refridgerator before I left.

---

“Yah, your name is Jun Jungkook?” some boy sauntered over to his desk with his posse of friends.

“… Yes,” Jungkook looked up hesitantly from his manga.

“And the little mute boy speaks,” another of the boys laughed loudly, slapping the back of Boy A.

“Hey, be nice to our new classmate,” Boy A remarked teasingly before slamming his hands on the desk.

The loud bang shocked Jungkook, sending fire through his nerves as the muscles of his throat spasmed, closing in. He reached towards his bag, but Boy A shoved him back to his seat.

“Hmm, how do we put this,” Boy A drawled, clenching a fistful of Jungkook’s uniform. “We guys don’t like it that you seem to be attracting all of the girls’ attention.”

“Yeah, stop hogging the ladies!” another boy yelled.

Jungkook could feel his pupils dilating as his throat tightened further. Tears threatened to spill as the bang echoed in his mind over and over again. His hands struggled to reach up to his face to cup his mouth, but Boy A slapped them away, grinning like a shark.

“Hey.”

Boy A froze.

With that one word, the classroom fell silent, as if the mute button had been pressed. With bated breaths, everyone turned to the entrance.

The girl who’d saved him yesterday (and had also tortured him the day before) strolled in, catlike grin on her face as her friend followed behind, smiling widely.

Jungkook noted that she seemed to have that grin on a lot, as he controlled his breaths strictly.

“Kim Minho-ah, what did I tell the class about my toys?” she teased, smiling predatorily. “Were you absent yesterday?”

“N-n-no Youngmi-ssi,” Boy A, or Kim Minho, released Jungkook furtively. “I was just… being welcoming.”

“So what did I say?” she slipped into her seat, shifting so that the back of the chair was facing them. She leaned over it, staring up at him with big brown eyes.

“No one can touch them?” one of the boys offered hesitantly.

“That’s right, Lee Ilsung-ssi!” she turned to him and clapped slowly. “Smart boy.”

“But Youngmi,” the other girl chimed. “Minho was touching Jungkook just now!”

“You’re right, Mirae,” his saviour turned to the other girl. “So what should we do about that?”

Kim Minho’s face blanched.

“I know!” the other girl grinned. “How about he be our dog for the whole day? I need someone to do my things anyway~”

“Great idea, Mirae. Kim Minho-ssi, come over here,” his saviour smiled brightly.

Jungkook sighed as his breathing returned to normal. Yet again, he was saved by someone and to boot, that someone was a girl.

“How about we practice some tricks, Mr. Doggy?” she laughed lightly.

He opened his mouth to object, but she tutted.

“Dogs can’t talk. They can only , bark, and do tricks,” she reached up and patted his head. “Sit!”

Reluctantly, Kim Minho lowered his bum to the ground and squatted.

Jungkook looked at him pityingly. He didn’t like that the other guy had been threatening him just now, but this was a bit too much, wasn’t it?

There was no time to debate the morality of the situation when the girl turned her almond-shaped eyes to him, predatory twinkle sparkling in her gaze.

“I don’t think I managed to introduce myself yesterday,” she grinned, holding out her hand. “My name is Lee Youngmi. I hope we can be friends!”

Jungkook stared at her hand in trepidation. He could almost feel another panic attack coming on.

Noticing his reluctance to accept her handshake, Lee Youngmi pouted.

“Oi Jungkookie, it’s rude to refuse a lady, you know,” she drawled, but withdrew her hand. “I don’t like my toys to refuse me, but I’ll give you a chance since you’re such a cutie. Don’t do it next time okay?”

With that she flashed a bright grin at him and turned her gaze to Minho.

“Yah, gae (Korean word for dog), do you want a treat?” she teased, taking out a bag of liver-flavoured dog treats. “Roll over!”

With great reluctance, Kim Minho lay down on the floor and rolled over.

“Good boy!” Lee Youngmi cooed, and forced a treat into Kim Minho’s tightly sealed mouth.

Gagging, Kim Minho spat it onto the floor, turning to glare murderously at Lee Youngmi.

The treat was sticky with his saliva, Jungkook noted as she smirked and pointed to her friend.

Her friend dug a small black book out of her bag, also grinning like a shark. She flipped to a page.

“God, fine, you ing !” Minho growled, and defeatedly bent downwards.

Grimacing, he picked the treat up with his teeth gingerly, before swallowing it whole, looking like he was about to puke at any moment.

Satisfied, Lee Youngmi ruffled his hair, just as Mr. Jung walked in, ready to start the next lesson.

---

The bell for lunchtime rang.

I discreetly took my phone out, switching the camera to selfie mode to check my bruises. They weren’t evident at all, but I didn’t want to be too careful.

Brushing myself off, I stood up from the seat.

“Minho,” I turned to him. “Stay.”

So far I hadn’t asked anything outrageous from him. I’d gotten him to sit, jump, stay, come, and even roll over!

Of course, he knew that if he didn’t follow my exact orders, Mirae would tell the entire class, including his girlfriend Minkyung, that he was currently sleeping with Seulgi from Class 2-C and Hara from 4-F, and he’d gone to the doctor recently about “mysterious sores in his pants area”.

I was feeling a little blue today, because of the incident with that stupid old man this morning, but Minho had fixed my feelings in an instant. I love my classmates; they’re so entertaining.

Humming happily to myself, I turned to go to the bathroom when a hesitant tug on the hem of my skirt stopped me.

I turned to look at Jungkookie quizzically.

“T-t-thank… you…” he stuttered out, face inflamed.

I recoiled quickly, face turning almost as beet red as his.

Muttering a quiet “you’re welcome”, I dashed out of the classroom to the bathroom.

After I checked that my makeup was flawless, I walked towards my secret hiding spot. I entered the courtyard, slamming the door behind me. Hinsaek looked up from his nesting spot and flew over, nestling onto my shoulder. I put him onto the ground and sat near him on a stone bench.

I held my head in my hands, sighing softly. Why was Jungkook so… thankful all the time?

He was making playtime become less fun! I never did anything for him, and yet he thanked me? Did he have some sort of ulterior motive or something?

I couldn’t help but mull over it as I made quick work of the sandwich I’d bought from the cafeteria.

“Hinsaek, what should I do?” I said, hanging my head. “Why are people so confusing?”

Hinsaek only cocked his head once, before pecking on my fingers to give him my crumbs. I rolled my eyes and complied.

I spent the rest of lunch at the courtyard, trying to push Jungkookie to the back of my mind.

---

Hoseok hummed happily, prancing to the rooftop. With the news of the upcoming competition, he could barely contain his excitement. He hadn’t felt such fire in ages!

Whenever he felt the urge, he would go up to the rooftop and dance his heart out. None of his other schoolmates liked to go to the rooftop, and it was always pretty quiet and windy. Perfect for dancing!

However, there was still the matter of the 7^th member. How could they join the competition if they only had 6 members? Hoseok frowned. He had confidence that they could find a new member, but times were tough and he couldn’t just get any random person off the street to join in. The person would have to be great at singing, dancing and rapping, just like the rest of his crewmates. He conveniently ignored the niggling voice in his head prodding him about the unorthodox ways he had selected his newer team members.

“We’ll definitely find him!” he smiled to himself, pumping his fist into the air.

With a skip in his step, he bounded up the stairs and opened the door to the roof.

A blast of wind blew his uniform around as he looked up into the bright blue sky, big smile on his face.

Just as he was about to turn his music on, he heard a melodic voice from the back of the staircase.

“Biga oneun jiteun saek seoul geu wie~”

Piqued by interest, Hoseok crept closer to the source of the voice.

“Yeojeonhi jam mot iruneun naega heuryeojine~”

He peeked his head around the wall.

A boy was sitting against the wall, eyes closed as he sang the words softly. He was nodding his head and tapping his foot to the rhythm. By his nametag, he seemed to be a junior. He had earphones plugged in, and didn’t seem to notice Hoseok staring flabbergasted at him.

Immediately, Hoseok entered a dream sequence.

The roar of the crowd was deafening. He squinted, the glare of the stage lights reflecting into his eyes. All around them, catcalls and cheers rose in volume as the emcee took a deep breath.

“And the winner of the Seoul University Annual Talent Competition is…. The group that hasn’t gotten a name yet but will soon get a name because they found their 7^th member! Congratulations!”

As if on cue, the rest of the group let out a bellowing yell and Namjoon ran up to the stage, his lips stretching into a wide toothy grin.

“Thank you everyone for giving us a chance to show our talents!” he yelled, holding up the impossibly large trophy with both of his hands. “I’d like to thank especially my buddy J-Hope, who found the last member of our group and led us down this path of destiny!”

“You!” Hoseok burst out. “I need you!”

“W-what-”

“You! Me! Crew! Competition! Join us!” Hoseok rattled unintelligibly, reaching out to grab the boy and going bug-eyed as the words poured out of his mouth, his brain working at thrice the speed it usually did. Which… wasn’t a lot but still faster than normal.

“Hoseok-hyung? W-what do you want?” the boy asked, trying to move away from Hoseok getting all up in his personal space.

“Huh? How do you know my name?” Hoseok paused cautiously, raising one eyebrow before taking a closer look at him.

“… AH! It’s the boy from the infirmary!” he gasped. “… Cookie was it?”

“It’s Jungkook,” the boy dusted down his uniform.

“Oh Jun Jungkook, I remember now!” Hoseok nodded his head slowly, recalling the previous day at the nurse’s office.

“What competition are you talking about?” Jungkook asked curiously.

“You see, I’m in a music group,” Hoseok started, eyes sparkling as he thought of s. “And we’re looking for a seventh member to join us so we can join a competition! We do singing, dancing and rap! Why do you look so pale?”

“U-um… no thanks, I’m not the performing type,” Jungkook looked as white as a sheet of paper. “I don’t like the stage…”

“Your voice is amazing! We need you!” he begged. “Please join us!”

“S-sorry, I really can’t…” Jungkook stammered. “You should find someone else.”

“No, you have to join us! You’ll fit in perfectly! Plus you’ll get to make super good friends!” Hoseok grabbed a hold of his arm.

Jungkook tried to shake Hoseok off but he clung to him like a limpet, pleading loudly for him to join the team.

“N-no, I can’t,” Jungkook tried to argue but Hoseok wasn’t having it.

“The group would be perfect with you inside!” he pleaded, tightening his hold around Jungkook’s arm as they both stumbled down the stairs.

They awkwardly crab-walked down to the second level, Hoseok still trying to pitch his idea to Jungkook and Jungkook still trying valiantly to detach himself from Hoseok’s grip, but years of popping and locking had trained his muscles to be tough as steel and it was to no avail.

A dim lightbulb flashed in Hoseok’s mind as they entered one of the classrooms down the second level, which belonged to Class 2-C. He’d heard of Class 2-C before, from all the rumours swirling around the school. It was infamous for…

“Ah Jungkookie,” a coldly familiar voice sounded from the back.

The both of them froze.

“You’re just in time,” Lee Youngmi smiled like a Chesire cat. “I was about to take my dog for a walk. You should join us.”

Next to her, a boy was on his knees and hands, a dog collar fit snugly around his neck. He looked utterly miserable, his face black with thunder.

Hoseok felt a cold chill travel down his spine as Lee Youngmi narrowed her eyes at him.

“Superhero sunbaenim,” she cooed, taking slow, purposeful steps towards him. “Why are you touching my things?”

“I… need him for something,” he somehow managed to find his voice as she stood face to face, staring at him right in the eye.

Though she was at least a head shorter than him, she was absolutely terrifying. Her glance was frigid, and her smile was predatory. He felt like a cowering rabbit cornered by a ferocious tiger, about to be eaten up by her.

He focused his attention on her neck, which seemed whiter in comparison to the rest of her skin. Wait, no it wasn’t white, it seemed to be… purple? A memory whizzed by in his brain. There was purpling on her face in the nurse’s office the other time too. Was it bruising? Why was her neck bruised?

He frowned as her hand subconsciously went to her neck, her eyes wide with sudden… trepidation?

“Come on Jungkookie, let’s go.”

With a sharp tug of her leash, she dragged the poor boy on the floor with her. Hwang Mirae followed suit, with a suspicious look at Hoseok. Jungkook gave a terrified glance at Hoseok and went after the two of them.

Hoseok sighed in relief. He’d escaped safely this time, but the thought of her neck somehow couldn’t leave his mind.

“I’ve found our seventh member,” Hoseok couldn’t help the smile blossoming on his face.

But he seems to have a problem, doesn’t he? A niggling voice whispered in the back of his mind as he recalled the first time he’d met Jungkook. He recognised all the classic signs of hyperventilation, plus the fact that he carried a paper bag around signalled that the problem was recurring.

“Well it can’t be that bad right?” Hoseok frowned to himself.

Would Jungkook be able to handle being in the team?

With a shrug, he headed back to class. Jungkook would eventually grow out of it… right?

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