Taehyung likes being at school early. He thinks it’s better to be too early than too late, so he's sitting in Mrs. Lee’s classroom about ten minutes before the bell, trying not to think about a certain brown-eyed boy who may or may not have a girlfriend.

Trying, and not succeeding.

“Hey.”

He jumps in his seat, and looks up to see Jungkook. He feels his face flush. Speak of the devil. “Hi.”

Jungkook smiles down at him. “I didn’t mean to startle you. How are you?”

“Fine. You?” He's still a little angry at his mom about yesterday. This morning she tried to talk to him about the Forbidden Subject, and he sort of blew her off, claiming that he needed to get school.

I wish she would just understand that he doesn’t want to be like his brothers.

Jungkook’s voice startles him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay?”

He looks at him, watching Jungkook's brown-eyes survey his face. “I’m good.”

He can feel his eyes on him, but people starts filling into class, so he stops trying to talk to him, which is to his immense relief.

Jungkook doesn’t talk to him for the rest of the period, and by Calculus he had mostly cooled off.

“Sorry,” he tells him hesitantly, as Jungkook takes his seat beside him. “About earlier, you know?”

“It’s okay,” he says. “Love problems?”

He snorts, making a few people give him funny looks. Jungkook smiles.

“Is it love problems?” he presses. 

“It’s just my mom.”

“I see.” He doesn’t ask further questions. Taehyung guesses he understands that he doesn’t really feel like sharing.

When the bell rings for lunch, Jungkook says, “I’ll see you later,” and walks away.

He takes his spot in the library again, and look through the books Ms. Park gave him yesterday, which includes the latest by all his favourite authors.

“T-Taehyung.”

He looks up at the singsong-ing of his name, but he doesn’t see anyone around. There are people in the library today, but they’re mainly freshman and sophomores, so he turns back to his work.

“Over here.” The voice hisses again. This time it comes from the bookshelves.

He turns in that direction and sees that Jungkook is standing between the shelves, a big grin on his face.

“What?” he hisses back. The library is supposed to be a quiet place. Ms. Park won’t freak out at noise, but she does like to keep the place quiet. However, there’s an unmistakable quicken in the beats of his heart when he sees him. Oh, calm down.

“How are you?” he whispers, slipping between the third shelf, and behind the second.

“Okay.” Taehyung says, with a faint question in his voice.

“Me too.” He says. He’s still whispering.

Through the gap between the tops of the books and the shelf, he can see the brilliant brown of his eyes, contrasting beautifully with the dark wood of the shelves.

He's about to turn back to his work when he hears, “What are you working on?”

“Calc,” he tells him.

A few freshmen at a nearby table look over at him with curious glances.

Great, he thinks, I look like I’m talking to a shelf.

“Why don’t you come sit over here?” he hisses, glancing over at the librarian’s desk.

“I’m trying to be sneaky.”

He raises an eyebrow at the small bit of him that he can see. “Why?”

“Cause.” He pokes himself in the nose and ducks behind the book shelf.

Laughing, he tells him, “I can still see you.”

He hears a groan, and Jungkook comes out again, pulling out the chair across from him and plops into it.

“Better?” he says gesturing to himself.

“Then what?”

“Then talking to me from behind a book shelf.”

“Much.” he smiles at him. “Those freshmen probably think I’m crazy. Why were you doing that anyway?”

“Hiding from my fan club.” He points behind him, and he sees a ponytail disappearing out the door. Oh. Momo and the preps.

Taehyung smirks at him. “Fun.”

He nods. “Whatever you say.”

“You’ve gotta be the first new senior in like, four years. You’re the only new thing to talk about.”

Jungkook shrugs, smiling at him.

Suddenly he doesn’t feel like doing his work. Unusual for him, but there it is. He feels intrigued by the boy sitting across from him, like he’s a character in a book whose story I haven’t figured out yet. “Not to be rude, but why are you here? How did you get into Bangtan High?”

“Scholarship,” he says. “Lame, huh?”

“Not really. I’m the same.”

Jungkook raises his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. It gives his face a cutely interested look, like a puppy. Taehyung wonders if he practices that, just like the whole I want my hair to look like I don’t care about my hair thing.

He can see the question in Jungkook’s eyes, but for some reason he feels like he’s trying to be polite, and not ask. So, for the first time in a while, he decides to share.

“My dad’s the doctor for the headmaster. Special privileges.”

Jungkook's face spreads into a surprised smile. Obviously he wasn’t expecting him to talk. “Interesting.”

He shrugs.

“Can I ask you a question?”

He looks up and sees the completely serious look on Jungkook's face. “Sure?” Try not to freak out.

“Why does that girl call you ‘pet’?”

He notices with satisfaction that Jungkook still doesn’t know Momo’s name. “It’s basically short for teacher’s pet.”

“That’s not cool.”

“Tell me about it.”

There’s a slightly awkward look on Jungkook’s face, so he says, “Don’t worry about it. Seriously, it’s fine.”

Jungkook shrugs, but he still looks uncomfortable. “Okay. So did you hear Mrs. Lee talking about that project?”

“The one where we design a scavenger hunt? I heard, but she didn’t explain it very well.”

“What it has to do with English, I have no idea.”

He smiles at him. “Clearly you don’t know Mrs. Lee. She likes fun stuff like that. It’s her way of getting us to be involved in school work.”

Jungkook nods. “Sounds okay. I can’t believe we already have a project though. I mean, it’s only the second day.”

He shrugs. Getting projects doesn’t bother him, as long as they aren’t all piled on at once. He tells this to Jungkook, and he smiles. “That makes sense.”

His heart does a tap dance and he scolds himself for being so ridiculous.

“Want to go for a walk?” Jungkook says suddenly.

He glances at his stuff, and he's about to decline, but then he feels a small jolt in his stomach at the thought of being alone with Jungkook. Jimin’s voice is in his head again, telling him to do it.

So he nods at him.

They get up and head outside. The sun is warm, but there’s a definite chill in the air. Lucky he wore a sweater today.

“So,” he start, “Have you always lived in Seoul?”

“I lived in Busan before this. My dad decided we should move because after my mom died there were too many memories. I don’t think he could deal with it, you know?”

Taehyung nods, and keep his eyes on the ground. There’s already a layer of dead leaves on the sidewalk, despite how early in the season it is.

He hikes his bag higher on his shoulder and ask, “Do you miss Busan?”

“I had a lot of friends there, but I kind of like it here too. My cousin likes it too.”

“How old is she?” he asks.

“Same age.”

“Oh! She goes here?” he asks, thinking of a girl with the same dark hair as Jungkook.

“Yeah, you might have seen her. Tall, black hair?”

Taehyung stares ahead in puzzlement for second.

Suddenly something clicks in his mind, like a puzzle piece falling into its proper place. “She was in the library with you yesterday.”

Jungkook looks slightly surprised, but he smiles. “Yeah, she wanted to see where it was.”

He feels a huge surge of relief. She isn’t his girlfriend! he could sing…except that he would die of embarrassment.

“What?” Jungkook says.

“Huh?” He looks over at him to see he’s grinning confusingly.

“You’re smiling. What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” His cheeks start to burn, and he's suddenly glad that there’s a breeze- it cools down his overheated face.

They walk in silence for a while before he realize they need to head back. Jungkook walks with him to History again, but before he leaves, he says, “Give me your phone.”

Taehyung raises his eyebrows at him. “That was quite the demand.”

Jungkook grins, holding out his hand to him. “Please?”

“Why do you need it?” he asks, suspicion creeping into his voice.

Jubgkook laughs. “I want to give you my number, so we can text.”

He hesitates, but there’s Jimin’s voice again, telling him to do it, or else…so he hands it over. Jungkook inputs his number and hands it back with a smile.

“Here’s mine, put in your number.” He hands him a slim black phone with lots of scratches along it, like it’s been dropped a lot.

He does as he says, and when he hands it back, Jungkook grins at him. “See you tomorrow.”

“Kay.”

Taehyung watches him walk away, waiting for the bell to ring.

A second later, his pocket beeps.

New Message

From: Jungkook

1:10 pm

Hi :)

He hits reply, and types the same thing he did. A second later, there’s another beep.

New Message

From: Jungkook

1:14 pm

Stop copying me.

New Message

To: Jungkook

1:21 pm

No.

New Message

From: Jungkook

1:23 pm

:(

New Message

To: Jungkook

1:31 pm

:(

New Message

From: Jungkook

1:33 pm

Stooooooop

New Message

To: Jungkook

1:37 pm

Probably not going to happen.

New Message

From: Jungkook

1:40 pm

Fiiiinnne. How’s history?

New Message

To: Jungkook

1:48 pm

Is okay. Kinda boring. Chem?

New Message

From: Jungkook

1:51 pm

All boring here.

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:00 pm

Hey, Tae! 

New Message

To: Jungkook

2:04 pm

Kinda busy.

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:06 pm

Tae!

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:10 pm

Tae, answer me!

New Message

To: Jungkook

2:11 pm

What do you want? I almost got in trouble.

It’s true. His phone has been buzzing non-stop, and he can’t keep pretending not to text. When his phone buzzes again a few seconds later, irritation flares inside him.

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:13 pm

When do you want to hang out?

At that message, his heart jumps into full gear. He glances up, but Mr. Yang is facing the bored, writing down our final project. With slightly shaky hands, he replies.

New Message

To: Jungkook

2:15 pm

I don’t know. When do you want to hang out?

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:16 pm

I asked you first

New Message

To: Jungkook

2:18 pm

Two weeks from today, Mars.

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:19 pm

I’ll get my space suit (but seriously, when?)

New Message

To: Jungkook

2:20 pm

I just told you.

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:21 pm

How about tomorrow after school?

New Message

To: Jungkook

2:22 pm

Sorry, I can’t. I already have a date for tomorrow.

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:23 pm

Oh.

New Message

To: Jungkook

2:24 pm

I’m just kidding, tomorrow is fine :)

For the few moments after sending that message, his heart beats very fast, and he breathes slowly, trying to calm himself. While waiting for Jungkook's reply, he looks back through his phone.

Was I flirting? he asks himself. A small smile slides over his face. Jimin would be so proud.

As the bell rings, he gets a text from Jungkook.

New Message

From: Jungkook

2:25 pm

Awesome :)

He puts his phone away, but unlike his phone, he can’t hide his smile very well.

Five minutes later, as he's heading out into the parking lot, someone calls his name.

He spins around, looking for the source of the sound.

To his surprise, he finds Jungkook walking towards him, a smile on his face. Taehyung waits for him by the doors.

“What’s up?” He ask when he reaches him.

Jungkook pushes open the door for him, inviting him to walk through. He does, and Jungkook follows him.

“I just wanted to ask you a question,” he says.

“Shoot.” Taehyung says.

“What’s wrong?”

He looks up at Jungkook’s face. It’s a mixture of confusion and questioning.

He gives him an odd look before he realizes what he had said. “Go ahead and ask,” he tells him, “That’s what I meant by shoot.”

Jungkook looks oddly relieved. “I was just wondering if you actually do want to hang out tomorrow.”

He looks at him. “Why would I say yes if I didn’t want to hang out with you?”

“You just seem sort of closed off,” he says in a low voice. “I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t forcing you to hang out if you didn’t want to.”

An unconscious smile drifts over his face. “I want to hang out with you,” he assures him.

Jungkook smiles. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nods at him, and he disappears into the crowd of people heading to their cars.

That was sweet of him... Yay for making friends.