Bus Buddy
PG-13
Fluff, comedy
633w

Of all transportation systems, Lisa affirms that her most loathed is the bus. There are only two exceptions in which there is little to no objection to take it: in the winter when it's the only option to escape the oncoming frosted flurry that threatens to turn her easily melded head of hair into the newest cold treat at DQ, and when Taehyung accompanies her. 

There are exactly three advantages of commuting with Taehyung:

One - he has a way of warping time through incessant chatter about a variety of topics ranging from weird to what-the-actual--are-you-on? until he gets so carried away with his own excitement he somehow manages to bring his voice up to an octave Lisa didn't believe he had in him, drawing the attention of bewildered bystanders who didn't have the heart to quiet him down when the fire in his eyes flickers their way.

“And that is exactly why we need to get married in a space station!” he beams her out of her own thoughts just briefly enough to give him an exaggerated 'yeah!' 

A few months ago, drawing a scene like this would make her cheeks explode with cherry until she's shoving a napkin down his throat to silence this uproarious Tae-ger. Having already been self conscious about her noticeably foreign appearance since transferring here, befriending the loudest kid in the class immediately sunk in the moment he had started tailing after her every day after school. This isn't even his bus route - meaning he had to take another one in the opposite direction and then a second to actually get home. But despite her protests and attempts (AKA yelling at him to 'stay!' at the right bus stop like an untrained pup) to make life more convenient for him, he insists on being her eternal bus buddy (“til bus crash do us apart, amen.”)

She's learned that no attention is ever really on her at all when she sits next to him, being the sole attractor of a silent audience that looks on with more curiosity than annoyance because frankly, his absurd stories adds just a pop of colour to the greyed lives of the even greyer business men sitting adjacent to them. That's perk number two.

Three - there's always a seat for her if there's a seat for him. Albeit the offer was inconceivably cringeworthy the first few times she's elbowed him in the chest as a rejection to his 'joke' that was actually-kinda-sorta serious, the humidity of summer coupled with constantly finding herself under the perspirating arms of people twice her size finally pushed her to accepting his obscene offer that really wasn't bad at all once she was plopped on the cushion of his thighs that were unbelievably comfortable despite how skinny they appeared. 

He likes to play with her hair as she sits on his lap, occasionally muttering something into her thick locks like “this new shampoo smells like a newborn baby” or “if I was an ant, I'd want to live in the forest of your hair forever,” and she's learned to take them as compliments, delicately followed by tender across her scalp.

He wears out faster than usual today - excited babbling fading into quiet, incoherent murmurs into her shoulder. It's been a long day for him. A two hour soccer practice, year book club planning, student council meeting, you name it. Taehyung certainly cares more for clubs than academics, never seeming to blow steam even after spending a day sprinting from floor to floor. 

“I love you,” she thinks she hears him say through the tangles of her hair that she sweeps out of his face a nanosecond later, finding him slumped into the seat, neck exposed and eyes fluttered closed. 

He's definitely sleeping over tonight.