001.

Classes are simple and easy to get through. You look at the board and copy what the professor writes down then pretty much reiterate what he said in class for homework. Some classes have reports and group work and that’s when it becomes complicated. Well, at least for Jungkook. He’s a mute 15 year old boy that has the highest grades in his school, beating the seniors whose main goal is getting the best grades in order to have a life after high school.

Jungkook has gotten through his middle and first year of high school easily enough, but when Mr. Oh, the hard of the school that demands Jungkook to work with a partner for his class, no matter what his condition, he regrets every choice he made that led up to him taking AP chemistry. And to make the matters worse, he was paired with the most talkative kid in his class, and probably school, Kim Taehyung. Jungkook doesn’t mind because the kid is quite cute, but his perspective changes when the kid babies him and refuses to let him handle the dangerous chemicals because “he’s a child and might hurt himself on them”.

Taehyung, on the other hand, praised every lord and god that there was and ever existed when Mr. Oh called his name to sit with Jungkook. Not only is Jungkook the smartest, but he’s also the cutest (he doesn’t like admitting his little crush on the younger since he’s two years younger than him).  Jimin, his best friend, has teasingly said that Taehyung’s crush on the younger is quite…adorable? Taehyung never understood why Jimin would be positive about his pedo-crush on a 15 year old, but it was better than him shunning him because of it.

--

The second time that Jungkook and Taehyung had to work together was torturous. Jungkook tried writing fast enough to tell Taehyung not to mix the baking soda with the vinegar yet because then it’ll get everywhere, but he wasn’t fast enough, only getting to the word ‘shouldn’t’ before there was bubbles all over their chemistry desk, ruining Jungkook’s notebook and their worksheet in the process. Mr. Oh was resting his head in his hands the whole time the two were cleaning up the mess, which took longer than it should’ve due to the large amount that got onto their uniforms, causing them to miss their next period classes since they had to wait in the principal’s office until their parents brought them a new change of clothes.

--

The third time, Taehyung finally let Jungkook touch the experiment after he left a long and lecture like letter for him at the beginning of class. Taehyung hated seeing Jungkook burn himself on the burner, but he couldn’t do anything but watch and take notes while Jungkook expertly and properly mixed the two bottles together, the liquid turning green at the contact. Taehyung sighed and decided to apologize to Jungkook after class for ruining the youngers notebook and their grade for their experiment, but after class Jungkook was out the door and gone by the time Taehyung came back to the desk from giving Mr. Oh the worksheet.

Next time, he thought.

--

And next was for sure because the next time they met was during a tutoring session. He knew he needed a tutor in his math classes, but he didn’t know that it would be Jungkook. The younger looked surprised, then disappointed, then he sighed and nodded, dragging Taehyung out the school and down some streets to the front of a small shop. When the two walked in, the workers greeted them, calling out Jungkook’s name and a nice to see you again. Taehyung was looking around while Jungkook wrote down something a piece of paper and handed it to one of the workers. They nodded and smiled at him and walked back behind the counter. Jungkook pulled Taehyung by his jacket and towards a small table in the back corner of the shop. Taehyung sat down in front of Jungkook and finally asked what he’s been wondering since he got there.

“What is this place?” he asked. Jungkook glanced at him and pulled out his notebook, scribbling out a reply and sliding it to Taehyung.

‘It’s a shop that my parents own. It’s pretty much a café.’ Taehyung nodded and slid the notebook back to him. A man comes by and sets down two cups and a plate of fries. Jungkook slides one cup to Taehyung and motions for him to take a sip. Taehyung does and nearly groans aloud at how good it is. Jungkook has a small smile on his face as he watching Taehyung drink more.

“This is so good, oh my god,” Taehyung finally says, setting down the cup on the table. “What is it?” Jungkook has a smile on his face and picks up his pen, writing down his answer.

‘It’s a drink that I made my 7^th grade year. I was tinkering with stuff and made the manager try it, to which he then demanded a recipe to make in the shop and now it’s the most popular drink here. It’s a secret to what it exactly is, but it’s called Jeonguk special.’ Taehyung laughs at the name and nods, a smile on his face and slides the notebook back. Jungkook has a small smile on his face too as he picks up a clump of fries and stuffs them in his mouth. They sit in silence, drinking and eating, until Taehyung breaks it.

“Listen, I’m sorry about the whole thing in chemistry. I know that you’re the smartest kid in school, of course I know, everyone either hates you or loves you for it, but I just thought you were too cute to actually be as smart as people said so I took over and then messed up.” Taehyung has a blush on his face, matching the one on Jungkook’s too. The younger smiles and writes something down on a napkin, having already put his notebook in his bag.

‘I’m not cute, but thank you and its okay.’ Taehyung rolls his eyes and lets out a breath of relief.

--

Jungkook agreed to meet Taehyung every Monday and Wednesday at the café after school. Jungkook usually gets there first, having muscle memory on where to go while Taehyung still needs to use the directions Jungkook wrote out for him.

During their first meeting, Jungkook had given him a small picture. It was a drawing of a Chinese characters 光明. Taehyung asked what it meant, but Jungkook shook his head as if telling him that he’s not going to answer.

--

Taehyung found that every time they met, Jungkook gave him another drawing of a Chinese character. Taehyung always thanked him and Jungkook always nodded. The two worked silently unless Taehyung had a question. He never understood how the younger could explain math better than any other math tutor he’s ever had that could talk, but he never asked. Taehyung always wondered why the younger never spoke, but, after better judgement, he never asked. There was a lot of things that Taehyung never asked Jungkook because he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable or ruin the friendship they had. Taehyung didn’t want to risk his crush avoiding him because he didn’t want to answer personal questions.

So he didn’t ask. He kept the conversations positive and never had a dull moment. He tried cracking jokes to make Jungkook laugh aloud, but when he did, no sound came out. The only time Taehyung could get vocal-ish sound out of the younger, it was through of cough or sneeze and sometimes a hiccup.

--

“Jimin, I don’t know what to do!! Should I ask him or just let it be?! I want to know, but I don’t want hi avoiding me because the question was too personal!!” Taehyung flailed around on his bed, nearly hitting the older leaning against the headboard. Jimin sighed and grabs Taehyung’s arm, forcing him to stop the flailing and looks at him.

“In my opinion, I don’t think you should. I’ve heard of a lot of causes of mute-ness, and most of them are after a traumatic event. If you really, really can’t handle not knowing, then ask, but, like I said, I’m against it.” He let’s go of Taehyung’s arm and the younger falls back on his bed, staring intently at the ceiling.

I want to ask him, but if it’s a bad thing that made him mute, I’ll ruin everything and make him sad and I don’t want that and I really like seeing him happy, I don’t want to see him cry, his face is too beautiful for tears oh my god, what do I do, I want to ask, but I-

“Taehyung stop thinking so much and just ask him. I’m tired of hearing you constantly ask me if you should.” Taehyung looks up at his best friend and sighs.

“I’ll ask, but how do I ask?” Jimin groans and picks up a pillow that was in his lap and hits Taehyung in the head.

A/N: Okay, so I’m leaving it off here because I think I should. I’ll try and update ASAP, but my family is coming to visit this Saturday and I need to clean out the whole house before they get here. *salutes* I am off.