Rain came down in torrents as Jungkook watched in stony-faced dismay from the entrance of the school building. Baekhyun and Chanyeol had dorm rooms, As their homes were far away from the school, and they didn't have umbrellas to loan him. 

Well, Chaneyol confessed that he had a raincoat, but it was yellow and horribly conspicuous and the last thing Jungkook wanted was to be so grotesquely conspicuous. Jimin's dad came to pick him up and Jimin had offered both Yoongi and Jungkook, a ride home. But, Jungkook had declined because he doubted he wanted to get into Yoongi's 'moment'.

He thought over his options,  He could  call his chauffer on occasions like this. (He usually walked home because it was nicer that way.), but that ship sailed, since unexpectedly his cell phone battery went flat on him.So he could wait it out in Baekhyun's or Chanyeol's room (which he honestly wasn't keen on doing then), wait it out himself at the school entrance, or simply walk home in the rain. 

He opted for the last option.

He had only one foot forward and head not even out in the pattering rain, when a blue umbrella opened beside him and came over his head. 

Surprised he turned to see and behold, THE  Kim Taehyung standing beside him, smiling up at the younger boy as it was the most natural thing to do. If there were some things that didn't change, it was the way Taehyung tends to smile so disarmingly at people and the fact that Taehyung was still a little bit shorter than himself. 

"You wanna share an umbrella?" his older classmate asked. 

Jungkook stared down at him. This was the first time Taehyung spoke to him since they started school. It came as a surprise...and oddly, not an unpleasant one. A part of Jungkook expected the older boy to talk to him eventually. Perhaps, and this he would never admit, he had been waiting for it to happen. Waited for so long that when it happened, right then with the offer of an umbrella shared, he had not the words for the occasion. Turning away, Jungkook gave a small nod and they started walking, sharing what bit of shelter the umbrella could provide for the two of them. 

After a while, Jungkook quietly took hold of the umbrella from Taehyung, careful for some reasons to not brush his hand against the other guy's. 

"I'm taller, it's easier if I hold it," was his nonchalant answer to the question on the other one's expression. 

A light punch came down on his shoulder, but Jungkook, strangely expecting that, didn't flinch. 

"I'm only just a little shorter than you and you are already blowing your trumpet about it!" Taehyung shouted into his ear. 

'This is something familiar,'Jungkook found himself thinking with some degree of mirth. 

Out loud, he said, "I thought you forgot who I was, Kim." 

The rain came down around them as they splashed it out home. The road seemed so familiar then. After their fights, they always walked home like this, oddly contented, feeling little need for conversation. Right then however, some conversation, Jungkook felt, was due. Haven't they got a lot to pick up from? 

Interlacing his fingers behind his head, Taehyung replied with a laugh, "How can I forget you, Jungkook? The guy I always fought with back when we were still in elementary school." 

"Then you left after that, without a word," Jungkook was aware a little too late that he might have sounded hurt then and perhaps accusatory too.

"It was not expected. Suddenly, before I knew anything, I was all packed for the city my brother lived for a while. I didn't have time to say goodbye, not even to anyone," Taehyung said, hands still behind his head, leaning back into it as if he was relaxing on a lounge chair. " My brother thought sophisticated city life would be good for me and there was no arguing with him." 

"What happened?" 

"I didn't like it there. Appa was always at the university with his research and his books and my brother with his school. Then my brother got transferred as you can well see. He's our Physical Ed teacher," Taehyung rolled his eyes as he said this. 

Jungkook smirked. That was true. It had shocked a lot of people to find it out but they were quick to see that Mr. Kim was not one to be nice to anyone during Phyiscal Ed, not even his own brother. 

"So you live with your brother now?" 

Taehyung shook his head. 

"He's married now, and besides I miss my parents so we all moved back here. Somehow adopted a younger brother along the process too." 

"You have an adopted younger brother?" Jungkook asked. He had remembered the teenager who was always telling him off after ever fight with Taehyung, but he had not remembered an adopted younger brother. 

A nod, followed by a grin. “We found him in the jungle, but don't tell him that." 

They passed by several houses in silence. Jungkook scrutinized each one discreetly but failed to remember which one was Taehyung's, much to his secret dismay. 

In time, Jungkook asked, "So is it still a long way to your house?" 

"We just passed it," Taehyung replied casually. 

Jungkook stopped and it took patterns of rain on his face for Taehyung to realize that Jungkook had stopped. 

"Shouldn't we be going back?" Jungkook asked. "Why didn't you say that we just passed your house?" 

Taehyung stared at him as if he had just asked something odd. 

"Your mansion is still a long way from here," Taehyung reasoned, dark chocolate orbs looking at Jungkook unfaltering. "I thought I would walk you home and then retrace my steps back to mine." 

Jungkook's eyes narrowed as he spoke, " I don't need anyone walking me home." 

"But you need the umbrella. I couldn't possibly let you walk in the rain." 

Jungkook blinked, feeling a certain jolt in him. No one in his life ever bothered whether he walked in the rain or not. If he said he wanted to walk in the rain, everyone, even Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Yoongi would let him go with it. Here was someone who was overly concerned about him having some way to go home without getting wet, even if it meant going out of his way to ensure it. Jungkook had no doubt that this was the young man who had grown from the boy he used to know. Still, it was all bloody ridiculous!

Looking away, Jungkook replied tersely, " You can loan it to me, moron." 

"Okay," Taehyung said with a shrug, wheeling around to start walking back to his house. Jungkook followed suit. A part of him pounded himself in his face. He hated to admit that he wanted the orange haired boy to walk him home, hated that he actually desired this young man's company. 

"So, who's home?" he heard Taehyung ask, piercing his way into Jungkook's thoughts. 

"Only the servants." 

"Dinner?" 

"Wha-" Jungkook turned a slightly shocked expression to his companion. 

 "Dinner," Taehyung emphasized. "You're eating dinner alone?" 

"Pretty much," he growled. 

He was, admittedly a little angry with himself for assuming for a fraction of a second that Taehyung was inviting him to dinner. 

"Say, if that's the case," Taehyung began. "Would you like to have dinner with my family tonight? That is if you don't mind not eating the cuisine you are always used to." 

Jungkook never understood how Taehyung could throw him all these curveballs and so naturally too. One moment he thought Taehyung was inviting him to dinner, and then he thought he had thought wrong... only to have it turn out to be true. 

Jungkook debated inwardly, only debating proved useless. It didn't take much thought for him to pick up the gait, umbrella in hand, once more splashing in the rain, and walk with Taehyung back to his house which they had casually passed before. 

"When you started school," Jungkook began out of the blue when they had walked some distance in silence. He surprised himself in even asking it. "What took you so long to talk to me, knowing who I am..." 

Taehyung laughed a little at this and did not move to answer for some time. Jungkook stole a furtive glance at his companion. He noticed that Taehyung had his ears pierced. On the ear facing Jungkook, there was a black stud and Jungkook remembered seeing that exact number on the other side too. A piercing in each ear, Jungkook mused. Gone indeed was the boy who used to wear shorts and long, white socks.

"I don't know," Taehyung said, looking up at the overcast sky, his hangs once more behind his head. " I guess I was afraid that you've changed...what with the friends you have now. You used to be such a loner." 

Jungkook didn't say that Taehyung perhaps had something to do with his change. Indeed, he shunned the company of people in the past. It took the eagerness of a young boy, day after day of a round at the playgrounds, and a plate of dirt to show him that having people in your life was not a bad thing at all. Jungkook allowed himself a small, furtive smile. Thus, there were Yoongi, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol. 

Jungkook climbed up the short set of steps to a sort of open air verandah. The wooden floor was slick with rain, yet Taehyung closed his umbrella, sprinkling more water onto it. He pushed open a door and dropped the umbrella into a basket already filled with umbrellas. 

Jungkook suddenly felt nervous as he stepped into the house. Apart from Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's dorm, their respective homes and Yoongi's for the occasional events like a movie night or game marathons, he had never been to anyone's house for something as intimate as a casual dinner. He had never met Taehyung's parents before, and the whole idea of a father and mother brought to his mind the image of his grandfather, a cold, rigid, and power hungry one. His hand automatically went to his tie and he found himself straightening it as if he was going to meet his future in-laws. The idea snapped him to his senses and he whipped his hand away. 

Taehyung discarded his wet shoes and stepped barefoot up onto the raised area of the main house. 

"You can use those slipper if you are uncomfortable going around barefoot. They are for guests," he heard Taehyung tell him as he proceeded to remove his own shoes. "But you can go barefooted if you like." 

 Jungkook started at the unfamiliar casualness of Taehyung's household. It had nothing  of the protocols present in his mansion. He was extremely wary upon entering the house, after choosing to go barefoot. He had never walked around barefoot in his own mansion before. The feeling was liberating and almost...amusing. 

"Nothing like your mansion I'm sure, but hey, it's home!" Taehyung said brightly as they walked down a hallway to a room at the far end. 

Looking around, Jungkook replied involuntarily, "It's cozy." 

"Awww..." Taehyung began, placing a punch on his arm. "You don't have to try to find anything nice to say to me. Anyway, you can leave your stuff in my room." 

At the mention of his room, Taehyung pushed open a door to reveal a small but surprisingly tidy bedroom. Jungkook hesitated stepping into the room...it was such a private domain. In time, he did and carefully placed his bag down on the study table. 

He noticed that Taehyung had a large bookshelf lined on one side of the room, against a far wall. On one level, just above the row of closed cupboards built into the shelf design, were framed pictures of himself, his brother, and his parents, and grey headed boy Jungkook couldn't recognize. One had them-- the parents and the grey haired boy--both grinning into the camera as they squeezed a despairing Taehyung between them. 

In one corner, he saw an empty glided-edged photo frame. 

"Why is this one empty?" he wondered aloud despite himself. 

"What-? Oh..." Taehyung said getting a little embarrassed. "Call me a sentimental idiot, but..." 

Jungkook turned his head a little, feeling suddenly intrigued. 

Taehyung was scratching the back of his head, a gesture fully familiar to Jungkook as it dated to way back when they were still children. The former's face was tinged with pink. 

"I made this sort of a promise to myself..." Taehyung began embarrassingly. "That it will remain empty until I find someone I love and whose picture I would put inside so that I can put it beside my family's...to look at it every day." 

His voice was soft when he said this and it led Jungkook to think, namely due to a certain mud pie, what a sentimental person Taehyung generally was. Jungkook’s eyes returned to the empty photo frame and lingered there before he turned them to the group of odd trinkets arranged neatly in one corner-folded paper stars in a bottle, a heart-shaped tin-box with the words For Taehyung written in glow-in-the-dark 3D marker, among other things which Jungkook found nauseating. One reason for such nausea being that back in middle school, he remembered the notes and chocolates that girls used to slip under his desk and such. He never felt at all inclined to keep them, but then again, none of the girls really bothered to make him anything. Perhaps that was one marked difference between them: Taehyung was someone, That girls would put in the extra effort to make things for. He was not just another pretty face; he had a heart no else possessed.

Jungkook felt a sudden prick within him, for reasons unbeknownst to him, but swallowed it down rather angrily and asked with mile disinterest, “So I don’t think these are from a girlfriend?”

Taehyung laughed and answered dismissively from behind him, “Naaah…. admirers from my early years of high school. I never could tell them that I swung in the other direction, but I kept everything that was given to me because the girls put in a lot of effort to make them.”

‘Point on,’ thought Jungkook bitterly, much to his own surprise.

Another realization made Jungkook whip his head around to look at the older guy. Something Taehyung had said about swinging…But before he could say anything, the door to the room burst open and two viciously roaring figures suddenly crashed into the bedroom and jumped Taehyung backwards onto the bed.

Jungkook, despite himself, was startled backwards himself. A sprightly elderly man and a boy, younger than Taehyung, with dazzling grey hair---the duo from the glomping picture--- bent over Taehyung, laughing. Taehyung’s face was a real study as he peered up at them from where he lay and Jungkook actually had to take a moment to still his rapidly beating heart. Even he, taught to be prepared for anything, was not expecting that.

Sitting up, Taehyung cried out angrily, “Why do you two have to keep doing that each time I get home?”

The grey haired boy only laughed while the elder gentleman said, jabbing Taehyung playfully in the ribs, “You should have been more prepared Tae! Jackson here and I have been waiting all day to do that.”

“Yeah!” the said Jackson exclaimed, in a loud, scratchy voice. “What took you so long to get back?”

“I had sports trails remember?” Taehyung shouted back.

Jungkook dipped a pinky into one ear and twisted it a little. ‘This was obviously a family of shouters and screamers’, Jungkook thought. At least, this side of the family. From his Physical Education periods with the juniors, Mr. Kim ( Taehyung’s older brother) was a lot quieter…though more annoying and something of a dungeon overload.

“Well did ya make it, Tae?” Taehyung’s father asked.

“Did ya? Did ya?” Jackson parroted, bouncing up and down on the bed.

Beaming, Taehyung replied, “ The results are not out yet, but I was the fastest guy today!”

There was another racket- His dad was viciously giving Taehyung a noogie, Taehyung was protesting against the noogie, and Jackson was announcing rather redundantly that he would be the fastest in the school if only he was old enough to be going to high school and that Taehyung could easily be eating his dirt.

Everyone was talking at once. Jungkook leaned against the bookshelf, crossed his arms, and watched them mildly. Yup, it definitely was a family of shouters and screamers. It was different from his mansion where every footstep echoed and where each echo soon became a friend. Servants darted away into the shadows once you did not need them, the ceilings were unnecessarily high, and hallways stretched for too long.

Taehyung’s house was cozy indeed.

“Will you stop?” Taehyung cried out. “We have a guest today!”

With that, he indicated Jungkook who was standing; hiding everything felt with practiced nonchalance.

Jackson took him by surprise though. The short grey head rushed up to him and pointed an accusing finger at the tall young man.

“You! Who are you and state your purpose here in Port Royale!” A while later he added, “And no lies!”

Jungkook stared down at the finger which was almost jabbing him in the face, taken completely aback, not knowing exactly by what- the finger, the sudden turn on him by the grey head terror, or the fact that the boy had uttered what wan an appropriate adaptation of the lines from Pirates of the Caribbean.

“Jackson! Don’t be rude! And have you been watching that movie again?” Taehyung cut in between them, pushing the finger and the hand it was attached to, down. “Anyway, I invited him over for dinner!”

 “Dinner eh?” Taehyung’s father remarked, coming up to Jungkook in record speed before peering at him all too interestingly. “Been a long time since we had guests.”

Holding out a hand, he added with a grin,” I’m Taehyung’s father. You can call me Dad, or Appa, or Dude…anything that suits your fancy.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes.

“Any friend of Taehyung’s is welcome here,” Dad added.

Jungkook could not help but compare how different Taehyung’s father was from his own grandfather. He took the hand hesitatingly and was rewarded with a vicious shake.“And I’m Jackson!” the boy screamed directly into his face. “The greatest playground fighter in the whole world.”

Placing himself in a battle stance, he continued,” C’mon you with black hair, I’ll take you on!”

Jungkook actually contemplated tweaking him with a thumb and finger on the nose, but to chose to raise an eyebrow. Perhaps something of Taehyung had rubbed onto this boy. However, as much as Jungkook would never admit it to anyone, the only person he considered the greatest playground fighter in the world was Taehyung.

“Will you guys leave him alone?” Taehyung called out to them. “He’s supposed to feel welcome, not scared less to come here anymore!”

“And one more thing!” Jackson managed to shout. “Tae’s mine! So hands off, okay?”

A pink blush on Taehyung’s cheeks appeared as he dislodged Jackson who had by then clung to his waist. He struggled to send the duo out of the room.

“Just get dinner ready, okay? And Jackson let me define ‘my brother’ again…and it means to  help Dad in the kitchen!”

“But you said something else the other time!”

“Jackson!”

“Okay, okay! Sheesh! You don’t have to be such a grouch about it,” Jackson said and walked out of the room behind Dad.

Once the room was vacated by just Jungkook and himself, Taehyung breathed a sigh of relief and turned to face Jungkook again.

“You have an interesting family,” Jungkook ventured to say. His arms were still crossed but he could not contain his smirk.

“Noisy, you mean,” Taehyung said, taking off his blazer and proceeding to remove his tie. “There’ll be more to come at the dinner table, trust me.”

Jungkook was sure of that, but said nothing. Busy chattering and clanging could be heard from further down in the house. Taehyung was by then removed of his tie and blazer. Jungkook found himself watching, incredibly fascinated as Taehyung, perfectly comfortable in his home even with someone in his room, undoing some of his shirt buttons as he chattered on. Soon, the older guy turned back to him, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the first few buttons of his shirt undone.

“Hey, if you wanna remove your blazer, feel free to do so,” Taehyung invited, looking rather intently at the guy leaning against his bookshelf.

Jungkook started, turned around to face the bookshelf, and proceeded to remove his blazer. He was started to feel warm. Were his cheeks red? Was that the reason why Taehyung had looked at him so intently before? Jungkook cursed inwardly. What was this? Why did he feel so…affected?

He almost jumped out of his skin when Taehyung came up beside him, his hand shooting out to…

…grab a book from a shelf. Jungkook looked again at the bookshelf. Save for the one portion where Taehyung apparently displayed all his objects of personal sentiment, the rest of the bookshelf was packed with books. Jungkook had to raise an eyebrow at this.

There were the school textbooks- the dog-eared one with the indicator tabs protruding out one side, the one which was read through and studied with: History, Biology; nice neat ones which looked like they were barely touched; namely Math and Physics-but the rest…were books.

It was a good selection apparently. There was a whole collection of all the Jane Austen’s works (‘Taehyung? An Austen fan’ Jungook wondered inwardly), good ol’ Will Shakespeare took up another spot, there was a splattering of classics- Robinson Crusoe, Wuthering Heights, The Count of Monte Cristo included- and more contemporary literature- Midnight’s Children by Rushdie, Surfacing by Atwood, and even The Bell Jar by Plath.

“Are these all yours?” Jungkook asked, his indifference barely concealing his amazement. “Do you even read them?”

“Har har har ,” Taehyung remarked dryly, rolling his eyes. “I have and yes, they are all mine. Some years of painstaking part-time work to earn money to spend on books and of scouring second hand bookshops for good deals. Oh, yeah. I stole some from the school library back in the city too.”

“Thieving already?” Jungkook said, turning full around to look at Taehyung with a smirk. “And I here I was expecting a selection of comic books.”

“Ah hah!” Taehyung cried, holding up an index finger in triumph. He knelt at the edge of his bed and bent over it take something under it. His shirt hung down as he did so, allowing a glimpse of a lean, smooth torso. Jungkook had to turn away quickly. Of all things! Why was he noticing that so intensely? All that skin…

Eventually, Taehyung straightened up with a box in hand. He opened it to reveal his comic book collection.

“There’s still more where these came from,” Taehyung told his companion, indicating the dark abyss under his bed. “Maybe someday they would be collector’s edition! I can then sell them on e-bay at exorbitant prices!”

Jungkook raised an eyebrow, but admittedly, the older guy’s goofy enthusiasm was contagious. He found himself chuckling.

Taehyung laughed with him as he replaced the box. Straightening up again, he added seriously, “I like comics still, but I like my books better. And I just have this crazy habit of wanting to see them every time I walk into my room.”

Perking up, he added, “You know those old mansions that have libraries lined floor to ceiling with old leather-bound and linen-bound copies of book, Jungkook?”

Jungkook replied with a characteristic nod, though he was actually interested to hear more. There was simply something in the way Taehyung was talking about all this; the way his eyes grew large and glowed, and how he sounded like he was putting his all into what he was saying…It was perhaps what drew young Jungkook to the annoying little boy with the long socks, stupid shorts and the T-shirt with a neck that always looked like he was rubbing his dripping nose on it.

“I’ve always wanted to see something like that,” Taehyung finished, leaning back on his arms and staring up at the ceiling dreamily.

Feeling his cheeks suddenly flush, Jungkook trained his eyes on the books once more.

“Strange thing for a man to fantasize,” he said. “Can’t do anything to that.”

Jungkook sensed a pillow being thrown his way and reached out a hand to his side to expertly catch it. Spinning around again, he tossed it back from whence it came.

“Now tell me, alien intruder,” Jungkook said menacingly. “What have you done to the 

real Taehyung?”

“Icy Jeon Jungkook finally learnt to tell a joke?” Taehyung questioned quacking an eyebrow. “Anyway, if you’re wondering how I came to like books so much… well I had to take literature classes back in the city high school I used to attend, and I fell in love with it, not to mention aced it.”Staring down at the book he just pulled out, he said quietly, “A lot can be said through literature.”

“You’ve changed,” Jungkook observed.

Taehyung looked up, surprised, then grinned.

“I think it’s called ‘maturity’, Jungkook. I cannot keep fooling around forever you know.”

“A little fooling around is okay.”

Taehyung stared at him wide-eyed for a whole and then broke into another grin. “If you miss me, just say so Jungkook!”

“Never gonna happen,” replied Jungkook. “Anyway, what is that book?” he asked as Taehyung’s good-natured laughter died down and after he had neatly dodged another pillow thrown his way without bothering to catch it.

“For our Literature class this coming Friday. I’m psyched! It’s a classic… like reeeeeally classic. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.”

Jungkook groaned a little. He had clean forgotten about the week’s reading. Why had he allowed himself, (him, Jungkook) to be led by Baekhyun into taking up the class during the subject registration exercise? The Literature teacher, a flamboyant man with melancholy blonde hair tied back into a shaggy ponytail, who told everyone to call him Romero, was a nut! Outside of class and in the staff offices, he was always languid and lethargic. In class, however, he read off passages with vicious energy as he marched up and down the aisles.

You couldn’t sleep in his class because he would suddenly stop at your desk, seemingly randomly (which Jungkook was beginning to feel was not the case at all because Romero always had a knack for stopping at the desks of those who were not paying attention), and roar a line in your face. Just the other day, they were reading Walden by Henry Thoreau, and Romero had stopped by Jungkook’s desk, when Jungkook was least alert, and groaned, yes groaned, in his face:

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Worse still, Romero asked Jungkook, “Now, Mr. Jeon, what is the significance of this line?”- with a discreet glance at the corner where Taehyung’s eyes had only been before he was interrupted- “if you don’t mind sharing.”

Of course Jungkook did not know the significance of the line because (1) he had found the book so utterly boring that he gave up after page ten and (2) he had been staring at Taehyung as the older boy chewed the end of his pencil  in perusal of the open page before him. So, Jungkook found himself having to read the rest of the chosen passage in front of the class as a punishment for not attempting his reading before class. From upfront, he could see Chanyeol pretending to be into his reading to avoid being picked on, Baekhyun concentrating for real on the book and  taking notes in the blank margins of the printed pages. Yoongi was look furtively over his book at Jimin who was, like Chanyeol, pretending to read. Jungkook had not dared look over at one particular corner of the room where he knew a certain orange haired boy sat.

Right then the orange haired boy was standing before him, so close that Jungkook could detect the faint hint of a scent about him. Jungkook peered down at the open face, the face where he knew, every emotion could be read. However, right then, at the age this orange haired boy was, Jungkook read nothing in the face. In his own person, however, strange emotions and sensations were roiling. He could not pinpoint what they were, where they came from, or what was their source. All he knew for sure was that Taehyung was saying something that sounded like:

“Dinner’s ready. You’re coming right?”

And why was he holding on to that hopefulness he heard in the older guy’s voice?

Crossing his arms nonchalantly, Jungkook replied, “Yeah, I’m coming.”

The smile that was thrown at him next almost disarmed him. He steeled himself and walking out of the room behind Taehyung.

Dinner was indeed a noisy affair. A VERY noisy affair. However, there was times during the meal when he found his eyes meeting Taehyung’s as the orange haired persona looked at Jungkook over all the ruckus of food snatching and talking with mouths full ( namely Jackson and his abhorrent table manners), and Taehyung would smile. Jungkook would only half-smirk in reply before turning this attention to his food.

Jungkook stepped out into the dark night after dinner and already, the gloom and silence was getting to him. It was strange how a few hours in the Kim household could make the quiet and solitude just beyond its threshold so alien. Dinner had been…interesting. He had even had a short staring match with Jackson over who would get the last slice of chocolate cake. After such an experience, he doubted he could go back to his usual dinner at the mansion, sitting at one end of a long, long table alone, the only sounds in the dining room behind the clink of his silverware against the porcelain plate. The serving person would be waiting like a silent shadow, slinking forward asking if he wanted anything. It was so different from the ‘help yourself’ way the Kim household, where you reach out and grab whatever dish you want. Jungkook had to admit that it gave him an appetite.

He had thanked the Mr. Kim, earning himself, “come anytime you please”, before he stepped out. Slinging his bag across his body, he started to walk out of the grounds, hands shoved into the pockets of his school blazer.

 The sound of running feet behind him stopped his own. It was oddly surreal how those footsteps held in them a warmth Jungkook rarely ever felt. He his heels to see Taehyung running towards him from the house. Had Jungkook forgotten something?

“Hey!” Taehyung cried out as he came to a halt in front of the taller young man. “I’ll walk you to the gate.”

“I don’t need anyone walking me anywhere,” Jungkook drawled almost against his will.

“Sure Mr.  Independent,” Taehyung answered with a grin and they started walking slowly.

Once outside, they stood facing each other in silence for a while, with Taehyung smiling up at Jungkook.

“Somebody has grown more handsome over the years,” Taehyung said finally in a voice laced with amusement.

Jungkook felt his cheeks flush and was glad for the bare bit of twilight that existed around them. This stretch of street was probably the worst lit in the whole district, not that Jungkook was complaining.

“Whatever,” was all the reply he could muster.

“Thanks for staying over for dinner. It was great catching up with you, Jungkook!”

“Yeah, you too.”  It surprised the both of them since it came from Jungkook, but Taehyung only ended up laughing a little.

“See you tomorrow then!”

With that, Jungkook nodded and turned away before heading down the street to his home. He could feel Taehyung watching him go, most likely with a smile on those lips, the sight of which sometimes disconcerted him in so many odd ways. Jungkook kept walking slowly until he heard the door of the tall gate close and latch.

At the sound, he stopped and turned to gaze at the house.

Taehyung surprised almost everyone in the class when he suddenly bounded up to Jungkook the moment Mr. Anderson called the end of chemistry class. Jungkook barely had his textbook closed when two tanned hands slammed onto his desktop and made him blink. He found himself looking up into a pair of familiar eyes and  an even more familiar grin.

“Walk home with me, ‘kay?” Taehyung asked, although it was more of a rhetorical request than a proper option-filled question.

Jungkook could see many of those still remaining in the class looking over curiously, and with no small amount of shock, he might add. Taehyung was probably the first…no, the ONLY guy who dared demand such a thing of Jungkook, and so familiarly too as though they had been chums all their lives. (Which they have…practically, but of course, no one needed to know that.)

Why, even Jungkook’s friends were shocked. Baekhyun was frozen halfway through giving Chanyeol a customary after-the last-class hug. He had his arms resting on Chanyeol’s shoulders and was only about to the taller young man to him when Taehyung came up to Jungkook the way he did.

Both the black haired boy and Chanyeol, his hair of a lilac grey, stared at Jungkook as if he had grown a second head. Yoongi was for once not being all clumsy and flustered even though Jimin was standing before him. Not many newbies could talk to Jungkook without stuttering.

Jungkook lowered his gaze and made what he hoped was a good show of nonchalance as he gathered his stationary together and placed them in the pockets on the inside of his blazer.

“Hmm,” was all he said as he stood up.

“Cool! I’ll see you later then!”

Taehyung flashed him a smile that could have outdone  many suns on a summer’s day, before grabbing his two friends- a grinning Jimin ( who shouted a “See ya, Yoon!” as he was yanked off) and a bundle of joy by the name of Hoseok- and making a speedy break for the door. Boy, that guy could run.

“Aaaaah HAH!!” Jungkook heard Baekhyun cry. He quickly whipped his eyes away from the door which Taehyung had darted out of, and fixed the haired boy with a leveled stare.

“I see that someone hasn’t been telling us something,” Baekhyun continued to draw, immune to Jungkook’s look. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and even Yoongi, came up to him in record speed, plastering themselves in his personal space, and a certain eyeliner obsessed boy’s voice urgently demanded, “So! He talked to you huh huh huh?”

Jungkook swore he never remembered Baekhyun could be soon annoying. Baekhyun was usually y, not cutesy annoying.

The raven haired boy that was Jungkook started to casually walk away, hands shoved inside his blazer pockets.

“Hey guys,” a voice called from outside the class.

“Namjoon!” Baekhyun and Chanyeol greeted cheerily. “You will never guess what we just found out!”

The tall hulk of a young man came to a halt and looked at them questioningly. He was friends with  the four of the them- Jungkook, Yoongi, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol- but didn’t have many classes with them, seeing them mostly at their off-limits lunch table, during Physical Education, Extra Curricular Activities, and after school.  

“Don’t listen to them,” Jungook told them as he walked past the taller figure.

Baekhyun bounded up to Namjoon and hissed conspiratorially, “Well, someone is actually very close to this pretty, hot guy in our class and he didn’t tell any one of us.”

“And that bothers you?” Jungkook asked over his shoulder.

“Well, well, well…it seems as if icy old Jeon Jungkook may be able to have feelings after all,” he heard Yoongi say with a chuckle.

Everyone followed suit.

“So how close are you to that boy, Jungkook? Care to give details?” Chanyeol chimed, coming up beside Jungkook as they all walked towards their lockers.

“The way you people are at it, you might as well be gossipy girls,” replied Jungkook, beginning to feel a little put off by all the attention he was getting.

“No girls in this school, so some of us have to take up the role,” Baekhyun pointed out. “Besides, this is simply being curious about a friend. Nothing wrong in that.”

Jungkook only grunted as he stood before his locker and pulled it open after turning the right combination.

“He finally talked to me…that’s all,” he told them, stuffing his books in.

“So we figured, yeah,” Baekhyun said. “But from the look of things, you guys must have talked…way before today…maybe…”- Baekhyun leaned in closer to Jungkook, scrutinizing him with mock severity- “when we are not around?”

“And what is this about from Chanyeol that he asked you to walk him home?” Namjoon spoke from his own locker, which was right between Chanyeol’s and Yoongi’s.

“Namjoon,” Jungkook said warningly. When madness ensued among the, Namjoon was usually the calm center that Jungkook could turn to for some semblance of sanity but then, the guy only grinned.

“Yeah…that was a little sudden,” this time it was Yoongi, the clamor of dismissal going on all around him as he closed his locker door with the usual air of peace.

“I had dinner at his house yesterday…” The moment Jungkook said that, he knew he was going to regret it.

Baekhyun’s eyes glinted at the piece of information.

“…with his father and his adopted little brother,” Jungkook found it necessary to add.

“HAH! A family dinner! There’s something in that!” Baekhyun burst out, casting a knowing look at Yoongi, who blushed and turned away.

Jungkook only rolled his eyes as he slammed his locker door shut.

As if to make a point to his friends, he turned his back to them and started to walk away, only to find himself looking once more into familiar eyes the color of stormy dark storms…chocolate brown eyes….oh, he could never decide on which, but right then it was a warm, light-ish brown, glimmering with excitement as they stared up into his own.

Kim Taehyung stood before him, hands clasped behind his back, he bag slung across his lean shoulders, and lips stretched out into a smile both cheery and inviting.

“Ready, Jungkook?” he asked.

Before Jungkook could speak, Baekhyun pushed his way to stand in front of the younger boy and was soon shaking the said boy’s hand. Taehyung looked up at the black haired boy, a little taken aback. As with all the newbies, Taehyung had not spoken to any of the “older guys who sat at the back”, as the group was mostly known to be, save for Jungkook whom he had known for some time. He was by no means a shy boy, but something about the exclusiveness of the rebellious group kept him away. However, it seemed as if this haired young man was actually really friendly.

“Hey! You’re Baekhyun right?” He asked amiably.

“And you’re…Taehyung, aren’t you?” Baekhyun questioned him in return. “I thought you were really cute when I first saw you on the first day of school.”

It was quite amusing for Baekhyun to see the younger boy blush. There was something about the boy that quite took him. He mused. For one thing, those eyes…were so captivating…so pretty. That and the vibrant orange hair. The boy simply exuded a charm which all other boys lacked, making so little of them stand out. Baekhyun’s furtive wink at Jungkook clearly read, ‘He’s a very good catch!’

“I think you’re pretty cool yourself,” The orange haired boy replied with a smile.

“Cooler than Jungkook?” Baekhyun asked a little teasingly. Jungkook frowned at him.

Taehyung laughed at this and said,” If you meant that in terms of iciness, then no, you’re not.”

Baekhyun released a Taehyung’s hand and threw his head back in an unrestrained laugh. The other were doing the same expect Jungkook, as the others laughed at the expense…which rarely ever happened.

“Good one, Taehyung! I like you already!” Baekhyun practically shrieked over his laughter.

“Now, this is the first time we ever heard someone, beside ourselves, who could say such a thing about Jungkook, without being glared to death!” Yoongi put in.

“I’ve had to deal with those probably far earlier than you guys,” Taehyung told them with a chuckle.

“Tae,” Jungkook cut in tersely through the laughter, walking away as he spoke. “Let’s go.”

“You have very nice friends, Jungkook!” Taehyung remarked as they made their way down the street.

“Real nice,” said Jungkook, oozing with sarcasm. He was still a little peeved as his friends’ behavior. He was going to be in for some teasing…for sure.

Taehyung’s voice grew a little quiet as he went on, “And I’m glad that you made friends, Jungkook. At least you are not such a loner now.”

 Jungkook turned to look at the older boy when he heard that. Taehyung was looking back at him, his lips curved into a smile that was all at once gentle and happy. Only in Taehyung could Jungkook see someone who would feel happy for what he considered so trivial a matter. However, he recalled with a teeny smile of his own that Taehyung was always one to make him something important out of the things Jungkook considered trivial. Normally, he never saw the point, but Taehyung could always make him see some good in it. Baekhyun’s wink could well have its worth, not that he was admitting to anything.

Suddenly, he felt Taehyung take hold of his hand and then steer him away from what he knew was to be the route to both their homes. He had little time to question because he soon found himself in a playground. There were some children playing in it, their gleeful shouts, and childish taunting assaulting his ears immediately. Undeterred, Taehyung pulled him into the sand-floored playground and plopped him into a vacant swing. The swing was made for children…half or a third of his age…so it was low, so low that he had to tuck his legs in under it.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back,” Taehyung told him as he lifted the strap of his sling bag over his head and later plunking it down onto Jungkook’s lap.

“Taehyung…what are you-“

Taehyung was already dashing for the entrance at the whirlwind speed he was already becoming famous for.

Over a shoulder he shouted, “Don’t go anywhere! Otherwise I’ll beat the crap out of you tomorrow!”

Jungkook had no opportunity to say anything after that because Taehyung disappeared behind the tall hedges which lined the street side. Not being able to do anything else, Jungkook sat in the swing, allowing himself to rock a little, just a little, and kick a bit of the sand with the end of his shoe. He stopped when he noticed some kids staring at him. What, with him looking profoundly out of place, of course they would stare. He sighed and found himself gazing about them, taking in the surrounding. Something about this playground seemed awfully familiar.

Not far off, Jungkook spotted the gates of an elementary school. His eyes widened. Elementary school had been such a thing of the past that he hardly recognized it at first. The elementary school-goers had been released and the majority of those in the playground were them.

Sounds of a scuffle caught his attention, and he noticed in a far corner a familiar little grey head wrestling a boy to the ground. At first, the grey head looked like he was going to be forced out of the ring but he had squirmed himself loose of the other, burlier boy’s grip and pushed his opponent right out amidst cheers and the splattering of disappointed groans.

“Aww man! I thought Jackson was going to lose for sure!” Jungkook heard a boy say to his companion. The boy handed the other a whole stick of gum as he made that dejected statement.

Jungkook smirked. Kids started gambling early…Wait, Jackson?

“Hey! It’s you!”

Jungkook’s eyes fixed on the grey head as the kid bounded up to stand in front of him, arms akimbo, and legs apart.

“Aren’t you too old to playing on the swing?” Jackson demanded loudly. Jungkook dug a pinky into his ear and motioned to clear it pointedly. This boy was louder than Taehyung and Mr. Kim put together. Much louder.

“What is it to you, twerp?”

“You are waiting for your girlfriend aren’t ya?” Jackson demanded, and then grinned maddeningly before clasping his hands and widening his eyes to sickeningly huge proportions, all sparkles with surrounding opalescent flowers to boot. “Waiting for her so that you can tell her you wuv her?”

“She just ran out to get something,” Jungkook heard himself say.

He immediately did a mental double take after that came out of his mouth. It was a little disconcerting how that line brought to his mind Taehyung running out of the playground, the way he had earlier.

Trying not to think of it, Jungkook did the next best thing: he narrowed his eyes menacingly at Jackson.

Something of Taehyung must have rubbed on Jackson. Either that, or the little boy was brought up by wolves before the Kim’s adopted him because he only replied, unaffected by the stare,” Ah! Whatever! I need to go home and help Eomma with dinner since Taehyung isn’t going to be home for it today.”

Jungkook frowned. If Taehyung was not going to be home for dinner… that meant Taehyung was planning on staying out?

“What did Taehyung tell you he was going to be doing?” Jungkook asked.

Jackson shrugged.

“Dunno. Said he had something important to do, and he wouldn’t say anything else after that.”

“Anyway, my friends are going! I’m off. See ya, weirdo!”

Jungkook raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he watched the boy hurry after his friends. Who would have thought that he would meet Taehyung’s little brother here? And when did the little boy get there anyway? How long had Taehyung been gone? It felt like a long, long time…and yet, not time at all. The sky was already obtaining a peachy hue about it. All of this was too familiar…down to the time of day. All it needed was for Taehyung to…

“So! Have you figured it out yet?” Taehyung’s voice came to him and the running teen soon came to a halt before him, hands behind his back.

“This is the playground that we used to fight in,” Jungkook responded with a little smile. He did not want to mention that it took him a while.

“Correct!” Taehyung chirped before asking again, “And the day is?”

Jungkook frowned up at Taehyung but was suddenly taken by how beautiful Taehyung looked then. His eyes sparkling intently just at him. The excitement he felt was laid bare in the way his eyes glimmered. His hair was perfectly style in many ways like a god. It was amazing how beautiful Taehyung looked when he was bending down a little to lean towards him.

“The day?” Jungkook asked somewhat puzzled and distractedly.

“All these years and you never bothered remembering?”

“Remembering what?”

“Let me refresh your memory, gramps!” Taehyung teased, pulling something out from behind his back. Pushing a disposable cake tin practically under Jungkook’s nose, Taehyung shouted gleefully as he peeled off the aluminum foil which covered it, “Happy birthday, Jungkook!”

Jungkook stared down at the object in astonishment. Memories already etched into his mind came flooding back fresher than ever, only this time, it did not smell like dirt. Something dark, smelling like chocolate was packed into the simple round aluminum cake tin. The top, slightly bulging out about the level of the rim, had multicolored M&Ms arranged to spell his name…properly: “Jungkook”. Two candles protruded out of the whole simple set-up and Taehyung fished inside his blazer pockets until he came up with a lighter.

“I saw a recipe for mud pie that does not require ice-cream…so I tried it and this is the best one yet!” Taehyung told him excitedly as he placed the dessert, not a very big one, onto Jungkook’s lap. “I ran home to get it because I didn’t want to bring it to school.”

Jungkook watched, effectively speechless, as Taehyung knelt down and lightened the candles after flicking the lighter inexpertly a few times. Once the candles were lighted, Taehyung lifted a rapturous face, all aglow with the flickering light from the candles, to Jungkook. Soon, he was belting out in a “Happy Birthday” song. Normally, Jungkook would have been annoyed by something so pointless and embarrassing…but Taehyung was doing everything so sincerely and eagerly, he could not help but sink into it, perhaps even appreciate it. There was spreading warmth somewhere in him, what many would perhaps describe as a fuzzy sort of a feeling in the depths of his being.

 Jungkook remembered what sort of affect the boy’s similar gesture had on him so many years back… and it was doing the same thing then. Taehyung had always remembered Jungkook’s birthday but never once told the latter his own. Jungkook remembered that he had to actually badger it out of the teachers (true Jeon style) before he found out, only to mail the gifts he bought the older boy instead of giving it to him in person. Taehyung always thanked him for it in school. So it was like that , Jungkook mailing stuff and Taehyung giving him odd trinkets, like fix-it yourself figurines from those toy dispenser machines where you slot in coins to get those toys in little globes, for a straight five years or so. Their gifts were nothing big…but Jungkook would never ever admit to anyone that he kept all of the things Taehyung gave him, even if they were those girly miniature furniture sets.

After Taehyung suddenly left, Jungkook felt no need to acknowledge birthday anymore, not even his own. The two most important dates in his life simply sunk into a quagmire of forgotten memories. That was until Taehyung came bouncing back into his life and went all out to remind him what once was, what life perhaps meant. All those years apart and Taehyung never forgot…only waited for the day.

“C’mon, Jungkook! Make a wish and blow out the candles!” Taehyung’s voice pierced through his reveries.

Jungkook started a little, looking wide-eyes at first at the older teen and then down at the candles.

“Clasp your hands like this, close your eyes, and make a wish!”

Taehyung did exactly as he himself had instructed and was soon a divine picture as he knelt down before Jungkook. Those pretty eyes blissfully closed, the hands clasped fervently to his chest, and with that smile, Jungkook felt this very strange pull to lean in and…

Jungkook pulled himself back with a harsh, mental yank just as Taehyung opened his eyes again.

 “It’s really easy!” Taehyung urged, reaching out and grabbing Jungkook’s hands, pulling them together before intertwining the fingers into a clasp.

The touch of Taehyung’s hand on his shocked Jungkook, and he could feel his heart jump before settling into a wild hammering in his rib cage. At Taehyung’s continued insistence, he closed his eyes, however more to not look into that rapturous face than to make a genuine wish.

‘This is pointless,’ Jungkook found himself thinking.

Somewhere in the back of his mind though, he was actually wondering what he should wish for. It was easy to simply put on a show of making a wish and then opening his eyes and blowing out the candles before taking the cake home and instructing the servants to put in the fridge. Only he didn’t.

He was actually pondering over the one thing he would want to come true. It was no easy task because Taehyung’s face kept surfacing in his mind, smiling at him-little Taehyung with no front teeth, a slightly older Taehyung just on the cusp of teenage hood, and a current young man of eighteen.

Finally, Jungkook gave up and spoke out loud that he wished he would get an ‘A+’ for the upcoming Math test.

“You are not supposed to say it out loud! Or else it won’t come true!” Taehyung shouted at him. “And now, blow out all the candles in one breath! Blow!”

There was so much urgency in Taehyung’s voice that Jungkook actually felt like he ought to comply otherwise something bad was going to happen. He opened his eyes and blew out the candles easily in a single puff for there were only two of them.

“I’m not twenty,” Jungkook pointed out, looking down at the blue candles.

“You will be in three years,” Taehyung reasoned. With a laugh, he added, pulling them out, “Well, I wanted to put seventeen on this…but Appa said it might burn such a tiny cake down. It is rather tiny, isn’t it?”

Taehyung inspected the cake as he said so. It was bigger than a muffin but not quite the size of a regular pie.

Before he could stop himself, Jungkook actually found himself consoling, “It is just the right size for us.”

“Aww! That’s cool!” Fishing in his bag, which he had grabbed from Jungkook before placing the cake on the other’s lap, he brought out a packet of serviettes and a butter knife with triumph.

“You really thought of everything didn’t you?” Jungkook asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Mm hmm!”

It was hard not to keep down the rising blush as Taehyung the knife into his hand and guided it to cut the first slice of the cake, all the while kneeling before him. Jungkook realized that if it wasn’t for the cake on his lap, their position would seem rather…compromising.

Once the slice was on the serviette that Taehyung had readied for, Jungkook took his first bite out of it in the midst of Taehyung’s anxiously watching eyes. Jungkook had to avert his own eyes as he chewed, feeling a little put off by his…sudden shyness. Why was he feeling so… and only with this orange haired boy too? This was seriously not flattering to his reputation as the school’s resident bad boy.

“How…is it?” Taehyung asked hesitantly.

“It’s fine,” Jungkook told him curtly, still not looking at him.

“Phew, at least that’s something,” replied Taehyung with a grin.

Jungkook profoundly felt what a liar he was. It was actually the best thing he had ever tasted.

 “Oh! And before I forget!” Taehyung cried out just as they stopped at the gate to his house.

The orange haired boy probed about in his bag until he came up with a little brown package.

Handing it to Jungkook, he said, “Here!”

“What is it?” Jungkook asked, taking the package from his friend.

“The limited edition dresser to the furniture set I gave you a long time ago.”

Jungkook was glad for the bad lightening once more for he felt his cheeks flush tellingly. How did the older teen know that Jungkook still kept those things? And how did he know that Jungkook was missing a dresser for the bedroom set?

“You can expect the dining room set for your birthday next year!” Taehyung joked.

“Why are all your gifts so pointless?” Jungkook asked.

“Because you lack pointlessness in your life,” Taehyung told him with a laugh.

“And this is coming from someone who aces Literature?”

Taehyung started to push the tall wooden gate open as he turned and spoke, “It is human to make pointless things have a point.”

Jungkook stared at the orange haired boy after he made that statement and actually found himself smiling.

“I hate to admit it, but you have a point,” he said finally.

“See you tomorrow, Jungkook! And better get that reading done. You don’t want Romero to start picking on you to read up front again.”

“I’m way ahead of you, Taehyung.”

Light laughter twinkled, as Jungkook heard the orange haired boy ask, “What? Reading or pretending to read?”

Jungkook smirked and turned to walk away. The gate closed behind him and he felt it safe to open the package and take out the dresser. It even came with the drawers that could be pulled out and a small mirror.

Jungkook shoved the gift back into its package into his bag before he could see himself in the mirror.

On the following day, the buzz in the classroom immediately died when Romero stepped in. He always had that sort of effect on people.On top of that, he didn’t step in alone. Behind him, walking in a manner that would have made Sehun’s gait pale in comparison was a tall, lean brunette. He had about him an air of serenity and his lips were curved into a languid smile. The Drama Club President certainly knew a thing or two about bringing the theater with him everywhere and was constantly set on having some sort of effect on the people around him.

To Baekhyun and the others, he was simply plain annoying. Not that he cared for what other people thought anyway, for his head was always on an invisible stage that he brought around with him everywhere. The moment he walked through the threshold of the door to the classroom, practically all eyes were on him, wondering who he was and what was his business there. Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol and made a face. Jungkook, admittedly unconcerned about the young man, kept his arms crossed over his chest and retained that practiced look of bored indifference.

Romero stopped before the class and announced, “To all the students here, may I introduce to you this fine gentleman who is the President of our school’s own Drama Club: Kai.”

Said person stepped forward and afforded himself a gallant bow which owed him an involuntary, though hesitant, round of applause.

Straightening up, he said to Romero, “You flatter me, sir.”

“As much as I know all you are eager to begin our class,” -- a very quiet moan of denial washed through the class—“Kai is here to share with you something about an upcoming Drama Club event. Perhaps, Kai,” Romero said, looking over at the young man, “you would prove to be a better person to tell them about it?”

Kai nodded at the teacher and smiled.

“A pleasure,” he replied. Turning to the class, he smiled again. Of course, no one smiled back but he continued, unfazed. “As some of you, eager to join the Drama Club, may have noticed, we did not have the usual auditions for recruitment this year…”

Baekhyun hissed, more to himself than anybody, “That’s cause no one signed up for auditions.”

Chanyeol snickered at that, Yoongi ‘ahemed’  with subdued mirth, and even Jungkook smirked a little.

“I sincerely apologize for those of you who are eager to join us, but…the Drama Club has decided to do a talent scouting among all the Literature classes.”

No one said a word as Kai went on to explain about the club before finally delving into reason as to why he had come to make a personal appearance.

“For the main event of the high school’s Arts Festival, we are going to be staging the age old Shakespeare tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Currently, the Drama Club already has all the characters we need, but the star spot for one of the main characters, we have decided to give it to one you students. Where better to find such a person for the part than in a literature class eh?”

“So…which character is it?” someone asked from up front the moment Kai paused to let all he had said sink in.

Kai smiled at the person with a sort of knowing glint in his eyes and replied simply with effect, “Juliet.”

There was a deadened silence for the next few minutes before a contrasting roar of laughter rang through the room.

“But we’re all guys!” someone piped up.

Kai’s expression still retained that look of patient bemusement. He shared a look with Romero who rolled his eyes with an elegant wave of his hand.

Romero straightened up from his half-leaning position by the desk and went up to the front of the class.

“Gentlemen, I do not see what is so funny!” he spoke up, silencing the class immediately. “During Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to act on stage. So all the parts were played by men!”

“And I am sure someone in this room is more than fully qualified to play the part of the lovely Juliet,” Kai said next, looking about the room.

Chanyeol poked Baekhyun from behind, causing the red-head to whisper sharply, “I like reading literature, not acting in one!”

Chanyeol snickered behind his hand.

And so, with a significant amount of complaints from the “manliest” of men in the class, the readings for the part of Juliet began.

Jungkook was the one to get it all started. No, not because he volunteered. He’s too cool for that. Jungkook had simply made a sound that suspiciously sounded to Romero’s trained ears like a snort of disdain and had thus been called upon to read a line from one of Juliet’s part in the play.

Jungkook coolly stood, sauntered up the front of the classroom, hands in the pockets of his blazer, with his book nowhere  in sight, and recited an extremely bad rendition of Juliet’s famous, “Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo” and went back to his seat the way he came.

When he sat down, he turned to see all of his friends staring at him with a twitch in the sides of their faces.

“Man,” Yoongi finally spoke up. “You .”

Jungkook did not reply, only curled up one end of his lips before settling back into his chair.

After Jungkook, everyone had the misfortune to try, well, except for Baekhyun who nicely pointed out of his being in favor of critical study of a piece of literature, the academic nature of which would render him utterly incapable of producing any sort of effect on stage. Romero smiled at the haired boy and turned to the next person in line for the mini-audition, who, unfortunately, was Chanyeol. Not even Baekhyun’s casual pinch in the could make an actor out of him.

Kai, sitting in his corner was losing hope of ever finding the right Juliet. None of the guys in the class were right for the part. Not all of them were brusque, but those who were genteel did not have the right flare--that eye--catching something that could make a man’s heart turn somersaults when his eyes first catch sight of the person.

Oh wait…perhaps, he had been too preoccupied with the mini-audition up front. For there was that someone right there, sitting in his corner, watching everything that was going on with wide, interested eyes. Eyes that were chocolate-hued and innocent, silky orange hair into them, and when the young man smiled, yes, he smiled at the red head behind him once during the audition, at the point when Kai was watching; it was something to see how the smile immediately touched those eyes.

If that had been Juliet, any Romeo would say what he said when he first laid eyes on her. If that had been Juliet, any Romeo would gladly impale himself with his sword if she’d ask him to (no…no wait, that was different tragedy or was it?).

Romero was saying something to the class about speeding things up but paused mid-way in his speech and the class subsequently went silent when Kai suddenly leaped to his feet and marched up to Kim Taehyung.

“You!” He exclaimed, jabbing a finger at Taehyung, leaving only a hair’s breadth of space between that finger and Taehyung’s nose. Taehyung could only lean back and stare down the bridge of his nose at that finger. “You will be perfect!”

“Me?”

“Why didn’t I ask you to come forward sooner?” Kai went on. Turning to Romero, he asked, “Shall we let him try?”

“Why…of course…if no one objects. Some of you have not had your turn.”

Romero looked about the class, but no one protested. There were some who were even shaking their heads, their eyes wide, glad for anything that would get them out of auditioning. Romero looked at Jimin, who met his eyes but shook his head vigorously as an added response. With a shrug, Romero gestured for Taehyung to come forward.

Jungkook watching with a strange sense of …something…roiling in the pits of his being as Kai latched a hand around Taehyung’s slender wrist and hoisted the young man to his feet. All  Jungkook could focus on was that hand around Taehyung’s wrist as Taehyung frantically told Kai that he would be bad at it. However, Kai was insistent and Taehyung soon stood before the class amidst a rousing round of bawdy hoots and catcalls.

While Jungkook made a mental note to kill all those erts in his class, Taehyung rolled his eyes at his excited classmates and started to read the part in the play which Kai had specifically asked him to read. It was the last part of the play where Juliet took Romeo’s dagger and made ready to kill herself.

When Taehyung started, the catcalls were killed in everybody’s throat. No one expected Taehyung to be so…good. Without being told to, he’d been able to lighten his voice to a husky, perfectly androgynous voice, adding new dimensions to the role of Juliet that could be read in so many ways. (As Baekhyun mused.)

The whole  class was silent as Taehyung read the part. Kai listened rapturously, while Romero leaned back into his chair at the teacher’s desk with his eyes closed and a smile playing across his lips, as if he knew  all along.

Jungkook actually listened, for the first time in literature class, and watched with almost stunned regard as Taehyung went about Juliet’s final speech. His heart gave a jolt he found hard to ignore when Taehyung let out a final cry, indicating the moment when Juliet plunged the dagger into herself. It was not in the play, but Taehyung enacted it so well, and it was only verbally. When Taehyung finished, almost everyone in the class applauded, the catcalls returning to grate on Jungkook’s nerves once more. Taehyung up front held up the thumbs up and winked. He had to admit that despite feeling a little like a fool for acting so ardently, he liked the applause he was getting. Romero clapped daintily, knowing all along they had a Juliet in the pretty boy, but Kai shot up from his seat and drew Taehyung into an embrace that  surprised the younger man indefinitely.

“Finally! I thought I would never find you!” he cried dramatically, crushing Taehyung to his chest.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes; trust Kai to bring it theatrically to the lower masses. He looked over at Jungkook sitting beside him to convey his dislike for the Drama Club President but stopped when he saw how tensely Jungkook was seated in his chair, despite the latter’s attempt to cover it up his usual, cross-aimed indifference. Baekhyun’s attention returned to the scene in front of the class, at Taehyung appearing as if he was having the life squeezed out of him by Kai’s embrace, then turned back to Jungkook. Baekhyun allowed himself a little smile and turned back to the front.

In that moment, held so tightly by Kai, Taehyung found himself looking over Jungkook across the room. Their eyes met for a short moment,before Jungkook dropped his eyes to the top of his desk. Taehyung dislodged himself from Kai and looked up at the taller man.

“Does that mean…” he began hesitantly.

“Rehearsals start soon, my dear.”

Jungkook squished his eyes closed, trying his best to drain out the voices.

After the whole 'mini-audition', Romero assigned the class project for the semester. He gave two choices: Either they could actively get involved in the Drama Club’s production by being part of the backstage crew OR write research essays on some of the texts that have been covered in the class.

Then, class was dismissed, a whole half an hour early.

Jungkook only spent enough time to see the whole roomful of boys surge towards Taehyung once Romero called dismissal and hear someone say to Taehyung “Boy Tae, I bet you'd look hot in a dress on stage. I can entertain myself with that thought at night already!” After that, Jungkook was out of the room followed by Baekhyun and the others.

Taehyung stood on tiptoe amidst his newfound crowd of admirers, just in time to see Jungkook’s back sidle out of the classroom. He dropped back into the center of the crowd and smiled at those talking to him, not really hearing what they were saying.

“C’mon Jungkook! I saw that face in class. You hated the way Kai was all over Taehyung,” Baekhyun pressed, invading Jungkook’s personal space terribly, by 

standing far to close. Jungkook was backed up uncomfortably against his locker as Baekhyun pushed his face even closer.

Feeling a rising blush, one he didn’t expect to be there seeing no cause for it, Jungkook abruptly turned around and tried to open the door of his locker. However, Baekhyun was not one to let anyone get away far too easily.

“You know, Jungkook,” Baekhyun hissed darkly into Jungkook’s ear. “I will try not to bring up this matter anymore after this, since it is a matter of the heart after all, and all men need to discover it for themselves. But I will say this one thing before I lay off you: You like this boy.”

Pulling himself away from Jungkook’s back, Baekhyun added with a grin, “Why, you might even be in love with him.”

“I don’t do love,” Jungkook retorted coldly, glad for the breathing space.

“No one is asking you to do, Jungkook,” Chanyeol, who had been watching, put in. “Just to fall in it.”

Baekhyun turned to his boyfriend then and cried, “Why Chanyeol! That is the most romantic thing I have EVER heard coming from you!”

Jungkook stalked off, leaving the lovebirds and  gawking —Yoongi and Namjoon—to head for the next class with his hands in his pockets and his books tucked under one arm.

Just a few steps around the corner, Jungkook heard someone run up to him and later slow down to match his gait which had not faltered one bit.

Yoongi smiled over at his friend and spoke on, “You know, Jungkook. I have a problem telling Jimin exactly how I feel about him.”

“Your point, Yoon?” Jungkook asked irritably, not turning around.

The other chuckled and said, “Maybe you are the same the way.”

Jungkook stopped in the middle of the hallway, after which Yoongi did the same, and faced his friend squarely.

“I am not like you,” he articulated.

Yoongi picked up the page again, this time breaking into a light jog towards his next class. Looking jovially over his shoulder all the still-standing Jungkook, he shouted, “Yeah, buddy. You may not be like me…but I know you well enough to be able to tell that you tend to be meaner when you are uncertain about something!”

Jungkook stared after Yoongi’s quickly receding back, wondering at the latter’s observation. His eyes suddenly caught the sight of a familiar head of orange hair headed his way amongst a crowd of boy and, without thinking, he darted into the nearest classroom. He stared at the door, listening till he was certain that the group had moved away. He cursed himself inwardly. He didn’t know why his breathing was so strained, why his heart beat the way it did—so fast, so urgently. He felt suffocated and all this because Taehyung and his friends were walking past?

“Uh, young man?” The voice from behind him made him turn.

On doing so, he found, to his horror, that he was standing at the door of a classroom, filled with students who had looked up from their books, those bored snapped out of their boredom entirely. The teacher, the one who had spoken, stared at him strangely, holding an open book in his hand, having been interrupted so violently from his lecturing.

“Are you…from this class?” He asked eventually.

“Um,no…” Jungkook managed to utter before darting out of the classroom the same way he came in, only  then, he could hear the titters going around the students in the class.

‘Damn, that was embarrassing.’, he thought as he hurried to his next class.