Shira covers with a fist, coughing slightly and trying to not pull attention to herself in the middle of class. This is supposed to be an important lecture, but she couldn’t get herself to concentrate.

Not too far away, she could see the messy hair of Kim Taehyung, who was occasionally writing things down in his notebook. The bell rings, and like everyone else, he puts his notebook away and files out the door.

Shira, on the other hand, struggles to her feet, cramming her empty notebook into her bag and promptly trips over the hem of her pants. Cursing, she hikes the legs of her pants up and stalks out of the classroom with slightly pink cheeks.

Unfortunately, her mishap had not gone unnoticed, as a group of tittering girls giggle. Joke is on them though. Shira takes satisfaction in the fact that the thermodynamics professor had gotten angry at them for not turning in their homework set on time and had given them a zero.

Shira purses her lips, pushing past the group and towards the lab. The short procedure would let her go home early, and then she could sit in bed while finishing her reading for the day. For some reason, she feels seriously drained.

She pulls on her lab goggles with a yawn while stuffing the sleeves of her oversized sweatshirt into the white lab coat. The door to the lab was open, and it’s supposed to stay closed at all times. Frowning, she peers inside.

A couple of graduate students were ushering everyone else out of the lab. Taehyung looks confused, slinging his backpack on to his back while ing his lab coat.

“What is-”

“The graduate students apparently need the entire lab today. Which means we’re going to have to push off the next part of the procedure.” Taehyung answers for her, shrugging off the coat and pulling the goggles off his face. “Our samples should be okay in the fridge.”

“So we have the day off?” Shira raises her eyebrows, excitement bubbling in the pit of her stomach. That would push their entire schedule late by a day, but that would be okay. The lab technician didn’t seem to care too much. She needed the day off. Ever since she woke up, she felt sluggish and more tired than usual.

“I think so,” Taehyung stuffs his lab equipment into his backpack. “Are you in that energy and entropy class?”

“With the professor that puts everyone to sleep?” She smiles wryly, trying not to cough again. “Unfortunately. Why?”

“I was gone last week and his lecture notes make no sense.”

“The class barely makes sense, even with the textbook,” Shira mutters, walking next to him.

“I thought it was just me,” Taehyung mumbles under his breath, making her chuckle.
 

Taehyung knows better than to let his guard down around people outside of Bangtan. So what is he doing, walking alongside this girl towards the library?

She shoots him a slight grin, the edge of curling up before turning her bespectacled eyes towards the clouded sky. And then, promptly, she stumbles over the hem of her pants, and Taehyung stretches out an arm without even thinking, catching her securely around the waist.

The two of them blink at each other, surprised. And suddenly, Taehyung realizes he’s holding his breath and a slow lightbulb starts to flicker on in his head.

Gently, he tips her back on to her feet, and he moves away from her wide unblinking eyes and vulnerable expression.

“Thanks,” She mutters, tugging her long sleeves down and over her hands, turning away. “I-I should go.”

“Y-yeah. See you in lecture tomorrow.” Taehyung runs his tongue over his bottom lip as she walks away, trying to figure out what exactly happened.

He has a feeling that she’s running away, and he’s not used to that kind of reaction. He’s used to people trying to pull moves, and sometimes he would let them. But the lightbulb in his head slowly grows more luminous. Seok Sonha has somehow cut past whatever barrier he put up, and that is dangerous.

Seok Sonha is dangerous.

Taehyung tugs at the ends of the strands of his hair, turning towards the library, only to see Jimin and Jungkook leaning against the wall, next to the entrance of the library. Their sh*t-eating grins are very difficult to miss and Taehyung curses under his breath.

“So, anything you want to tell us?” Jungkook smirks, mischievousness plastered all over his face after Taehyung joins the two with much reservation. “Any new developments?”

“I said treat her like one of us. I think you’d just laugh at us if any of us fell,” Jimin wiggles his eyebrows, beam lighting up his face.

“Go away,” Taehyung grumbles.
 

The teasing continues until their evening training. Taehyung is entirely fed up with it, and gazes out the window with a blank expression as the rest of Bangtan laughs.

The black box bumps against his thigh, sniper rifle tucked safely away inside as he steps out, filing out of the van with everyone else and heading towards the rest of Big Bang. They head towards the training room, led by Jiyong who was quietly murmuring to Namjoon.

The door to the room swings open, and the other four of Big Bang are sprawled out on the couch. The red-haired girl with the mouth mask is missing, and Taehyung lets out a slow exhale. Without her, Seungri didn’t really give the best instructions. He learned