“Can you just sit still and listen for FIVE seconds!! That's all I ask!!!!“ Jin shouted out of frustration. He immediately regretted it. It wasn't Taehyung's fault, he didn't ask to be born this way and he was supposed to be helping him. He was supposed to be the one to understand him and give him support. But it was hard. He had snapped at him several times during the last week. It seemed that every time they managed to move one step forward, they were immediately pushed two steps backwards.

“Are you mad?“ Taehyung asked softly.

“No!“ Jin growled. He took a steadying breath, trying to flush out all the frustration so he wouldn't take it all out on Taehyung.

“You look kind of mad...“ Taehyung observed, a sweet smile finishing his sentence.

“I'm not mad.“ He assured him, much calmer this time.

“You sound mad.“ Taehyung continued, not taking the hint and letting it go.

“I'm telling you... I'm not mad.“ Jin clenched his teeth, trying to swallow the irritation.

“It's okay to be mad.“ Taehyung assured him in an annoyingly kind voice, a small grin decorating his lips.

“I'm NOT MAD, OKAY?!?“ he lost his patience. He had been trying so hard to keep it professional, but in the end he failed. Why did Taehyung have to keep pushing like that? It was as if he knew where all his buttons were hidden and he just kept pushing them, over and over again. He had found a universal remote and stubbornly kept trying to change the channel until he finally succeeded, only the show that was airing on the new channel was way too scary.

“Okay.“ Taehyung said quietly, making Jin feel bad for snapping at him.

“Let's call it a day.“ He decided, not wanting to do any more damage. He was tired. So tired. He wasn't sleeping. He hadn't really slept properly since he came here. Sleeping alone felt so strange, it was hard to sleep when a part of him was missing. And he was throwing himself into this mission to help Taehyung in order to try and forget that. Fixing Taehyung meant he wasn't completely useless, even though he couldn't fix himself. Maybe he was looking for hope. If Taehyung could improve, maybe he could too.

The next morning before class he handed Taehyung a deck of flashcards. Not sleeping had its perks, it meant he could get so much more done, like making cliff notes for today's lesson.

“If you start to have a hard time focusing, you can pop out and use the running method. You have to quiz yourself though, and if you get it wrong you have to run extra laps.“ He explained.

“But I could just cheat and pretend I got it right" Taehyung chuckled.

“You'd only be cheating yourself.“ Jin warned in a wise voice. He high-fived himself mentally for that brilliant comeback, making sure to keep his game face whilst doing it. Sometimes he rocked this teacher thing.

Jin went through his desk in a hurry, he was sure he had left them here somewhere. It was almost time for class. Aha! There they were! He grabbed them and hurried out and down the corridor.

Right before the door he stopped and put them on. Swallowing his anticipating smile, he opened the door to the classroom and entered doing his cool walk. This was going to be a hit, he knew it.

The moment his students spotted him they started laughing.

He just went about his business like it was just another Monday, unpacking his stuff, preparing to start the lesson.

“Uhm.. teacher, sir? Why... why are you wearing sunglasses?“ one of his more outspoken students ventured, the rest of the class trying to stifle their giggles and snorts.

“Becaaause...“ he took the sunglasses down and squinted his eyes theatrically “...you guys are just TOO BRIGHT!“ he waited for the laughter but all he got was a few snorts and chuckles. They must not have gotten the joke. He lifted the stack of papers from his desk. “You all did amazingly well on the test!“ he explained proudly, handing out yesterday's test papers.

Half an hour into the lesson, Taehyung stood up and without saying anything, he disappeared out the door.

“Hey! How come he gets to just leave?” a student complained.

“You are all welcome to do the same, however, same as him, you have to do the work.” he pointed out the window. It took under a second for all the students to abandon their seats and flock to the window. They could see Taehyung in the distance, starting to run around that endlessly long, oval track.

“Why are you punishing him?” a girl asked in shock.

“It's not a punishment.” he answered.

“It sure looks like a punishment.” another one commented.

“Alright, alright, everyone back in their seats. Now, who can tell me what ADHD is....”.

A few hands shot up in the air.

After school he finally decided it was time for the lesson he had been dreading. He couldn't avoid it.

“So... you have to learn how to use your textbooks to study independently. You can't always rely on me to give you the bullet points.” he explained.

Taehyung sighed audibly. “I'm not good at sitting down and reading stuff.” he complained.

“I know. But I'm going to try and help you develop methods to become better at it.” he flung the book onto the table and ransacked his pockets until he found what he was looking for. A highlighter. He opened the book where he had put the bookmark earlier, he had gone through the whole book to find which page was likely to work best as a starting point.

“Okay, highlight the most important part.” he instructed and handed him the highlighter.

Taehyung took the cap off, looked at the page, and then at Jin. He hadn't expected him to get the hang of it in only one go, but he had expected him to highlight some part of the text. Any part of it. Instead, Taehyung lunged forward and drew a circle on his shirt around his left pec. He was speechless. After everything, this was how he behaved?

“Is this all a joke to you?” he stood up so forcefully that it sent his chair flying behind him.

“It's a new shirt, and you just ruined it! Life's not just one big joke! I'm trying to help you... but... I can't do it alone... you have to help yourself.” he was upset. Very upset.

“If you don't want to apply yourself, we can just forget this. I'm donating my time here, there are lots of other things I'd rather be doing.” he added, not hiding one ounce of the disappointment that was ready to drown him.

“I know.” Taehyung's puppy eyes were back. “That's why I did it.”.

“What?” Jin had no idea what he was saying. Was he self-sabotaging?

“I did exactly what you told me to do, I highlighted the most important part.” Taehyung explained, pointing at the ruined shirt.

“And that's my pec, is it?” he retorted, not at all amused.

“No... I mean... your pec is nice and all... but the highlighted circle is around your heart.” Taehyung's index finger traced the circle in the air.

Jin felt as if he had just been punched in the stomach. It hurt. He could barely breathe. He couldn't get his head around what had just happened. He didn't know whether to scold him or to hug him, neither seeming like the right thing to do. He didn't know what he was feeling, only that it was overwhelming. That kid. Where had that kid come from? He had never met anyone quite like him.

“Sorry I ruined your shirt.” Taehyung grinned and shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

“Ehm... uh... yeah erhm... huh... let's... ah... see.. um...” he mumbled incoherently as he fell back into his chair, only to discover that it wasn't there anymore. He would have crashed to the floor, but Taehyung's fast reflexes saved him, his hand shooting out like a flash the moment he started falling, grabbing his arm sturdily, rescuing him. He felt a jolt in his gut the moment his fingers touched him. He felt the pressure of his hand on his arm, it was almost all he could think about. When he had steadied himself and Taehyung released him, he could still feel where his hand had been, almost like it was still there.

“I think uhm... that eh... we should call it a day. I uhm... I feel a bit... a bit tired.” he blurted out and just stood up and left.

“Oh no! What happened? Those little s! I bet it was that Taehyung boy, am I right? Ugh I had him last year, nothing but trouble that one! It's pointless to even try to teach him...” a fellow teacher started commenting as he entered the teachers' office. He collapsed into his chair, blocking out the rest of the nonsense coming out of that person's mouth. He was going to show them all how wrong they were, him included. He was going to show the world that Taehyung wasn't this school's embarrassing secret, he was their brightest light.

“Actually, I'm going to the dry clearners on my way home, do you want me to take your shirt and see if they can do anything about this? It looks pretty hopeless, but you never know, my guy is a magician...” she droned on and on.

“No!” he objected way too harshly. It hadn't been his intention, it was a gut reaction.

“Okay... not over it yet, I get it. It's brand new isn't it? Such a shame.” she shook her head, waved goodbye and left the room.

Jin put his hand over his heart. For a while he just sat there and felt it beating. It was slightly fast, but regular. He looked at the circle around it and traced it with his finger. It felt warm, tingly.

Home at last. He took off the shirt and was about to throw it in the hamper when something stopped him. Instead he got a hanger and hung it up in the closet. He stood there a moment and just looked at it, hanging there, with a huge orange circle on it.