Jungkook followed behind Taehyung, watching as the smiley boy’s hair bounced up and down as he practically skipped to the other side of the store. How can he be so happy while just working at a job like this? And how is he able to talk to people so easily? I’m probably just being overly observant of this guy since he pulled me out of my anxiety, but seriously, just who is this dude?  Usually it takes a lot more than that to make me feel better… Jungkook thought to himself.

            “Here we are! This is what you were looking for, right?” asked Taehyung, as he held up the converter that Jungkook had almost gone through hell and back (well sort of…) to find. “I think this one fits with a whole bunch of different plugs that come from all over Asia, so I think this is the best one for you!” He looked extremely proud of himself for knowing where to find the thing as he continued to smile his somewhat goofy grin at Jungkook.

            Jungkook jerked his head up as he noticed he was still staring at Taehyung’s hair instead of looking at what Taehyung was holding. It was the exact converter his mom had asked for! “Wow, uhh, thanks for helping me…” Jungkook said as he took the converter from Taehyung’s outstretched hand.

            “No problem! Just doin’ ma job!” Taehyung replied. “This is my first week of working here, so I’m so glad I was able to help at least someone today! Thank you for needing help!”

            Jungkook stared at Taehyung, unable to comprehend the weirdness of what he had said. It seemed really strange that anyone in their right mind would  intentionally ask someone if they needed help, especially if they were minding their buisness while looking terrified. Wasn’t it considered weird to just randomly talk to people? Maybe that’s just me though… “Well, you’re welcome…I guess” Jungkook replied awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck as he said it.

            Taehyung giggled to himself as he began to walk away then called over his shoulder, “let me know if there’s anything else I can help you find! I usually work over in the gaming section, so if there is anything you need help with, don’t hesitate to find me over there!” He sauntered off, hair bouncing fluffily and cheeks poking out on either side of his face from grinning so widely.

            Jungkook let out a puff of air that he didn’t realize he had been holding. What had just happened? He wondered again at how that weird guy had been able to yank him out of his anxiety moment so quickly. Who cares, I just need to buy this thing and hurry to practice. What time is it…? Crap! It’s already past 4?! I’m going to be late! Jungkook stuck his ear bud back in as he hurried to the check out area. He silently walked up to the counter and only pulled his ear bud out to hear how much the converter cost, then stuck it back in after paying.

            The walk back home was considerably more relaxing, now that Jungkook was walking away from the store. He hummed quietly along with the song that was playing, as he matched his stride to the rhythm. Suddenly, his phone started to buzz, indicating someone was calling him. He quickly paused the song that was playing and checked who was calling: Hoseok-hyung. Sliding the ‘answer’ button, Jungkook brought the phone to his ear.

            “Yah, Kookie! Where you at? It’s already 4:32 and practice started exactly two minutes ago!” Hoseok practically yelled into the phone, the music in the background playing loudly. “We have donuts that the receptionist brought in today, and if you aren’t here in fifteen minutes, me and Jimin are gonna make you dance in front of us while we eat them!”

            “I’m coming, I’m coming!” Jungkook grinned into the phone. “My mom needed me to run to the store for her and I’m almost home, so I’ll be there soon! And don’t eat all the donuts!”

            “I stand by what I said! Tell Mrs. Jeon hi for me!” Hoseok said as he hung up the phone.

            Jungkook practically ran home. He skipped up the steps two by two up his front porch, ran inside and dropped the bag with the converter in it on the kitchen table as he called to his mom he was late for dance practice and that Hoseok-hyung said hi, then made a beeline out the front door again. He ran all the way to his dance studio, only to walk through the doors at 4:46. Gasping, he banged into the practice room and saw Jimin and Hoseok in the corner of the room, holding a box of donuts and staring at them greedily. Both of their heads jerked up when they saw Jungkook come through the door, and immediately Hoseok held the box up in the air.

            “A deal’s a deal! You’re late, so you dance and no donuts for you!” Hoseok exclaimed gleefully while shoving a bite of donut into his mouth.

            “Aw come on Hyung, I literally ran the entire way here!” Jungkook whined as he tried to grab the box from the now huddling Hoseok who was trying to keep the box tucked close to himself as Jungkook lunged toward him. Jimin grabbed Jungkook from behind and playfully pushed him into the middle of the dance studio as he said, “dance for us Kookie! Maybe we will like your moves and possibly even be kind enough to give you a bite of our precious donuts”.

            Jungkook gave up trying to grab the box from Hoseok, as he realized he would have to work for his share. He positioned himself in the center of the room and got into his starting position – head down, feet set a little over a shoulder length apart, eyes closed, and ready for whatever music Jimin would decide to turn on for him.

            The song began to play with a beat that throbbed throughout the studio. Jungkook lifted his head up, turned around, and danced to the music, letting it pulse through him to erase away all the thoughts and concerns the day had brought to him.

            Whenever his hyungs made him dance for them, he knew that they knew he really wanted to do it, regardless of the fact that he would whine about it. They knew that music was Jungkook’s weakness - his comfort - and would use it to get him to practice even on days where he was the most stressed, anxious, or worried.  Dancing allowed Jungkook to use the powerful movements to stomp on, jerk, and rip apart everything that he was bothered by during the day. Since his hyungs knew this, they always made sure to find a way to let him dance before them when he arrived at the studio. After dancing by himself for a while, Jungkook would always be the happiest and would even be able to speak up more and joke around with his hyungs.

As the song he was dancing to came to a close, Jungkook sprawled out on the floor, staring at the ceiling and gasping to catch his breath.

            “Damn kid, what happened today? I haven’t seen you dance like that since you told us you got a tardy slip from your school and passed out from being embarrassed about it in front of everyone! Are you alright?” Hoseok asked Jungkook as he and Jimin came to sit down by the panting boy. “Oh, and I was definitely joking about you not being able to have a donut, so here” Hoseok said when Jungkook didn’t reply, pushing a piece of donut into Jungkook’s open mouth.

Jungkook coughed as the donut got slightly stuck in his throat since he was laying on his back, so he sat up quickly and chewed on the sweet and chewy treat. Jimin pat his back worriedly as Jungkook finally replied. “I’m fine you guys, I just had a bit of a tough time today when I had to go to the store by myself…” His voice trailed off as a shiver ran down his spine when he remembered the panic he had felt earlier.

Jimin scooted across the dance floor so that he sat directly in front of Jungkook. “Yah, why didn’t you ask us to come with you then? You know we would have!” Jimin said as he leaned forward to look at Jungkook in the eyes. “You always talk about how you get so anxious doing stuff on your own, but then you never ask your hyungs, or anyone, for help!” He clicked his tongue in disapproval and grabbed another donut, splitting it in thirds and giving two of the pieces to Jungkook and Hoseok.

“You guys are busy! I didn’t want to bother you just to run some stupid errand for my mom” Jungkook mumbled around the food in his mouth. “Besides, even if I had called, you guys would have teased me for asking to go with me in the first place!”

Hoseok put a hand to his mouth in mock shock. “Whatever do you mean, Kookie? We would never tease you about something so scary to you!”

Jungkook wacked Hoseok on the shoulder as he grumbled a quiet “yeah, right” to his two hyungs. He knew that both of them were just joking around to lighten up the mood, but in all honesty he was still uncomfortable talking about his anxiety, even if they were his closest friends.

“It was kinda weird though. This guy who worked at the store I went to was really friendly and helped me find what I was searching for," Jungkook said. "I know that doesn’t sound very weird, but he was really weird. Like, he thanked me for needing his help, and never stopped grinning this gigantic, boxy smile at me! I mean, I appreciated the fact he helped me and all, but dang, he was kinda overly friendly."

“Boxy smile?" Jimin asked. "Huh…yah, Kookie, what store did you go to? It wasn’t BestBuy was it?” 

“Uh, yeah, it was BestBuy. How did you know that?” 

“Do you remember the guy’s name who helped you?”

“Hmm…I think he said his name was Tae-something…maybe Taejung? Oh wait! It was Taehyung!” 

“Haha no way! I know Taehyung! We are in the same year at the college I go to. He is really well known for that derpy smile of his and he is super nice to everyone! He recently was telling every single person he came across that he got a job at BestBuy and was super excited about it."

“That’s so weird that you knew that, Jiminie, just from the little bit of information I gave to you,” Jungkook giggled. “Do you have a thing for him or something?”

“Yah, shut up punk! No way. And who are you calling Jiminie? I’m your hyung, damn it!” he said as he glared at Jungkook half seriously, half playfully.

“Sorry Jiminie…hyung” Jungkook added the last bit at the end of his hyung’s name as Jimin raised his hand up in a mock attempt to whack him. “It’s just that you’re so short that sometimes I forget that you’re my-” at the word ‘short’, Jimin bolted up from his position on the floor and tackled Jungkook before Jungkook could finish his sentence.

The rest of the 3 boys’ dance practice was spent slightly more seriously after Jimin had pretend-hit Jungkook for his impudence. By the time practice had ended and the laughing boys had said goodbye to each other, Jungkook had forgotten about his incident earlier that day at BestBuy.

* * *

As soon as Jungkook got home from dance practice, his mom called him into the kitchen.

“Hey hon, how was practice? Did you boys actually get anything done, or did you just goof around the whole time?” his mom asked with a smile and a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

“Well, the first part of practice we just kinda hung out and talked, but after a while we really did practice!” Jungkook told his mom. “They had donuts at the studio today, but the hyungs were mean and made me dance for them since I was late so I could have one.”

“Are you sure they weren’t just making you dance since they know you like dancing by yourself?”

“Maybe…I dunno, it was still annoying though!” Jungkook replied with a huff. “By the way, I’m not really that hungry for dinner since we ate so many donuts…”

“Jungkoooook! I made such a good dinner tonight though!” his mom said as she grabbed the kitchen towel, twisting it, “Now who’s gonna eat all this! You shouldn’t have filled up on all that sugary food!” she said as she swatted at him with the towel.

“C'mon mom that hurts!” Jungkook said as he giggled and tried to get out of the way of the swinging towel. “I’ll be up in my room!” he said as ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs to his bedroom, closing the door as he heard his mom mumbling to herself about how he would never learn to eat properly.

After jumping on his bed, Jungkook rolled onto his stomach and plugged his ear buds in, listening to his music and closing his eyes as he thought about the week of break he was now on. He knew that he wanted to catch up on a few TV shows, but other then that he had no idea what he was going to do for an entire week. There would still be dance practice the following Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but that only took up a very small amount of time.

He rolled onto his back and hung his neck and head off the side of the bed, feeling the blood rush into his head and feeling the pressure behind his eyes. Jungkook always liked to do this when he was trying to think because sometimes seeing the world (or his room for that matter) in a different view helped get his creative juices flowing. He wasn’t that interested in very many things besides music and dancing, so coming up with plans was a bit of a struggle.

Jungkook brought his phone that had been laying on his stomach to his face so that he could check his messages. There was only one from Jimin and it said,

Jiminie-hyung: You make it home alright, punk?

Jungkook grinned and sent him a message in reply.

JK: No, I died in a dark alley ^^

He then waited to see how long it would take for Jimin to reply. Bzzzzzt!!!!  his phone buzzed, not even thirty seconds later.

Jiminie-hyung: Yah, don’t joke about stuff like that!

Then, right after that message came in, another immediately followed.

Jiminie-hyung: Don’t be late for practice again on Monday! If you are, Hoseok-hyung and I will make you do something worse than just making you dance in front of us >:D

JK: Like what?

Jiminie-hyung: You really don’t want to find out, kid ^^

JK: I might just try my luck :P

Jiminie-hyung: YAH

Jiminie-hyung: Don't make me come over there

JK: As terrifying as that sounds (lol) I think I’ll just do what I please…Jiminie.

Jiminie-hyung: PUNK

Jiminie-hyung: See you Monday, brat

JK: haha byeee hyungggg

Jungkook sat up slowly, placing his phone on a pillow that was next to him. As the blood slowly drained from his face from being upside-down for too long, Jungkook stood up and went to his bathroom that was connected to his room in order to take a shower.

While the hot water sprayed all around him, the steam of the shower and the pressure of the water soothed his aching muscles from the day’s dance practice. Jungkook’s thoughts traveled over the day he had had, and he suddenly remembered the kid at BestBuy. He wondered why he had felt so confused when they guy had helped him, since it was only the dude’s job to help people.

As he scrubbed his hair, the soapsuds whirl-pooled down the drain along with his thoughts about the strange boy with the box smile.

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because I had a really fun time writing it! Normally, I won't be uploading this often (I'm thinking probably a chapter per week), but I wanted to get this story a little bit further then just one short chapter. 

By the way, thank you so much to all of you who have subcribed and commented! ;_; It really means a lot to me since I am such a new writer ^^