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It’s hot as fuck outside.
By the time you get up the steps to homeroom, you’re drenched in sweat. The air conditioner seems to be broken once again, and opening the windows just lets in more stifling heat. You’re glad that the school uniform is a skirt and not pants like the boys have to wear. If you had to wear pants in this weather, you would probably jump off the roof. Still, your standard issue white button down is suffocating, and you try to undo as many of the buttons as you can without getting in trouble.
As you settle into your desk, more students come in, sweaty and panting. Your classroom is on the fourth floor, and on days like these, you wished the elevators were available for student use. But alas, they’re for staff only.
The bell rings, signaling the beginning of the school day. The teacher has just begun the morning announcements when the door crashes open, and in walk Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung.
Of course Jungkook is perfect as ever, looking as if he just stepped out of his house, all clean and fresh, not even breaking a sweat. He was always like this. Even during gym class, the boy never looked an ounce less than perfect. When running, his hair always fell perfectly in place. When doing pushups and sit ups, you never saw the strain in his face, only the bulge of his muscles and veins. Not only that, he was kind of a genius. Top of the class in nearly every subject. He could graduate early if he really wants to, if he ever stops fooling around. He’s good at everything. All the girls love Jungkook. He is the epitome of perfect.
Except one thing.
Jeon Jungkook always pulls the most obnoxious pranks on anyone and everyone. There are over a hundred students in your year, so he has yet gotten to you. But you know it will happen soon. Just last week, he snuck into the biology lab before class with a can of cat food on the day you were set to dissect frogs. Let’s just say a fellow student was in for quite a surprise when he cut his open.
Taehyung, on the other hand, walks in almost completely soaked. His white button down is nearly see through and his hair sticks to his forehead in wet strands. You can’t help but stare at his toned back as the white fabric clings to his body. He sits down in his seat, right in front of yours, breathing hard, and you see the sweat trickle down his neck and disappear beneath his unbuttoned collar.
“Do you need a tissue?” You offer him the small packet that you pulled from your backpack.
Barely turning around to look at you, he replies, “No thanks, I’m okay,” and returns his attention to the teacher. You frown in disappointment and place the tissue packet back into your backpack.
Out of the corner of your eye, you think you see Jungkook looking in your direction, but you don’t turn your head to confirm it. Instead, you, too, turn your attention to the teacher.
Your attention, however, does not stay on your teacher. From time to time you notice your eyes drifting towards the boy sitting in front of you. His silky brown hair, his glistening, golden honey skin, and his soft, pink lips. He is, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.
BRRRRRING.
The bell signaling the end of homeroom jolts you out of your thoughts. Taehyung gets up from his seat and you watch him swing his backpack over his shoulders. You also get up from your seat and stand there, just watching him, as he and the other students file out of the room to their next class. You stand there until he disappears behind the doorway. When you finally leave, you’re one of the last to exit the room, with only Jungkook behind you.
You don’t see Taehyung again for three more hours, when you share the same physics class. Ever since the first day of the semester, when you found out the two of you were in the same class, you’ve wanted to sit next to him. But every time you walk into the classroom, he’s already there, and the seat next to him occupied by none other than Jeon Jungkook.
You don’t want to sit next to Jeon Jungkook, so you take your usual seat on the other side of the room. As you make your way to your seat, you see him and Taehyung staring at you, whispering to each other. You tell yourself it’s probably because you’re all sweaty and gross, having just walked up the stairs in this damned heat. So, you sit down and get out your school supplies, waiting for the teacher to start her lesson.
About halfway through the 50 minute lecture, the stuffiness of the room starts to make you drowsy, and you’re about to doze off in the middle of an explanation of the x and y components of projectile motion, when a folded piece of paper lands on your desk. You look at the person next to you questioningly, and she uses her pen to point in the direction of Taehyung and Jungkook. Both of them are hurriedly scribbling in their notebooks, trying to keep up with the lecture. You should be doing that too, but curiosity gets the better of you. You pick up the note and open it slowly, in case anything unexpected pops out.
It reads:
“Hey, Y/N! I think you’re pretty cute! We should hang out sometime. Are you free after school? Meet me behind the gym if you are. See you then!
– Taehyung xx
You look over at the boys again, and when you do, Taehyung turns his head toward you and gives you a sweet smile. If this extreme heat didn’t have you melting, his adorable smile definitely did. You smile back and hope he gets the message that you intend to meet him after school today.
You go through the rest of the day unable to focus on anything but Taehyung. By the time the final bell rings, the temperature has cooled down a little bit, but it’s still hot as fuck. So you walk, not run, – you don’t want to meet Taehyung all sweaty and gross – to the parking lot behind the gym.
This lot is a staff parking lot, and students rarely come here, so it’s pretty empty aside from the rows upon rows of parked cars. You stay on the walkway between the cars and the gym, getting on your tiptoes and walking around, seeing if Taehyung is behind one of the cars. But you don’t see him. Anywhere for that matter. You check your phone. 3:47pm. The final bell was at 3:30, so he would have had plenty of time by now to get here from anywhere in the school. However, he is nowhere in sight.
“Where is he?” You mutter to yourself.
Right when you say that, Jungkook appears from around the corner of the building.
“Taehyung?” he asks as he makes his way over to you. He’s wearing his grey uniform jacket now and it’s a wonder how he’s not suffocating. “Taehyung’s not coming.” The boy stops in front of you, a little too close. He looks fresh out of the shower as always, and smells faintly of deodorant and shampoo. You’re sure you look like you just ran a marathon and smell faintly of sweat and, well, sweat.
“What do you mean Taehyung’s not coming?” But as you say this you realize– this is just another one of his pranks.
“Taehyung’s not coming because he’s not the one who wrote that note. He doesn’t even know about it as a matter of fact.”
“Of course, I should have known.” Considering how quickly Taehyung brushed you off this morning, in hindsight, it was pretty ridiculous to think he actually has feelings for you. You barely ever spoke to him, just admired him from afar. That smile in class earlier was probably just him being nice; it didn’t mean anything. “Why would you do that? You know I like him!”
“I know of no such thing,” he smirks. The expression makes you want to scream. “Would you have come if you knew the note from me?”
“Of course not!” You cross your arms and try to make your face look as angry as possible. Jungkook is significantly taller, so you have to find a non-physical way to intimidate him.
Jungkook, however, does not seem fazed. “Well, that’s why.”
“What? Why would you want to lure me behind the school? Are you planning to murder me, Jeon Jungkook?”
“Maybe because I like you.” He replies, stepping a little closer.
The added heat radiating from his body has you on the verge of passing out. This side of the school is directly in the sun’s path. Standing so close, he can probably see the droplets of sweat seeping out from every single one of your pores, while he on the other hand, is inhumanly flawless and just slightly dewy and glistening in this hell-oven. “Why would someone like you like me?”
He simply lifts then drops his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug.
That’s not a good enough answer for you. “I’m leaving,” you tell him.
Before you can even take a single step forward, he grabs onto your arm. “Wait. What do you mean someone like me?”
“Nothing. Let me go!”
He lets go of your arm, but attempts to reel you back in with his words. “Why would it be so hard to believe that I like you?”
“With all the pranks you pull you’re not a very trustworthy guy. You did lie about that note being from Taehyung after all.”
“You think that just because I like making people laugh that everything I say is a lie?”
You clench your fists at your sides. “How was that note supposed to make anyone laugh? You know what? No. Just– forget it.”
You’re just about to leave again, but his words stop you. “But I do like you.”
“Well, I like Taehyung,” you reply curtly.
"Why do you like him?” Jungkook crosses his arms over his chest.
You feel your demeanor soften as your thoughts swim with all things Taehyung. How he smells of earthy sandalwood. How he peculiarly formats his sentences when he talks. How he laughs. How his smile always brightens up the room. How everything he does is so incredibly adorable to you.
Not wanting to reveal any of this to Jungkook, you just shrug.
“See? You can’t tell me either. So how can you say that I don’t like you?”
“Okay but the thing is, I don’t like you.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know I just don’t!” you snap.
He looks off into the distance, his mouth formed in a straight line. "Okay. That’s all you needed to tell me. I’ll leave you alone from now on.”
He disappears back around the corner and you’re left alone. You can’t say you’re not a bit stunned by his sudden departure. It was just so abrupt, and now you don’t know what to do. The sun is beating down on you so you seek solace beneath a nearby tree in order to collect yourself before heading home.
The next day is no less blistering. Thankfully you were able to take the early bus this morning so you wouldn’t have to run up the stairs to class. You’re now sitting at your desk, scrolling through your phone. Homeroom starts in 5 minutes and Taehyung still isn’t here. Your mind drifts toward thoughts of him. How is hair is always perfectly and neatly trimmed, grazing just above his cute little ears. Your favorite is the left one, where he has a rather absurdly placed piercing that you find absolutely endearing. The way his uniform fits his shoulders perfectly, and the contours of his toned back are just slightly visible in his white button down shirt. On those days when he talks to Jungkook or another one of his friends, you see him see him with that big, boxy grin that causes his eyes to crinkle, and you go through the rest of the day thinking of nothing else.
PLOP!
You’re shaken from your reverie when someone flops down into the seat in front you. However, that person is not Taehyung.
“Morning!” Jungkook beams. He’s turned so that his elbow is leaning against your desk.
You use your finger to try to push him off, but he stays put. “What are you doing? That’s Taehyung’s seat!”
“There aren’t assigned seats in homeroom, Y/N.” He gives a light chuckle. “And I feel like sitting here today.”
“What happened to leaving me alone?”
“By that I meant I’m not going to try to convince you to go out with me anymore, but I’m still going to be your friend.” He smiles that stupid bunny smile.
“We were never friends,” you reply flatly.
“We’ve known each other for years. I think that qualifies us as friends.”
You scowl at him. At that moment, Taehyung walks into class. He glances over at you and sees that his seat has been taken, so he sits in the desk next to Jungkook instead.
“Hey, bro,” Taehyung greets him. “Why are you sitting here today? Aren’t you usually in the corner over there?” He points to the far end of the classroom.
“I decided to sit here. I wanted to talk to, Y/N.” He leans toward you and smiles his dumb bunny smile once again and you just feel like slapping it off his stupid face. Instead, you give a sarcastic one in return.
You didn’t want to be so close to Jungkook so you turned toward the other boy. “Hey, Taehyung!” You give him a genuine smile this time.
“Oh, hey, Y/N.” You wait for him to say something else, but he doesn’t, so he awkwardly smiles at you before turning to sit forward in his desk.
You frown. Jungkook notices the disappointment in your face tries to place his hand on yours, “It’s okay, Y/N.”
You snatch your hand away. “Don’t touch me,” you snap, a little too loudly. A few students turn to see what the commotion is and you look down at the desk, blushing.
“I’m sorry, okay? I won’t touch you again.” He frowns and turns around to face forward. He doesn’t talk to you again either, not for the rest of homeroom. As a matter of fact, he leaves you alone for most of the day. It isn’t until physics class that he acknowledges you again.
You’re sitting in your usual seat, on the other side of the classroom from where Taehyung and Jungkook usually sat. You are one of the first students to arrive, so neither of them for there yet. About three minutes before class starts, the two boys walk in. Taehyung starts to make his way to their usual seats before Jungkook stops him.
“Hey, let’s sit over here today,” he says, grabbing onto Taehyung’s arm. He walks toward you and sits down in the neighboring seat. “Hey, Y/N,” he greets. You mumble a vague response.
Taehyung looks from Jungkook to you, then back to Jungkook. “Are you…? Are you two like dating now or something?”
Your head whips toward Taehyung. “What? No!” You turn to scowl at Jungkook.
“Oh, okay.” Taehyung pauses before awkwardly adding, “You should though. I think you would be good together.”
Jungkook simply raises and eyebrow and grins at you. Disgusting.
“Why would you think that?” you ask.
“I dunno,” Taehyung contemplates. “I guess cause you’re both like, super smart, and your personalities are similar?” He shrugs.
You grimace and turn your attention to unpacking your school supplies instead.
You sit through class, trying to focus on the lesson. However, physics class takes place in a lecture hall style of room, and thus the seats are very close together. Every once in awhile, Jungkook would accidentally bump elbows with you, or his thigh would graze against yours, which felt gross against your sticky skin.
“Yah! Stop!” You scold him.
“Sorry! It was an accident!”
“Sure it was,” you reply sarcastically.
This little exchange between you two has garnered a few shushes from other students in the class.
You frown and return your attention to the lecture.
About halfway through the class the teacher finishes the previous chapter and moves onto the next one.
“Now that we’ve finished forces and dynamics,” she announces, “It’s time to move on to circuit analysis. We’ll be covering voltage, current, RC and LC circuits, and Kirchoff’s law.”
Jungkook leans closer to you to whisper, “Kirchoff’s law makes me want to Kirch-off myself. I hate circuit analysis.”
You try and fail to suppress your laughter, so it comes out as more of a snort. You admit it was kind of funny, but it wasn’t that funny.
“I actually like circuits,” you whisper back.
“Well then maybe you can tutor me,” Jungkook suggests with a hopeful smile.
It appears that his pun has broken the ice between you two and you start to warm up to him a bit.
“I don’t think you need it,” you tell him.
He leans in so that his lips are right next to your ear. “That may be true, but having you teach it to me might make it a lot more entertaining.”
You squirm at the warmth of his breath hitting your skin. “I’m not here to entertain you, Jungkook.”
“Just being in your presence, how can I not be entertained?”
You roll your eyes at him.
After class, Jungkook stops you by the door before leaving.
“So how about it?” he asks, leaning against the doorway.
“How about what?” You ask.
“You know, studying together?”
Sure, you’re smart, but naturally you’re very lazy, so studying isn’t something you usually do, even though you should. Thus, having someone there to force you to study may be a good idea. “Uhh.. Sure I guess?”
“Great! How about after school today? Meet me in the library?”
“Okay. Sounds good.” Sounds good? Sounds good? Surely you didn’t actually mean that and were just agreeing. Because spending time with Jungkook outside of class couldn’t possibly be a good thing.
It’s 3:45 pm and that asshole still hasn’t arrived at the library. He’s the one who wanted this in the first place, and yet he’s standing you up? The library closes at 4:30 and if he’s not here in 5 minutes, you’re about ready to bolt. At 3:48, Jungkook walks in, running his fingers through his obnoxiously perfect hair.
“Why are you so late?” you ask as he takes a seat next to you at the table.
“Chill. I was talking to some friends at my locker.” Amazing. It’s like he’s trying to make you hate him.
“Whatever. Let’s just get to studying.” You pull your absurdly large textbook out of your backpack.
“Okay.” He takes out a notebook and pen. “So… Circuit analysis… Let’s do this shit.”
“Actually, I was thinking, since our next exam will be on the previous unit, we should review dynamics instead.”
“I already did all that, though.”
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to read the textbook again.” You flip through the pages of your physics book.
“I’ve already read that section three times. It’s practically ingrained in my memory.” He taps his pen against his temple.
You turn towards him. “Jungkook, why are you here?”
“Like I told you earlier, I hate circuit analysis.”
“No I mean why are you still in school. You could have graduated way before any of us.”
“Ah. Because once I leave here, I’m going to have to start being an adult, and we all know I’m not ready for that.”
As if on cue, you hear a scream coming from behind one of the book shelves as a student opens a book to find large photo of Jeon Jungkook’s stupid face taped to one of the pages.
He smirks at you and wiggles his eyebrows. “See?”
You let out an exaggerated sigh and turn back towards the textbook. “Let’s just get to studying.”
“Okay.” Jungkook leans over so that he can share the book with you.
You scoot the book closer to him but he doesn’t move back. He’s still mere inches from your face, and you can feel his hot breath against your cheek. You suddenly notice how stifling it is in this library. The air conditioner has been broken for the last few months. All these warm bodies in here are enough to bring the temperature of the room up quite a bit, but the addition of the heat wave makes it even worse.
“Hey, Jungkook.”
He looks up and your breath hitches when his eyes meet yours. “Yeah?”
“Um…” You say, suddenly having trouble finding your words. “Cou– could you maybe not be so close?”
He backs up a bit and gives a sheepish grin. “Right, sorry.”
“No worries. So, Kirchoff’s law…” You avert your gaze and concentrate on finding the right chapter.
“Uuuggggghhhh.” Jungkook leans back in his chair and groans.
Things continue on similarly for a while. You sit with Jungkook and Taehyung during class, Jungkook jokes around and does all the talking as usual, you admire Taehyung from two seats down, and you join Jungkook in the library after school for your study sessions and his childish complaining. Things fall into a comfortable routine.
You start to hope that being around Taehyung so much will help him realize that he likes you. Studies have shown that repeated exposure to something can cause one to develop a preference toward it merely because it’s familiar. So you hoped that would be the case with him.
However, a couple of weeks later, you’re on your way to homeroom when you run into Jungkook. The heat wave still hasn’t passed and you struggle to carry your heavy textbooks up the stairs in this scorching heat. You slowly make your way, trudging up one step at a time when you feel a gust of wind whip past you, almost knocking you over. It’s Jungkook, and he’s running. While you’re just trying to make it to class without passing out, he zooms past you like it’s no big deal. When he realizes that he just nearly caused your untimely death, he stops and turns around.
“Y/N!” He calls to you.
“Hey, Jungkook,” you wheeze.
He looks at the stack of books in your arms. “Do you need help?”
You want nothing more than to say no because, why should you need Jeon Jungkook’s help? You’re perfectly independent and capable. You don’t need him. But then again you’re on the verge of tumbling down these steps, resulting in your demise.
Thus, you resign. “Yes, please.”
He takes the stack of books into his ridiculously muscular arms and carries them the rest of the way to homeroom for you.
When you walk in, Jungkook sets the books on your desk. Like usual, you look to see if Taehyung has arrived yet. He’s not in his regular seat, but you spot him on the other side of the room, talking to Hyeji. Taehyung sits in the chair while Hyeji sits on top of the desk, her legs nearly in his lap. They’re both talking to each other, smiling and laughing like there’s no one else in the room.
Jungkook notices you staring. “That’s Hyeji. She just started going here last year.”
“I know who Hyeji is,” you hiss. “She’s been in our class this whole time.”
“Okay, I was just making sure.” He leans back against a desk and crosses his arms.
“So are they, like, a couple or something?” You grimace at their blatant displays of affection.
“Yeah I think so. I’ve been seeing them together a lot lately.”
“Oh,” is all you could muster.
“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He uncrosses his arms and places a hand on your shoulder.
You shake it off of you. “No, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing,” you state tersely.
“Nothing? But don’t you like him?”
You finally tear your eyes off Taehyung and Hyeji and turn towards Jungkook. “Yeah but it’s obvious he really likes her. And if he likes her why would he break up with her to be with me? It’s dumb to waste my time and energy on someone who isn’t going to like me back.”
“I guess that’s true.” Jungkook nods and leaves you to go to his own desk.
A couple of weeks go by. And in that time, Jungkook doesn’t ask you for tutoring. He doesn’t sit next to you in class. He spends most of his free time with Taehyung and Hyeji instead of with you. You start to get bored and kind of lonely without him around. You have other friends, but they have different classes and they’re always too busy to hang out. Jungkook was starting to become one of your best friends, and, you hate to admit it, but you miss that asshole, just a little. After having him by your side for so long, his absence just feels abnormal. But you guess he’s just busy, or he got bored of you and went back to his silly pranks.
But alas, loneliness gets the better of you, and you decide to call him out for ditching you.
You make sure you get to homeroom early so you get a chance to talk to him before class starts. You see him standing with a group of his friends, which includes Taehyung and Hyeji, talking and laughing about something. For some reason you’re feeling bold and interrupt them.
“Yah! Jungkook!” You grab him by the toned, muscular arm, which you can feel through the thin fabric of his white button down. “Why haven’t you spoken to me lately? Why are you ignoring me?” You smack him lightly on the tricep.
He stares at you for a few seconds, startled by your outburst. You suddenly become aware that everyone else in the group is also staring at you. You can feel the heat of their gazes on you as the blush creeps into your cheeks and ears.
“Isn’t that what you wanted, Y/N?” He hisses. “Aren’t you the one who said it’s dumb to waste your time on someone who will never like you back?”
You tighten your grip on his arm and drag him into the hallway, away from the scene that you had just caused.
Once you’re outside, you let go of his arm. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that,” you say to him softly, shifting your gaze to your shoes.
“What else could you have possibly meant?”
“I didn’t mean it about you! I was talking about me liking Tae!” The heat builds in your cheeks, not at all helped by this seemingly endless heat wave. You struggle to breathe and begin to feel like you’re suffocating.
“What’s the difference?” Jungkook quips. “Tae liking you, you liking me? They’re not going to happen so I shouldn’t waste my time, right?”
“But, I do like you.” Your voice is barely audible. Here you are, finally admitting what you’ve been trying to ignore for the last god knows how long.
“What?” His expression softens.
“Are you really going to make me say it again?”
“Yes.”
You lift your chin and look him in the eye. Damn he’s a good height for you. “I do like you, Jeon Jungkook! You big dummy! Agh! I can’t believe you’re making me say it twice. I can’t stand you!”
He breaks into a huge bunny smile. “Really?”
“Bro, I’m not saying it again.”
He cups both your cheeks in his hands, jumping up and down, giddy as can be at your confession. “Ah! I can’t believe this. You. Y/N. Likes me.”
“Why is that such a surprise, asshole?”
“Because I’ve been waiting years! For this very moment!”
“What are you talking about? This isn’t another one of your pranks is it?”
“No. Absolutely not. No.” He removes his hands from your face and swings an arm around you, leaning in closer to say, “I have liked you for a long time, Y/N. I’m glad you finally realize that you like me, too.”
His excess body heat is insufferable, so you squirm out of his embrace. “Agh! You’re squishing me! Please don’t do that!”
His smile doesn’t falter. “Fine. But you have to let me hold your hand.” He laces your sweaty fingers with his, grinning widely at you, and leads you back into the classroom before the bell rings.