Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Jeongguk sighed after he closed the car’s door, chewing on his lip ring while looking at the building in front of him. 

It was... intimidating, to say the least. White walls that looked like they disappeared between the clouds and floor-to-ceiling windows that gave a clear view of the mass of students walking on the hallways, meeting their friends again after a summer filled with parties, beaches, daddy’s money and everything nice.

He didn’t belong here. He wasn’t one of them.

“Do you have everything, sweetheart?” 

His mom’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. Jeongguk looked at her, his nervousness fading a little bit at her excited smile. “Yeah, mom, I do.” He replied, adjusting the strap of his black backpack on his shoulder. Looking around discreetly, he briefly wondered if he should have opted for a lighter outfit, the all black one he had chosen that morning contrasting with everyone else’s.

His mom stared at him for a few seconds in silence, her excited smile turning into a fond expression, before ruffling his hair. “Aish, you’re getting so big!” She said, giggling when Jeongguk’s hands immediately flew up to pat it down. “It seems like yesterday you were my little baby, and now look at you, going to college!”

“Technically, it’s not college,” Jeongguk chuckled at the way his mom rolled her eyes. “and it’s not like I had much of a choice.”

The last part of his sentence made the corners of his mom’s mouth drop, and he internally winced, regret filling his body at the sight of her expression.

“Jeongguk, honey...”

“I know, I know.” The nineteen year old boy sighed, glancing down to his black boots. “It’s not your fault either.”

His mom’s smile came back, this time a little smaller, and she rubbed his shoulder. “You’re going to do great.” She affirmed, more to herself than her son. “I know you are.”

Jeongguk smiled at that, kissing her on the forehead as the school’s bell rang obnoxiously loud.

“Be good, okay? And call me if you need anything.” He nodded at his mom's words, hugging the woman tightly before walking towards the cream colored gate. 

His stomach tossed and turned as he walked, the palms of his hands getting sweaty and clammy. Despite feeling the familiar pit of anxiety in his stomach, Jeongguk still managed to keep his head high, looking straight ahead as he made his way to the main office, hoping that he still remembered the correct route from the day he first visited the school.

Still, he could hear the whispers, could feel the stares. Could tell that they knew he wasn’t equal to them.

And it’s not like Jeongguk could blame them, really. They probably heard all about him from their parents, aunts and uncles, gossiping with each other about the newest addition to the dark witches genealogy. The Jeon family had made headlines after people found out their three year old son was showing signs of practicing black magic - the news travelling fast in his small, stupid town.

Ever since he was little, Jeongguk stuck out like a sore, dark thumb in the sea of perfectly shaped, light thumbs. 

And this year would be no different.

His thoughts were pushed to the back of his head as Jeongguk reached his destination, letting out a small sigh of relief. The lady in the front desk didn’t notice him at first, too busy reading what appeared to be the week’s horoscope about love and fortune.

“Uhm, excuse me?”

Jeongguk noticed the way her eyes widened, a mixture of fear and slight disgust passing through her face for a split second at his appearance before she was putting on her mask, a smile that was way too big to be genuine on her face. “How can I help you, dear?”

“I, uhm, I was told to come here to get my schedule?” Jeongguk explained, scratching the back of his neck. “I was enrolled a little later than usual so-”

“Ah, no worries! You’ve come to the right place.” She said, putting away the magazine and typing on her keyboard, long nails making the keys sound obnoxiously loud. “And what is your name, sweetie?”

Jeongguk pursed his lips, bracing himself.

“Jeon Jeongguk.”

This time, the flash of fear lasted longer, eyebrows pulled together in a frown and mouth hanging slightly open. Jeongguk could practically see the wheel on her brain moving, connecting the dots.

Jeon Jeongguk. Jeon. Dark witch. Black magic.

Danger.

She didn’t say anything after that, typing out his name and clicking with her mouse a few times. After one last click, the big, white printer next to her white desk came to life, and a piece of paper rushed out of it. “H-here you go.” 

Her hands shook a little as she handed Jeongguk his new schedule, probably fearing that he would avada kedavra her ass if she wasn’t cautious. Jeongguk resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and instead thanked her with a bow, walking away to go find his first class. 

(...)

“Alright class, settle down, settle down.” A familiar voice ordered, waking Taehyung up from his five minute power nap. He raised his head from his desk, quickly cleaning the drool that he had spilled on it with the sleeve of his baby pink long sleeve shirt, before turning his attention to said voice again.

“...I hope everyone had a great summer and that you’re ready to learn more in depth about magic throughout the centuries...”

Taehyung internally groaned, forehead hitting his wooden desk softly. He’d forgotten that History of Magic - aka the absolute worst class he had ever had - was not only his first class of the day, but his first class of the whole new school year, which in Taehyung’s eyes could only be seen as a bad premonition. Not to mention it was with Professor Choi, the most demanding teacher he had ever met and who probably dreamt about failing him for fun.

“Mr. Kim, I see I have the pleasure of having you in my class for another year.”

Speaking of the devil.

“Well, what can I say, Professor Choi.” Taehyung said, sending the lady a fake smile. “I just can’t get enough of listening to boring facts about things that happened a thousand years ago.”

Professor Choi simply sighed, already used to Taehyung’s antics and pure hatred for her class, while the first years chuckled with each other. “Anyway,” She continued, Taehyung rolling his eyes when she finally turned around. “Let’s start with our first lesson, shall we? Everyone open your books-”

A knock on the door, followed by the door knob twisting, interrupted the teacher. A young boy, most likely a first year, peeked inside the room, black eyes roaming to find the adult in charge. 

“Yes, may I help you?” Professor Choi inquired, arm pausing against the black chalkboard.

“Is this, uhm, History of Magic?” He asked with a low voice, reading the name of the class off a small, white paper.

“Yes, it is. I’m Professor Choi.” She answered, looking at the boy unimpressed. “Please come in. I’ll give you a pass for being late today because it’s the first day, but don’t do it again.”

The boy gave her a small bow in thankfulness before stepping inside of the class, and Taehyung’s mouth went dry. His attire was completely black - from his turtleneck to the ripped skinny jeans, down to the chunky boots that thumped down on the wooden floor. The boy paused, hesitating on where to go before he eventually settled to the unoccupied desk next to Taehyung.

“And what is your name?” Professor Choi asked, glancing at him from over her brown-rimmed glasses. Taehyung noticed how the boy’s body tensed up, hands stopping their action of unzipping his backpack that was already propped up in the chair next to his.

“I’m Jeon Jeongguk, Professor.”

A few gasps were immediately heard, confusing Taehyung and some of the other students. A few girls at the front turned around to whisper something to their friends, their eyes widening the more they talked. Professor Choi didn’t seem to notice this, simply writing down something in her notebook before resuming the lecture.

Taehyung zoned her voice out (as usual - he should really focus if he wanted to pass this year), attention shifting to the guy on his right. Jeongguk was slumped on his seat, legs spread out under the desk, both hands covered in silver rings, one of them holding a pen and the other texting someone discreetly under the table. The light witch gulped slightly as he noticed the ring that pierced his bottom lip, right in the middle, gleaming with the sunlight coming from one of the windows.

Jeongguk must’ve felt his intense staring, because he suddenly turned to glare at Taehyung, pierced eyebrow (oh my god) raising to form a intimidating, what-the-fuck-do-you-want face. 

The second year quickly looked away, cheeks burning with the embarrassment of being caught. He focused his attention back on whatever war Professor Choi was talking about - her words not sticking one bit because of the handsome distraction next to him.

(...)

“It’s the first day and I’m already done with Professor Lee.” Hoseok groaned, dropping the red food tray ungraciously on the table where Taehyung already sat, biting into his jjajangmyeon. Jimin laughed behind him, sitting down as well.

“At least you don’t have Professor Choi.” Taehyung said, a pout forming on his lips after he swallowed down the food. “I swear she’s out to get me.”

“Please, Professor Choi was and is the sweetest.” Jimin argued, taking a bite out of his own food. 

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, to you. You were her favorite.” 

“Not true!” Jimin gasped in between bites. “She just nags you ‘cause you fall asleep in almost all of her classes.”

Taehyung shrugged, not denying the truth. “Not my fault she teaches boring ass shit.” He said, mostly out of spite, knowing that History of Magic used to be his best friend’s favorite class.

“Enough of stupid teachers.” Hoseok said, interrupting Jimin before he could even start going on and on about how history was important. Taehyung mentally thanked him. “Have you guys heard about the new first year?” His older friend asked, messing around with the food on his plate while he waited for it to cool down a bit. “Everyone’s talking about him.”

Jimin raised an eyebrow in curiosity, leaning forward, always a sucker for gossip. “Ooh, what’s his name? Is he hot?”

“I don’t know his name, but the girls in my class were calling him Goth Daddy, so there’s that.” Hoseok shared, pulling out his phone and tapping on the screen a few times before turning it to his friends.

Taehyung stopped chewing as Hoseok showed them a picture of the handsome stranger from his History of Magic lecture, Jeongguk. He looked just as intimidating as before, staring at the camera with his eyebrow arched, almost hiding his piercing behind the loose strands of black hair that seemed shorter than what it actually was.

“Oh, he’s fine fine.” Jimin murmured, taking the phone from Hoseok’s hand to get a better view, zooming in on the other’s bottom lip. “How did you even get this picture?”

Hoseok shrugged. “Girls are like the FBI when they see a hot dude, man.”

“I know him.” Taehyung suddenly blurted out, making the other two boys turn their heads to look at him. “He was in Professor Choi’s class. His name is Jeon Jeongguk.”

Jimin froze, eyes widening. He glanced at Hoseok, who seemed to have the same surprised reaction, before he looked at Taehyung again. “Did you say... Jeon?” He asked, holding his breath as he waited for the answer.

“Like from the Jeon family?” Hoseok added, looking at him slightly worried.

“Uh, I guess...?” Taehyung trailed off, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Why?”

The two boys exchanged glances once again.

“...you don’t know about the Jeon family?” Jimin finally asked in disbelief. “Really?”

Taehyung shook his head slowly. “Should I?”

“The Jeon family was... in the spotlight for many years, back when we were younger.” Hoseok started explaining, choosing his words carefully. “It was rumoured that their youngest son had... black magic tendencies.”

“It wasn’t a rumour.” Jimin corrected, looking at Hoseok with hard eyes for a second before turning back to Taehyung. “Mom told me that a friend of hers saw him conjure a demon in the middle of the park,” He snapped his fingers. “just like that.”

“I mean, not to discredit your friend’s mom,” Hoseok let out a forced chuckle. “but there was never any proof that the kid was actually a dark witch.” 

Jimin scoffed, mouth opening to say something else when Taehyung spoke up. “Couldn’t it be another Jeon, thought?” He asked, still a little confused. “‘Cause that’s a common last name.”

“I don’t think so.” Jimin answered, gesturing to the Jeongguk in the picture. “I mean, have you seen how he dresses himself? If that doesn’t scream dark witch, I honestly don’t know what does.”

Hoseok pursed his lips, wanting to say something but instead shaking his head, deciding against it. Taehyung raised an eyebrow at his best friend, who suddenly had become disgusted with the same person he was drooling over not even a minute ago.

Before he could say anything, however, Taehyung realized that the cafeteria had fallen into an audible hush. He looked around, finding everyone staring in the same direction.

In Jeongguk’s direction.

The boy made his way through the tables, ignoring every judgmental, fear based glare he was getting. One person dared to scoff his way, quickly covering it up with a cough when Jeongguk glanced back, looking at them up and down, impassive.

When he passed by their table, the two made eye contact for just a second, and Taehyung could’ve swore he saw Jeongguk’s eyes flash from black to brown. Before he could do a double take to make sure, though, Jeongguk was already too far away from him, choosing to sit on an empty table close to the other end of the cafeteria.

“You need to stay as far away as you can from him, Tae.” He heard Jimin warn, both watching as Jeongguk mindlessly scrolled on his phone while eating his lunch. “I’m telling you, he’s nothing but dangerous.”

Taehyung didn’t reply, conflicted. Sure, he’d always heard about dark witches and how they were the most evil people on the planet, but honestly? That seemed like an exaggeration. How could someone be bad just because of the magic they practiced? It didn't feel like it was fair, to judge someone he didn’t know just because of something that wasn’t even completely confirmed.

So, he decided to do exactly the opposite of what Jimin had advised him to (as always).

He was going to befriend the fuck out of Jeon Jeongguk.

(...)

Jeongguk smiled as soon as he saw a familiar green haired boy leaning against an old, red car, the tension he had been feeling during the entire day vanishing. His feet speed up immediately, making his way towards his older brother, who was too busy on a phone call to notice Jeongguk.

“...yeah, yeah, I can probably squeeze you in tomorrow.” Yoongi mumbled in a low voice, eyes lighting up slightly as he saw his baby brother.  “Listen, I gotta go but I’ll text you later with the details, ok? Alright, bye.” He wrapped up the call quickly, storing his phone in his pocket before getting on the tip of his toes to ruffle Jeongguk’s hair - a habit both he and his mom had that drove him slightly insane.

“What’s up, kiddo?”

“Hi, hyung.” The younger greeted, hand unconsciously coming to comb his long hair again again. “Mom told me she was going to pick me up today.”

“Nah, I told her I’d do it.” Yoongi said. “I was thinking we could go back to my shop and just chill before going home. What do you think?”

Jeongguk nodded in agreement as he and his brother make their way into the vehicle. He’s always loved spending time in Yoongi's tattoo shop. The old car roared to life as Jeongguk put his seatbelt on, the worn out leather of the seat warming him up immediately.

“So,” Yoongi started, eyes on the road, trying to surpass the amount of chauffeurs that were there to pick up other kids. “How was your first day at the fancy school?”

Jeongguk let out an exasperated sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. “Fucking horrible. Everyone looked at me like I had three heads or something. There was even this one dude who tried to fight me in the bathroom for some reason, trying to rile me up and calling me shit like freak and demon eyes. ” He rolled his eyes at the fresh memory. “It was more weird than anything, to be honest.” 

Yoongi scoffed, stopping at a red light and looking at his brother. “Why didn’t you just punch him?”

“I can’t.” Jeongguk replied, head hitting against the headrest of his seat softly. “I wanted to, trust me, but... mom told me to be good. Besides, if I did anything, I would probably be expelled or something.”

“So? It’s not like you want to be there.” Yoongi said, hands smoothly turning the wheel after glancing at his side mirror. “I don’t even know why you have to go to school anyways. You’re a fucking witch, dude.”

“Yeah, I don’t know either.” Jeongguk chuckled, thinking about all the things he could be doing instead of having to sit through boring lectures. “And to think I have to stay there for a whole fucking year.”

Yoongi didn’t say anything for a few seconds, concentrating on parking his car in front of his shop without messing up the new paint job he had gotten for the vehicle. “You’re going to be fine, Gguk.” He assured after shutting off the car. “You literally have the power of dead people on your side. Make them, like, haunt those fuckers or something.”

Jeongguk chuckled as the both of them unbuckled their seatbelts and left the car. After 19 years, his brother still had no idea how black magic (or magic in general) worked.

When he stepped inside his brother’s shop, already feeling at home, Jeongguk immediately recognized the mop of black hair leading to broad shoulders. His clear brown eyes light up, resembling a kid on Christmas day.

“Seokjin hyung!”

At the sound of his name, Seokjin turned around, a smile already forming on his face, lip piercing following his mouth’s movements. “Jeonggukie!” He exclaimed back, chuckling as Jeongguk practically threw himself against his chest.

“Hey, easy there. Be careful with the elderly.” Yoongi joked, closing the shop’s door after entering the place. Seokjin threw him a middle finger over Jeongguk’s shoulder, his other arm coming to hug the younger witch.

“What are you doing here, hyung?” Jeongguk asked after pulling away from the hug. “I thought your last year in college was starting soon.”

Seokjin shrugged. “I got a new car and wanted to rub it in on Yoongi’s little face.” He smirked, making Yoongi roll his eyes, knowing the real reason his older friend stopped by. “He told me you were starting a new wizarding school, the one close to my old house.” There it was. “How’s it going?”

Jeongguk’s smile fell, replaced with a pout. “Terrible, I hate it already.” He whined out, such a contrast from his school persona. “Everyone looks at me like I murdered their entire family. I also got called a freak so that’s nice.”

“That’s bullshit.” Namjoon, Yoongi’s co-worker and friend of many years now, piped in. Yoongi passed him a beer as he was talking, the metal ball pierced into his tongue showing every now and then. “You punched them, right?”

“That’s exactly what I asked him!” His brother said, giving one to Seokjin as well before clinking drinks with Namjoon. “It’s like I taught him nothing.”

“He would be expelled and probably placed under police surveillance if he did that.” Seokjin explained, much to Jeongguk’s gratefulness. He took a sip of his beer before continuing talking. “White magic witches can get away with shit like that, especially if their daddies have money. We can’t even say fuck and everyone thinks we’re out to get them.”

Yoongi scoffed, pointing at Seokjin and then at Jeongguk with the rim of his bottle. “Seriously, I don’t understand how you two do it. If I had dark powers I’d just make a deal with the Devil and then everyone would bow down to me. I’d be that bitch.” He said, smirking, before bringing the beer in his hand to his lips.

The two dark witches looked at each other before laughing. “I’m starting to understand why God didn’t give you any magic abilities, hyung.” Jeongguk said in between giggles. “You’d rule the world like a dictator.”

“Damn right I would!” Yoongi exclaimed, Namjoon nodding next to him. “I’d be like that Harry Potter dude, just avada kedravaing everyone who looked at me wrong.”

“You’re thinking about Voldemort, hyung.” Namjoon corrected then, making Yoongi roll his eyes.

“Whatever. I don’t know that shit. I’m not a nerd.”

“Debatable.” 

“Oh , fuck off, Seokjin.”

“Excuse me, it’s hyung to you.”

Jeongguk laughed at his friends, feeling the stress of the day completely leave his body. 

It was nice to hang out with people like him, magic or non-magic, who were judged by the outside world for looking and being different - but who knew that neither Seokjin nor Jeongguk were capable of hurting anyone, regardless of what people whispered and spread. He listened with a smile on his face as his hyungs started a debate about why exactly liking Harry Potter was lame but Percy Jackson wasn’t. It was laughable, almost, how his little group of outcasts, people who were supposedly murders or mafia gangsters, were actually the biggest dorks he had ever met.

“Listen, that Potter guy only had powers with his wand.” Yoongi argued at one point, bringing Jeongguk back from his thoughts. “Percy Jackson was literally the son of a God.” 

“Hyung, Harry Potter literally defeated the Dark Lord when he was a baby.” Namjoon counter argued, making his friend scoff in a dismissive way.

“And what about it? He was still a little bitch.” 

“Oh my god, shut up before I curse you both.” Seokjin interrupted after taking a swing of his beer, glaring at the two boys.

Namjoon smirked, letting out a kinky before Seokjin slapped the back of his head. The way the other almost choked in his drink at the impact made Jeongguk realize he was the only one not drinking anything. “Hey, Yoongi hyung.” He said. Yoongi answered him with a nod. “Where are the beers? I want one too.”

His brother raised his eyebrows at him. “Excuse me? You’re a baby. No alcohol for you.”

Jeongguk groaned, crossing his arms against his chest in frustration. “Hyung, I’m nineteen.”

“Exactly. A baby.”

“He’s right, Gguk.” Seokjin said from beside him. “You can’t drink until you’re at least twenty one.”

“I’ve seen you guys drink since you were fucking sixteen, c’mon.”

At that, the three boys looked at each other. Namjoon was the first to react, reaching out to the cooler behind him and getting a beer and passing it to Jeongguk, who immediately broke out into a grin

Yoongi’s mouth fell open, watching as Jeongguk easily opened the bottle before looking back at his friend. “Dude?!”

“What? He’s got a point.” Namjoon shrugged before taking a tip of his own drink.

“I know, but we’re supposed to be, like, role models and shit.” Yoongi said, gesturing his thoughts with his hands.

“Please.” Namjoon rolled his eyes. “Jeongguk has been hearing us talk about sucking dick since he was twelve. I think the role model thing sinked a long time ago.”

Everyone laughed at that, before Seokjin remembered one of their many nights out when they were younger, recalling it like it was yesterday. Jeongguk simply listened with a content smile on his face, knowing that no matter how crazy they were, these three guys were definitely his role models for life.

(...)

It was only on Wednesday, the day of their next History of Magic class, this time at ten am, that Taehyung saw Jeongguk again. 

The boy was already inside the classroom when Taehyung walked in, seated on the same table from two days ago. Alone, just like last time. He noticed how his outfit was once again all black, this time composed of a pair of jeans, the same boots from before, a sweatshirt and a denim jacket over it. His fingers were free of rings, only a silver band adorning his right thumb.

Taehyung took a deep breath, trying to calm the nervousness he felt, before walking towards him.

Operation befriending-Jeon-Jeongguk was officially starting.

“Hello!” Taehyung exclaimed, startling Jeongguk and causing him to jolt in his seat before pausing to take out his (also black, wow) earphones to direct his attention fully to him.

The way Jeongguk was staring at him made Taehyung have the sudden need to run and hide. However, he managed to keep his friendly smile, extending a slightly shaky hand towards Jeongguk.

“I’m Taehyung. Kim Taehyung.”

Jeongguk barely reacted to the words, glancing at his hand before looking back at his face.

“...okay...?”

Ouch. Taehyung would be lying if he said he wasn’t hurt by the coldness of that, smile faltering just a little bit, but he didn’t let himself back down. Of course Jeongguk wouldn’t be openly friendly just yet, they barely knew each other.

He glanced at the available seat next to the boy, before looking at Jeongguk again. “Mind if I sit next to you?” He asked, pointing to the empty chair.

That earned him an eyebrow raise, the closest to an actual reaction Taehyung had seen from him, and he stored that in his mind as a win.

“Why?”

He gave the younger a small shrug.

“Why not?”

Taehyung could almost see the wheels of Jeongguk’s brain turning. He was staring at him with slightly narrowed, dark-ish eyes, like he was trying to analyze him and figure out what his deal was. Taehyung simply stayed there, hands behind his back, waiting, a hopeful smile on his face.

Finally, after what felt like a decade, Jeongguk sighed, moving his backpack as a sign of acceptance.

Taehyung’s face lit up, the smile on his face growing bigger. “Thank you!” He said, sitting down next to him immediately, afraid that Jeongguk would change his mind. 

He took out all the things he needed for the class while casually trying to make small talk with Jeongguk. “So... are you new in town?” Taehyung asked while opening his notebook. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

Jeongguk looked at him like he had just asked him the weirdest question ever, eyebrows furrowed together. “Uhm... no, I’ve always lived here.” He replied after a while, sounding slightly suspicious.

“Oh.” The older let out, neck turning red with embarrassment. Before he could think about saying something else, however, Professor Choi entered the  classroom, hair a little messy. 

Taehyung stifled in a laugh. “Look at Professor Choi.” He whispered to Jeongguk, who was in the process of putting his earphone back into his ear. “She looks like she’s been hit by a hurricane.”

Jeongguk didn’t laugh, nor did he react in any way that showed he was amused. He looked at Taehyung, one eyebrow raised. “It’s because today’s windy.” He stated, like Taehyung didn’t get it. 

Of course he knew it was because of that, he was just trying to make a joke, goddamn it.

Before he could explain it - maybe Jeongguk was one of those people who just didn’t get most jokes -, Professor Choi started talking. The other seemed to be interested in whatever ancient civilization she was rambling about, so Taehyung let him be for the time being. However, in between breaks, like when their teacher was trying to make the room’s computer work, Taehyung tried to interact with Jeongguk as much as he could, joking and talking about everything he could think of. 

It seemed like nothing could pull a reaction from Jeongguk - the boy stood in his chair completely unfazed, blocking Taehyung out, just listening to the teacher and taking notes, checking his phone once in a while to see the time. When they were finally dismissed after nearly an hour of suffering and Taehyung’s failed attempts, Jeongguk packed his things and bolted out of the room, leaving the other pouting in confusion.

He was considering just straight up chasing Jeongguk down and asking him to be his friend when he noticed Jimin and Hoseok waiting for him, Jimin talking about something and Hoseok nodding along to his words.

“...and then like-” The blonde boy stopped talking as he saw Taehyung walk towards them with furrowed eyebrows. “Oh, fucking finally! We’ve been waiting for you for so long.”

“You could’ve just gone to the cafeteria, I’d meet you there.” Taehyung said while the three of them started walking.

“Nonsense.” Jimin dismissed with a wave his hand, intertwining their arms together. “We have to protect you now, in case that Jeon kid tries anything.”

Taehyung frowned at that, while Hoseok sighed from beside him. 

“Jimin-”

“What are you talking about?” Taehyung interrupted, confused. “He doesn’t even talk to anyone in class. What makes you think he’d do something?”

Especially to me, Taehyung wanted to add, but he kept quiet. He watched as his friend shook his head, almost feeling pity for his innocent friend. 

“Dark witches have trouble controlling their powers, because they’re too connected with their emotions.” Jimin explained, gesturing with his hands as he talked. “Imagine one day, Jeongguk gets upset about a bad grade. One wrong move and you could end up as his target. He’s dangerous, I’m telling you.”

Taehyung’s frown deepened at that. Yes, what Jimin was saying made sense, but at the same time, Jeongguk didn’t seem that dangerous like his friend was describing him to. He mainly kept to himself, not really interacting with anyone. How could he choose his “victim” and act on it when he didn’t even talk to others? 

Besides, his gut was telling him Jeongguk wasn’t the way people painted him to be. Sure, they were practically strangers, but there was just... something about Jeongguk that had Taehyung feeling like there was more to him than what he showed.  

And, well, his gut was always right (if you don’t count that time it told him eating three year old candy was a good idea - Taehyung liked to blame that one on the fact he was in desperate need of sugar).

Before he could say what he thought to Jimin, however, Hoseok changed the subject, and the three of them made their way to the cafeteria, talking and laughing.

(...)

“He’s just so cute, you know.” Jimin sighed for the hundredth time as he stared at his phone, a new picture of his favorite drama actor appearing on his Instagram feed and making him swoon. 

Taehyung rolled his eyes teasingly, crossing his arms against his purple and white long sleeved shirt in a lazy manner. He looked around the almost filled classroom to pass time, every student there seeming ready for their first ever lesson of Defense Against The Dark Arts, scheduled for every Thursday afternoon of the trimester. 

Just as Jimin was going to show him yet another picture of the dude who looked old enough to be their dad, a man around his thirties walked inside the class, making everyone quickly take out their textbooks and note-taking objects. “Good afternoon, students.” He greeted as he walked, smiling at his new students, before  placing the various books he was carrying on the metal desk. 

“I’m Professor Gwan, and I’ll be your Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher for this yea-”

The man, now known as Professor Gwan, was interrupted by the classroom door opening. Taehyung’s jaw, along with every kid’s jaw, dropped open in surprise.

“Sorry for being late, professor.” Jeongguk said in a deep voice (Taehyung would be lying if he said it wasn’t kind of hot), and the teacher’s smile grew as he took him in.

“Ah, you must be Jeongguk, right?” Professor Gwan confirmed, and Jeongguk nodded before entering the room. “The Dean told me you’d be joining my class.”

“How?” Taehyung heard Jimin whisper, and he shrugged his shoulders in response, sharing his friend’s confusion. Jeongguk was a first year, and only second years and up were allowed to even get close to the Defense Against The Dark Arts department.

So how the hell was he here?

“Alright,” Professor Gwan started once Jeongguk found a seat in the back, grabbing a stack of worksheets and distributing them through the class. “Today I want to evaluate what your knowledge of the dark arts - or black magic, as you kids probably know it - is, so fill out this worksheet with everything you know about it.” He explained. Everyone took out their pencils, some already starting to scribble down on the sheet. “Don’t worry, this won’t count for your grade so there’s no need to cheat or make stuff up. Ah, and don’t forget to sign your name, please.”

When the professor reached their table to hand them their papers, Taehyung and Jimin made sure to thank him before working to fill it out. Taehyung read the entire thing, crossing off any spell or curse that he’d heard about in books or in the news. There was an empty rectangle at the bottom of the sheet, to write down any other information that wasn’t specified above, and Taehyung wrote the word vampires, recalling the times he and Jimin spent binge watching Twilight when they were thirteen.

He didn’t know if that counted as credible information, but he liked to think real vampires also shined in the sun and were hopeless romantics.

After about twenty minutes, Professor Gwan collected all the papers. When he was done, he stood by his desk, quickly going through all of them. “Let’s see here...” He muttered, eyes flickering to read the words in front of him, moving the papers as if to compare them. “Everyone seems to know about the killing curse, that’s a good start-”

“Some of us more than others.” Taehyung heard a kid in front of him mutter. His friends snickered before looking not so discreetly to Jeongguk, who remained unphased, as always.

“-and I see there’s a few of you who know some defensive curses already.” The corner of Professor Gwan’s lip turned upwards as he read a particular paper. “Some of you understand how to cast the tongue-tying curse, which is one of the first curses we’ll learn to master in this class.” He explained. “It’s a curse that binds the target's tongue to keep them from talking about a specific subject.”

Professor Gawn then looked at the class. “The incantation to this curse is Mimble Wimble. Everyone say it, please.”

A chorus of  Mimble Wimble filled the classroom, some kids laughing at how silly the incantation sounded. Professor Gawn chuckled with them. “Yes, it does sound funny, but it’s rather useful during fights, to stop your opponent from cursing you.” 

He then put down the stack of worksheets in his desk, briefly going through them once more before only pulling out one of them and reading the name scribbled on top of it. “Mr. Heo Kyong.” He called, and the boy in front of Taehyung who had been previously laughing with his friends raised his hand. 

The teacher hummed, putting the paper down again. “Please come here.” 

Kyong walked over to where the teacher stood, a confused look on his face as to why he had been called.

“Mr. Kyong wrote down that he knows how to use the tongue-tying curse.” Professor Gwan said, turning to Kyong. “Is it true?”

The boy shrugged. “Yeah, my dad taught me. It’s an easy curse to cast.”

“Yes, yes, it is.” Professor Gwan agreed with a hum, putting one hand on the boy’s shoulders and another pointing at the rest of the students before talking. “Do you mind showing to the class how it’s done?”

“Sure.” Kyong agreed. “Who am I casting it on?”

Professor Gwan searched the papers again, eyes lighting up as he stopped on a particular one.

“Mr. Jeongguk?” 

Jeongguk seemed to be caught off guard, discreetly taking out the earphone he always seemed to have on his ear and looking at the teacher. “Yes, professor?”

“Could you come here to the front of the class, please?”

The tension in the air shifted slightly. Jeongguk reluctantly stood up and walked over to the front of the classroom as everyone worked to avoid his eyes. 

Professor Gwan clasped his hands together in excitement, apparently not noticing the tension, looking between the two boys. “Okay, what I want you to do is, on the count of three, to use the tongue-tying curse on each other.” He then turned to the rest of the class. “What I want you all to take from this exercise is the power and importance of concentration and good pronunciation. One wrong syllable and the curse will not go through.”

The class murmured in agreement, exchanging glances with each other, slightly nervous about what was going to happen. Professor Gwan grinned before turning to the two students once again.

“Wands out, please.”

Both took out their wands, Kyong getting it from his pocket and Jeongguk taking his out of his boot. Taehyung noticed how worn off Jeongguk’s looked compared to the shiny one Kyong was holding, the black color fading off at the tip and in between the boy’s long fingers.

“Are you ready?” Professor Gwan asked, stepping back.

The two boys nodded. Everyone in the classroom held their breath.

“Three.”

The boys pointed their wands at each other, preparing themselves. Taehyung noticed how Jeongguk got a little closer, eyes locking on Kyong’s ones before frowning slightly.

“Two.”

Kyong smirked, a little evil, eyes flaming with something Taehyung couldn’t quite put his finger on from where he was sitting. However, it looked like Jeongguk could, because his eyes turned even darker, a warning flash of red passing by them.

“On-”

“Petrificus Totalus!”

A flash of black light hit Kyong right in the chest, making him drop his wand on the floor. His body contracted and froze, turning grey-ish, before he joined his wand on the ground, eyes unmoving and lips purple.

The class gasped in horror. Even Jeongguk himself seemed to be surprised, wide brown eyes looking at his wand like it had a mind of its own. 

“He killed him!” A girl on the front row shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Jeongguk. The younger seemed like a deer caught in the headlights, mouth parted in shock.

“Mr. Kyong is not dead, he’s petrified.” Professor Gwan explained, kneeling close to Kyong to check his vitals before getting up and looking at Jeongguk. The younger gulped, eyes the most brown Taehyung had ever seen them. “Mr. Jeongguk, I’m afraid I’m going to have to report this to the Dean.” He said, eyes stern as he started walking towards Jeongguk.

Before he could catch him, however, Jeongguk bolted for the classroom door and ran away as fast as he could, leaving everything he had on his desk behind.

“Don’t let him get away!” Another student shouted as they watched Jeongguk disappear out of there. “He tried to kill Kyong!”

“He didn’t try to kill anyone, let’s all calm down.” The professor said, rubbing his temples, thinking about how to handle this situation. After a few seconds, he pointed at the four closest students to him. “You, please carry Mr. Kyong to the infirmary. Tell him he was petrified and the nurse will know what to do.”

The four chosen kids scurried to follow Professor Gwan’s orders, carrying Kyong’s (not) dead weight away. When they closed the door behind them, Professor Gwan the professor sighed, before looking at the clock on the wall, seeing as the class was nearing its end. Knowing that he would still have to go down to the Dean's office and explain what had happened, the teacher dismissed the class earlier. Most of the students quickly packed their things and left, wanting to check on Kyong.

“See? I told you, Tae.” Jimin said as they were leaving the room, backpack and tote bag on each boys’ shoulder. “That kid is very, very dangerous. I can’t believe they let him in this class, he’s a hazard to all of us-”

Taehyung stopped listening to Jimin, who was already out of the door, gaze focused on Jeongguk’s abandoned desk, where his backpack laid. 

Would it be too weird if he took Jeongguk's things? He felt bad just leaving them there, knowing that if someone else found them they could easily steal them, but at the same time he wasn’t that close to him so-

“-Tae?”

Jimin’s voice brought him back from his inner discussion. He snapped his head to look at his best friend, who was staring at him, confused as to why Taehyung had stopped walking. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Yeah, yeah I am, I just, uhm...” Taehyung stalled, eyes darting around the room before landing on a stressed Professor Gwan. "I just need to talk to the professor about something.” He explained. 

“Oh.” Jimin let out, nodding. “I'll wait for you then.”

“No! No, that's, uhm, you don't need to do that.” Taehyung stuttered, making Jimin frown a bit. “You can go ahead, Minnie. I'll, uhm, I’ll talk to you later.”

Jimin raised one eyebrow at him, seeming suspicious, but nodded nonetheless, turning on his heels and walking towards the department’s exit. 

Taehyung stared at the door for a few more seconds just to make sure his best friend had left, before he walked over to Jeongguk’s desk. Looking over his shoulder, Taehyung took advantage of Professor Gwan's position - with his back turned to him, facing the window while he was talking on the phone - and grabbed the black backpack, quickly hunching it over his free shoulder and jogging out of the classroom. 

He pondered what to do with it as he walked out of the department, deciding to just take it home safely and give it to Jeongguk the next day at school. A few people gave him weird looks as he walked towards the school’s gate, but Taehyung shrugged it off, blaming it on the fact he was carrying two school bags and not that it was the Jeon Jeongguk’s backpack in specific.

At least he hoped that was the case.

His feet directed him to the familiar path he walked from school to home everyday almost on autopilot,  his mind playing what had happened in class over and over again. It was weird, Taehyung though. The full body-bind curse that Jeongguk had used was not capable of killing anyone, and he doubted that the younger didn’t know that, so that meant that Jeongguk didn’t intend on killing Kyong, as almost everyone in the class ignorantly assumed.

No, Jeongguk had meant to paralyze Kyong, stop him from doing something. But what exactly was the witch defending himself from?

He turned a corner of the street, mind pushing and pulling to come up with an answer to that question, when his eyes caught a vult of all-black sitting on the sidewalk while staring at the sky. Taking a step closer, he was able to confirm that that was, in fact, Jeongguk. The empathic side of him led him to feel for the boy, who had his eyes shut close like he was physically in pain.

After hesitating for a few moments - that consisted in Taehyung taking a step forward before immediately taking two steps back, nervous about approaching Jeongguk -, Taehyung finally walked over to the boy. The other's eyes stayed shut as he did so, not hearing his footsteps.

“Jeongguk?”

Jeongguk immediately snapped his eyes open at the call of his name, immediately taking out his wand out of his boot. However,  when he realized who it was, he let out a sigh of relief, putting his wand away before glaring at him.

“What the fuck do you want?”

Taehyung winced slightly at the cold tone. Swallowing down his nerves, he took out the backpack from his shoulder and let it fall onto the ground, close to the other’s leg. “You left your stuff in class.”

With a raised eyebrow, Jeongguk opened his bag, checking to see if anything was missing but finding everything intact. He sighed, zipping it close again before letting his head fall against his hands.

Silence fell upon them after that. Taehyung didn't know what to do, not sure if he should go away or if he should stay and make sure Jeongguk was good. 

A few moments passed before he decided to speak up. “A-are you okay?”

Jeongguk looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

“Why do you care?”

“Well, I, uhm,” Taehyung stuttered out, scratching the back of his neck. “I was just asking ‘cause you seemed upset about... you know.”

Jeongguk stared at him for a few moments before letting out a scoff. He shook his head like he was listening to something unbelievable, making a few strands of his black hair fall against his side profile. “Look dude, I don’t know your deal but you need to get the fuck off my dick, okay?”

Taehyung’s mouth opened and closed, like a fish out of water, surprised by the younger’s rude words. “W-what?” He managed to let out, and Jeongguk scoffed again.

“I’m not stupid, you know?” He said, jaw tense. “What is it, did you make a bet with you little friends, uh? About who can befriend the dark witch for longer? Is that why you were acting all nice and friendly in History of Magic?”

“No, no, of course not!” Taehyung denied it, shaking his head vigorously. “I just wanted to be your friend. I felt bad because you seem to be all alone at school and-”

“Oh, so you’re doing it out of pity?” Jeongguk interrupted with a mean laugh. “Well guess what, I don’t need your fucking pity. In fact, I don’t need anyone in that shithole that you guys call school - and I’m definitely not a fucking charity case for people like you who want to prove they’re ‘accepting’ and ‘nice’ when in fact they’re not.”

Taehyung parted his mouth at that, eyebrows furrowing together in shock.

“Jeongguk, I-I don’t-”

“Save it.” He snapped, grabbing his backpack before standing up. Unconsciously, Taehyung took a step back, and Jeongguk’s eyes flashed with something similar to sadness. However, just as fast as it came, it went away, and in a second he was staring angrily at Taehyung again. “I don’t want to be your fucking friend, so stop fucking annoying me about it, okay?”

He walked past Taehyung after that without even waiting for an answer, bumping into his shoulder on purpose. Taehyung stood there, alone, in the middle of the street, still trying to process what had just happened, eyes watering slightly at the harsh words.

(...)

“Jeon Jeongguk!”

Jeongguk winced as soon as he heard his mom’s voice, cursing himself for closing the front door too loudly. The woman emerged from the kitchen seconds later, a hand on her hip and an exasperated look on her face.

The boy smiled at her, sweetly, trying to get on the right side of his mom’s anger. “Hi, mo-”

“Care to tell me why I just got a call from your school saying you petrified a kid in class?” She interrupted him, eyes widening in a do-not-lie-to-me way. Jeongguk realized he wasn’t going to get away easy from this one.

“I-”

“I asked you one thing, Jeongguk.” She continued, shaking her head, disappointed. “One thing: to stay away from trouble - and now you do this?! Are you trying to get expelled?!”

“No, mom, I-”

“I honestly can’t believe you would put your future in danger like this, Jeongguk-!”

“I had no choice!” Jeongguk finally shouted, making his small mom jump at the tone. “He was going to hurt me!”

Mrs. Jeon’s face went from angry to confused, eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “What?”

Jeongguk sighed, running a hand through his hair to try and calm himself down.

“We were on Defense Against The Dark Arts class,” He started explaining. “and the teacher had me and another kid named Kyong show the other students how to make the Tongue-Tying curse, but something just... didn’t feel right, so I read the dude’s mind and realized he was thinking about using the Crucio curse on me.”

His mom’s eyes softened, the corners of her lips turning downwards. “Oh, baby...” She sighed, before hugging her younger son, hands coming to rub Jeongguk’s back in soothing motions.

“I acted on impulse, I’m sorry.” He said, head resting on her shoulder.

He felt his mom’s head shake. “It’s alright, you got spooked and defended yourself the best you could.” She assured, sighing, worried about his son’s fate.

Jeongguk pulled away from her then. “Did they say anything about my punishment?” 

“No. At least not yet.” She replied, before adding, “But the lady said you had left your things in class after leaving. I can pick them up if you don’t want to go back.”

“Oh, you don’t have to.” Jeongguk said, twisting his body to show his backpack. “A kid from my class brought them to me.”

Mrs. Jeon perked up at that, giving him a one side smile. “Oh, you made a new friend?”

“Not my friend.” Jeongguk clarified, rolling his eyes as he thought of the annoying (but kind of pretty) stranger. “Just some... guy from one of my classes.”

“Ah.” The woman nodded, trying to contain her excitement at the thought of her little Jeongguk finally having a potential friend. “Well, either way, that was nice of him.”

“Sure.” Jeongguk shrugged, acting indifferent. “I’m going to go to my room now, is that okay?”

His mom smiled. “Of course, honey. I’ll call you when dinner is ready.” 

After getting a sweet kiss on the cheek from his mom, Jeongguk went upstairs and walked into his room. He let his backpack fall on the ground before throwing himself on his bed with a small huff.

As the silence around him settled, Jeongguk shut his eyes and sighed. His body hurt a little from running as fast as he could from that stupid school, and he cursed himself from not working out in a while. At least he didn’t have to go back to pick up his stuff, so that was a plus.

His mom’s words suddenly rang in his head, making him open his eyes to stare at the white ceiling.

That was nice of him.

As much as Jeongguk didn’t want to admit it, she was kind of right. Yeah, Taehyung might have been a small pain in the ass during that week, but he had been kind enough to get Jeongguk’s backpack. That was something he knew not many would have done for him.

The feeling of being an asshole was starting to creep up on him now, remembering the way Taehyung’s face dropped as he spat the cruel words at him. He seemed genuinely sad when Jeongguk had insinuated he was only talking to him because he was dared to do so, or because he felt pity for him.

Jeongguk sighed, rubbing his eyes. Truth be told, Taehyung, he seemed different. The dark witch didn’t know how to explain it, but there was just something in the boy that pulled him apart from the rest (besides his handsomeness - Jeongguk wasn’t ready to go down that route just yet). He had seen Taehyung here and there at school, during lunch break or in the halls. The boy always had a smile on his face, laughing at something his friends said or passionately telling them something, hands moving fast and almost theatrically. A faint smile appeared on his face as he remembered how two days ago he caught the boy trip on his own feet while running late for class. 

Deep down, Taehyung seemed... genuine. Nice, even. Apart from the time he had caught Taehyung staring at him during his first day of class, there wasn’t really anything else that warranted any of the animosity Jeongguk felt against him.

But then again, who would even be nice to someone like him - a dark witch with a horrible reputation? 

Maybe that’s why Taehyung had been so friendly towards him. Maybe he didn’t know about Jeongguk’s past. About his father. He was sure that, once he knew, he would run as far away as he could away from Jeongguk like everyone else did.

So what was the point of even trying?

With that, he shook his head and got off his bed, walking towards his desk. He opened his laptop and turned it on, convincing himself that it had been better for the both of them to stop Taehyung’s advances before either of them got attached. Before Jeongguk got attached.

He wouldn’t be fooled again. Not after what happened with Hayoung.

(...)

Next week rolled by, much to Taehyung’s dismay. 

He was dragging himself to class that Monday - partly because he was absolutely dreading another History of Magic lesson, but mostly because he didn’t want to see Jeongguk’s stupid, dumb face.

Okay, okay. Not stupid. A little attractive, Taehyung thought, securing the strap of his bag on his shoulder as he walked through the school’s front doors. 

Still, as much as Taehyung found him handsome, that didn’t erase the fact that Jeongguk had been excessively mean with him when he was just trying to be nice. His words affected the older a lot more than he wanted to admit, hitting on one of his biggest insecurities, and he may or may not have spent the whole afternoon crying when he had gotten home.

Like the little baby he was.

The sadness quickly turned into anger the longer he had thought about the whole thing.Who did Jeongguk think he was, talking to him like that? He didn’t even consider the possibility that Taehyung actually wanted to be his friend, no - he just assumed he was a horrible person who was apparently too annoying to even breathe the same air as His Majesty.

(Not annoying, Taehyung remembered himself, hand unconsciously rubbing the opposite forearm in comfort.

...not annoying.)

When he entered the classroom, Taehyung scanned it without meaning to in search of Jeongguk. He found him already there, sitting on his usual spot at the back of the class with his usual look of indifference that Taehyung wanted to smack off of his face for good. He noticed Jeongguk’s eyes on him as he made his way to his desk, but Taehyung pretended he didn’t see him, scrolling on his phone like he was reading an extremely interesting and attention-catching article (when in reality he was swiping through his home screen). He sat down, glancing at the other while pretending to search for something in his bag, but Jeongguk was already back to looking at his phone, not even acknowledging him. 

Taehyung fought the urge to glare at him. What an absolute dick.

Professor Choi rolled in soon after, starting that morning’s lesson before Taehyung even had time to open his textbook on the right page. Giving up five minutes into the teacher’s monologue about whatever old thing she was talking about, he started doodling in his notebook to pass time, little drawings of all kinds of flowers and small animals that went from the base all the way to the top of the white, unwritten paper. It looked rather nice if he did say so himself, and Taehyng smiled softly at it, tongue sticking out in concentration as he tried to draw a rabbit jumping from one flower to the other.

“Mr. Kim?”

The sound of his name being called made Taehyung look up, seeing Professor Choi standing close to his desk. “Uh?” He let out, finding everyone in the room already staring at him. Fuck. “I-I mean, yes?”

He heard someone chuckle from beside him. Probably Jeongguk. 

...dick.

Professor Choi sighed, muttering something about not being paid enough for this. Taehyung had to agree. “I asked you if you had a partner for the project, Mr. Kim.”

Taehyung frowned. Project?

“What project?”

A few first years in the front row laughed, feeling oh so superior just because they paid attention to the class instead of zoning out like all cool people obviously did. Stupid nerds.

Professor Choi sighed once again, writing off something in her damn notebook. What teacher even used paper anymore? Someone should introduce her to the wonders of Microsoft Word. 

Wait, she’s talking again, shit-

“-a group assignment about Asian Myths last week,” She was explaining when Taehyung tuned in once again. “and I was asking if you already had a partner to do it with.”

Taehyung gulped before smiling, trying to charm himself out of his situation. “Not really, Professor Choi, but I promise you’ll be the first one to know once I get one.”

“The deadline to form the groups was today.” Professor Choi informed, shaking her head disapprovingly before reading off something from her notebook, glasses slipping down her nose a little.

“Okay, Mr. Kim, you will be making the assignment with Mr. Jeon-”

Taehyung’s mouth dropped open, blinking twice before turning his head to look at Jeongguk. The younger had the same shocked expression - it was the first time Taehyung had ever seen him react to a situation like a normal human being.

“But, Professor Choi, I don’t-”

“Professor Choi, please-”

“The deadline to form the groups was today,” The teacher repeated, this time with a firmer voice, glancing at the two of them. “and everyone has a partner except you two, so.”

Taehyung opened his mouth to protest again, not wanting to work with Jeongguk even if she paid him. However, Professor Choi interrupted him before he could even begin to beg.

“You’re doing the project together. Period.”

The second year student finally slumped down in his chair, defeated, knowing that Professor Choi was super exigent about deadlines and more stubborn than anyone he had ever met (including himself). 

Which meant both Taehyung and Jeongguk were stuck together in this stupid assigment together.

Which meant Taehyung was screwed.

Professor Choi returned to the front of the class then and continued on with her lesson. Taehyung waited a few seconds before he glanced at Jeongguk again. Their eyes met for a split second and the both of them quickly looked away, sharing the same thought.

How the fuck am I supposed to work with him?

(...)

Jimin raised his eyebrow as Taehyung sighed for the hundredth time, watching the other play around with his almost untouched plate of tteokbokki, a pout on his face. “What’s wrong, Tae?” He asked, concerned.

Taehyung sighed again. “Professor Choi is forcing me to work with Jeongguk."

Now was Hoseok’s time to lift his eyebrow, swallowing the food he was chewing before talking. “So?”

“So?” Jimin answered for his best friend, turning to Hoseok. “He’s a dark witch, hyung. It’s normal for Tae to be scared.”

“I’m not scared.” Taehyung said, straightening his back. “He just hates me. And I also hate him back.”

Hoseok ignored Jimin’s first input, like he seemed to do whenever he talked bad about dark witches. He turned his attention to Taehyung’s statement, tilting his head slightly. “Why do you hate him?”

Taehyung huffed, ready to go the fuck off. “First off, I tried to make small talk with him during class last Wednesday but he just straight up ignored me. I was just trying to be his friend! And then last Friday, when he ran away after leaving Kyong petrified, he left his things in the classroom, so I grabbed them-” He stopped himself, glancing at Jimin. “-after, uhm, after I talked to the teacher, and was going to bring it home to give it to him the next day but I ended up running into him while I was walking home and gave him his backpack then, but then he basically went off on me? Saying he didn’t need anyone in this school and also calling me annoying.” Taehyung concluded, taking a short breath when he was over. “So in conclusion, he’s a dick and I hate him.”

“Why were you even trying to be his friend in the first place?” Jimin asked him, incredulous at how naive Taehyung could be sometimes. “Do you realize how dangerous he is?”

“He doesn’t seem that dangerous, Jimin.” Taehyung replied, shrugging, not really sure why he was defending Jeongguk in the first place. “He’s just... a stupid head.”

Jimin pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a frustrated huff.

“Taehyung, that guy killed his own fucking father.”

Taehyung’s face went blank at the words, heart stopping in his chest for a second. Had he tried to befriend a murderer? “...what-?”

“Okay, again, that’s just a rumour, Jimin.” Hoseok corrected, giving Jimin a stern look. “It was never proven that it actually happened.”

Jimin let out a small scoff but kept quiet, continuing to eat his lunch. Hoseok then looked back at Taehyung, face softening a bit. “And Taehyung, I’m sure he didn’t mean all that.” He said, making Taehyung cross his arm in disbelief. “Didn’t you say that happened the same day that Kyong’s incident? Maybe he was just stressed. Just be civil with him and I’m sure the project will go fine.”

Taehyung thought about Hoseok’s reasoning, chewing his bottom lip. His friend did have a point, but he was too stubborn to admit that, so he just ended up shaking his head. “I don’t know, hyung. I think I’m just not going to do the project at all and suffer with a zero.”

“Suit yourself.” Hoseok shrugged, taking another bite out of his food. “But remember, Professor Choi is ruthless. If you want to pass History of Magic this year, you really shouldn’t ditch the work she gives you to do.”

Taehyung pouted at that, completely forgetting that he wasn’t exactly in a place where he could afford to just not do a group project. He let out a sigh, looking at his plate thoughtfully. 

Seemed like he had no other option except working with Jeongguk.

(...)

“I’m so mad, hyung.” 

Yoongi’s eyes didn’t even leave the papers he was reading, already used to Jeongguk coming in without even knocking, like he owned the place. “What is it now?” He asked, distracted, while Jeongguk took a seat on the black sofa close to his desk, letting out a huff as he did so.

“You know that guy I told you about, Taehyung?” 

Yoongi pursed his lips in thought, now lifting his head to look at Jeongguk. “That cute guy from your class that brought you your backpack on friday?”

Jeongguk rolled his eyes at that, the faintest blush appearing on his cheeks. “I did not say he was cute.”

“That’s not how I remember it.” Yoongi hummed with a smile, putting his pen down and resting his head against the back of his office chair, now interested in the conversation. “But yes, I remember him.”

Jeongguk pouted. “I’m stuck doing a school project with him.”

To his surprise, Yoongi’s eyes didn’t widen comically nor did he show any signs of compassion towards his brother’s terrible luck. Instead, he stayed completely normal, staring at Jeongguk like he had just told him what they were having for dinner.

“...so?”

“So?!” The younger repeated, raising his arms in frustration. “Hyung, I hate him and he hates me. This is literally the worst thing that has ever happened in my life.”

“Calm down, drama queen.” Yoongi chuckled, getting up and sitting next to Jeongguk on the black couch, where the younger was already sulking. “This isn’t the end of the world.”

Jeongguk looked at him with narrowed eyes. “It isn’t? I’m going to have to talk to him, hyung. Talk!”

“And...?”

Jeongguk groaned, and Yoongi suppressed the urge to laugh at his frustrated state. "And after talking comes hanging out,” The younger started, hands moving in repetitive motions. “and after hanging out comes becoming closer and next thing I know he’s ghosting me ‘cause his other friends think I’m a murderer."

“Hey, hey, hey.” Yoongi started, noticing how hard Jeongguk was breathing. He rubbed his shoulder comfortingly before talking. “It’s just a group project, Gguk. You just have to work with the boy, not make out with him.”

Jeongguk groaned again at that, hiding his red face in his hoodie, the tips of his hair turning pink at Yoongi’s words.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Yoongi said, letting out a chuckle. “But for real, it’s not going to be as bad as you think I promise. You just need to get the project done as soon as you can and then you can never talk to him again.”

“Easier said than done.” Jeongguk mumbled, crossing his arms and pouting slightly, making Yoongi roll his eyes playfully. Sometimes he forgot that Jeongguk, despite his height and muscle structure, was still just a kid.

“C’mon you big baby, don’t be dramatic. You’ll be fine.” The older brother said, running a hand through the strays of Jeongguk’s hair that weren’t hidden by his hoodie.

Jeongguk’s pout grew at that, leaning away from the hand that was now patting his head. “Not a baby.”

Yoongi smiled, shaking his head. He knew that Jeongguk was always going to be his baby, despite how old and tall he got. However, he kept the thought to himself, not one to share his emotions in broad daylight because that was lame and he was cool. Moving to get back to his desk, Yoongi stood up, pausing as his knees made a loud cracking sound.

Jeongguk let out a snort. “You old ass.”

Yoongi playfully glared at him as he sat down on his office chair again. “Shut up or I’ll tell Namjoon to not let you in while I’m working anymore.”

“Bold of you to assume Namjoon hyung would do that." Jeongguk said, smirking. "I’m his favorite.”

“Just because you had a crush on him when you were, like, thirteen doesn’t mean you’re his favorite.”

“I did not have a crush on him, how many times do I have to tell you, oh my god-"

(...)

It had been a week or so since Taehyung had been aggressively forced to work with Jeongguk, and the two boys had yet to speak to each other about the project. 

He had to admit, it’s not like he was doing much to change that either. In fact, Taehyung had been putting an extra effort in avoiding Jeongguk, not letting himself even do as much as eye contact with the other and scurrying off the classroom as soon as class was over, just to make sure he wouldn’t have any interaction with him.

Taehyung knew he had to talk to him eventually - especially since the assignment’s deadline was coming closer and closer with each passing day -, but he just... needed to prepare himself mentally and physically. He needed to practise what he was going to say, what to wear, what approach to go with.

After all, he hated Jeongguk, and he wasn’t going to let him get away with laughing about him looking like a fool. Not on his watch.

A part of Taehyung was wondering why the hell was he even caring about this. At the end of the day, it was just a stupid project. Maybe they didn’t even have to meet, Taehyung convinced himself as he closed his textbook, Professor Choi having dismissed them a few seconds before. Maybe they could just send emails back and forth about it, video chat once if it was really needed, and work away from each other. It was going to be easy peasy, lemon squeesy-

Jeongguk was coming over. Oh no.

Taehyung tried to pack his things faster, putting his notebook inside of his bag hastily and without caring if the sides of it wrinkled. He was just about to throw his bag over his shoulder and bolt for the door when Jeongguk reached his table.

Oh No.

Taehyung was going to cry. Or die. Maybe both.

“Are you free this Saturday?”

His mouth opened and closed, perplexed. Out of all the things Taehyung thought Jeongguk would say, are you free this saturday was definitely right at the bottom of the list. He pursed his lips in confusion for a moment. “...what?”

Jeongguk sighed, face showing clear frustration. Taehyung didn’t understand if he was frustrated at him or at himself. Maybe both.

“Are you free this Saturday?” He repeated, this time a little louder, like that would help Taehyung understand what he was trying to hint at. 

Taehyung’s eyebrows furrowed together, thinking about what in the hell could Jeongguk possibly mean. “Why?” He asked then, looking at the boy up and down. “Are you, like... trying to ask me out or something?”

Jeongguk choked in his own spit, eyes widening in surprise. “What? No, of course not.”

“Ouch.” Taehyung let out a small chuckle, heart slumping a little at how disgusted Jeongguk sounded. It’s not like he liked Jeongguk like that, but it still hurt to be rejected so hard.

Jeongguk  must’ve noticed it, because his intimidating expression softened a little. His features turned a little sheepish, something Taehyung had never seen before since the younger was always walking around with a super resting bitch face. He watched as Jeongguk shook his head as if contemplating what to say next.

First asking if he was free on saturday, and now this? Was Jeongguk drunk, this early in the morning? Or having a stroke? Maybe both. 

(Jesus Christ).

“Look, I didn’t- I didn’t mean it like that.” He finally said, and Taehyung wasn’t sure what part of their interaction he was referring to. “I was just wondering if you were free saturday so we could meet up and talk about the project.”

Oh. Taehyung flushed as he was filled with embarrassment. Why did he think Jeongguk would ask him out on a date? Of course he wouldn’t, the boy hated him, what was he thinking. “Uhm, yeah, yeah I’m free.” He said after a second. “Where do you want to meet?”

“Uh...” Jeongguk thought about it for a moment before replying. “Do you know where the public library is? That’d be a good place.”

Taehyung nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“Great.” The younger said, and Taehyung could’ve swore he saw the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. “We could meet up around two pm?”

“Sounds good.” Taehyung agreed, his smile growing slower than usual just in case Jeongguk needed a tutorial on how to properly do it. In retrospective, he might have looked more weird than educational, because the other simply stared at him, eyebrows pulled together slightly.

“...Alright.”

After that, the two boys stayed there in silence - Taehyung rocking back and forth on his heels, Jeongguk staring at the ground while scratching the back of his neck. The awkwardness could be seen from a mile away, and Taehyung wanted to run from it as fast as he could.

“I should, uh, get going.” He said when he was sure Jeongguk was done. The younger seemed to be brought out of a trance then, eyes looking up from the floor. “I have a class to go to, so...”

Jeongguk’s mouth parted just a bit, before shaking his head, a habit he seemed to do often. “Yeah yeah, sure. I, uh, I’ll see you saturday.”

“I’ll see you Saturday.” Taehyung repeated, taking a few slow steps back before turning around and scurrying off the classroom. 

As he made his way to his next class, Taehyung replayed his interaction with Jeongguk in his head, cringing every time he remembered how awkward it had been. 

His attention, however, seemed to slowly shift from the awkwardness of it all to Jeongguk himself. He thought about how his eyes seemed to become a little lighter as they talked. How the corner of his mouth turned upwards for a split second, drawing Taehyung’s focus towards his lip piercing for just a second. How he seemed to be hesitant after they agreed to meet up, like he wanted to say something else, but just didn’t know how to.

How Jeongguk was... actually kind of cute.

Taehyung blinked away these thoughts, shaking his head just for good measure. He didn't want to indulge the side of him that found Jeongguk just the slightest bit attractive at all.

They were just going to do the project and then never talk to each other again. Simple. No feelings involved.

(Maybe both?, a small, hopeful part of him couldn’t help but whisper).

(...)

A tear rolled down Jeongguk’s eyes before he could stop it. He quickly wiped it away, eyes focused on the latest romcom he had found on Netflix, where the two main characters were finally confessing to each other.

Suddenly, just as they were about to kiss, his phone went off. Glancing down, a grin spread on his face, and he quickly paused the movie. He grabbed the device, swiping right on the call he was receiving.

“Hi hyung!” Jeongguk said excitedly, turning the speaker mode on.

“Hi Jeonggukie.” Seokjin’s voice filled his room, the little to no background noise making Jeongguk deduce he was alone in his shared apartment. “How are you doing? How’s the new school treating you?”

“I’m doing okay.” He replied. “School still sucks, though.” 

“Yeah, I figured. Yoongi told me you were having some trouble.” Seokjin said, and Jeongguk rolled his eyes. Sometimes Yoongi and Seokjin acted more like his parents than his own mom did. “Although I heard you petrified a kid, so I’m assuming no one is going to pick on you for a while.”

Jeongguk let out a chuckle. “Yeah, everyone’s been keeping their distance from me. Which isn’t new, but you know.”

Seokjin didn’t reply to that, but he could almost guess how the older’s lips were turned upwards, smile not really reaching his eyes as he too knew what it was like to be put aside for his powers. “Did you get in a lot of trouble?” He asked. Jeongguk shrugged his shoulders, before realizing Seokjin couldn’t see him.

“The normal, I guess.” He said. “The Dean called me to his office and told me that because it was my first offense or whatever, they wouldn’t expel me, but that it was going to my criminal record.”

“That sucks. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I did petrify him, after all.” Jeongguk reasoned, playing with the strings of his hoodie.

Seokjin was quiet for a few seconds, and Jeongguk was about to ask him if everything was okay when the older finally spoke up.

“Yoongi also told me you were having boy problems, especifically.”

Jeongguk choked on nothing, basically, coughing as Seokjin laughed on the other side of the line. “Calm down, Jeonggukie, it’s not the end of the world.” He said as the younger caught his breath.

“I’m not having boy problems.” Jeongguk affirmed, scoffing slightly. “Yoongi hyung is just a dumbass.”

“Don’t let him hear you.” The older chuckled. “But for real, what’s up?”

Jeongguk sighed, telling his hyung everything that had happened between him and Taehyung - from the other’s friendly attempts to yelling him off and then getting paired together in a school project.

“So yeah.” He breathed out when he finished, tired just from speaking. “I realized that I actually needed to talk to him in order to do the project, so I took the initiative and asked him to meet me in the library next Saturday.”

“So what I’m hearing is...” Seokjin started. “you have a date saturday.”

Jeongguk groaned at that, pulling his hoodie up out of habit to hide his color changing hair. “Hyung!”

“Sorry, Jeonggukie! You’re just so easy to tease.” Seokjin giggled, making Jeongguk blush harder in embarrassment. “For real though, is he cute?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never thought about it.” That’s a lie, his brain told him. He decided to ignore it, shaking his head. “Either way, I’m pretty sure he hates me so it doesn’t matter.”

“Why would he hate you?” Seokjin asked, and Jeongguk could almost imagine his confused frown.

“Because of the way I treated him that day.” He said, heart clenching without his permission as he remembered Taehyung’s sad expression. “I was just really frustrated and angry about the whole... petrifying thing and I ended up taking it out on him.”

“Then just apologize.”

“I know I should, but it’s just...” Jeongguk trailed off, eyebrows furrowing. “I don’t know, maybe it’s better for him to hate me now than to hate me later on, you know? When we’re already friends or something.”

Seokjin sighed. “Jeongguk,” He started, and the younger noticed how his hyung used his actual name and not some cutesy nickname - which meant he was being serious. “I’m not going to tell you what to do because I believe you’re capable of making your own decisions, but you should really apologise to Taehyung. He didn’t deserve to be at the end of your rage, especially when he seemed so nice.”

“They all do...”

The older sighed again, this time a little sadder. “Listen, I know you’ve been hurt before, and I get your insecurities because I was hurt too. But not everyone's the same, you know? There’s actually some nice people in this world.”

“How can you be so sure of it, though?” Jeongguk asked, sceptical. “I mean, one day you think you truly know someone and the next day, boom, they ditch you because you’re a murderer.”

“Gguk... Not everyone is like Hayoung, I promise you.” 

Jeongguk flinched slightly at the mention of the girl’s name. 

“Look, I’m not saying to straight up make out and befriend every single person you see.” Seokjin said when the younger stayed quiet, knowing the subject was still a soft spot for him. “But you can’t isolate yourself from the world like that. Be careful about who you trust, yes, but don’t push away everyone without even giving him a chance to prove they’re good people. You’re just doing what society does to us - judge without even knowing us.”

Although he knew Seokjin was right (as always - it was actually kind of annoying), Jeongguk was still hesitant. He knew that apologising was the right thing to do, and he would make him feel a lot better too, but he was just scared that doing it could open a possibility for him and Taehyung to be something more than strangers.

He just wasn’t ready to get his heart broken again. Either in one way or another.

“I’ll... I’ll think about it.” Jeongguk opted to say. He heard Seokjin let out a small sigh, before coming closer to the speaker.

“Alright, kid.” He said. “I have to go know, ‘cause I have a class in like ten minutes. Just know that I love you and I’m here for you.”

Jeongguk smiled, grateful that he had such a sweet friend like Seokjin in his life. “Thank you, hyung, I love you too. Have a good time in class.”

After that, both of them hung up. Jeongguk got back to his movie, Seokjin’s words still lingering in his mind as the two protagonists kissed under the moonlight.

(...)

The sun shined brightly on the sky as Taehyung walked to the library, his usual tote bag on his shoulder and earphones plugged in. The boy briefly asked himself if he should have brought a hat to cover his head from the blinding light, before shaking his head.

He was... a little anxious, to say the least, tugging at the sleeves of his sweater nervously. He didn’t know what to expect from this meeting with Jeongguk, just hoping that it wasn’t as awkward as their previous interactions.

Taehyung couldn’t do awkward, it made him close to losing his mind. It was a miracle, the fact that he was still standing after twenty years filled with awkward and embarrassing moments.

As he finally reached his destination, Taehyung took a deep breath before entering the library, immediately being welcomed by the warm air from the AC. He smiled at the old librarian that was behind the main counter, discreetly searching for Jeongguk.

The younger was almost too easy to find - black clothes standing out from the background of shelves of different shades of light brown and colorful book covers. Taehyung felt like he had won a weird game of Where's Waldo as he walked closer to where Jeongguk was sitting.

Before he could say anything, the other beat him to it. 

“You're late.”

“Fashionably late.” Taehyung joked as he sat down, only to be met with Jeongguk's impassive stare. 

Awkward. Shit.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, focusing on taking out his notebook and pencil from his bag to avoid making eye contact with Jeongguk. 

“It’s okay.” He replied, writing some stuff down on his notebook. Taehyung noticed a couple of books already stacked up in a pile close to Jeongguk, and he felt a little bad, cursing his bad time management.

“So, uhm...” Taehyung started, opening his notebook. “Do you know what we’re supposed to do for this assignment? ‘Cause I kinda forgot to write it down.” He asked, forcing a chuckle along with his words.

Jeongguk’s eyes shifted from his own notepad to Taehyung’s face, trailing down on his open notebook - the corners of the pages shown filled with small drawings of seemingly random things like flowers, animals and other natural elements. “Yeah, I can see that.” He remarked, making Taehyung look down with a small frown before realizing what Jeongguk meant. His hands quickly searched for a clean page as his ears turned red, embarrassed.

The right corner of Jeongguk’s lips turned upwards, action quickly vanishing when Taehyung finally found a blank, white page and looked up. The younger immediately looked down at his notepad, pretending to be reading off something. “Apparently, we have to... choose an Asian myth, make a summary of it and explain which parts of it are magical and which parts are fabricated.” 

“Damn.” Taehyung let out. “That sounds... like a lot of work.” He said, already feeling tired just from hearing Jeongguk’s explanation. 

“Yeah.” Jeongguk agreed. “I thought that maybe today we could just focus on choosing which myth we’re going to talk about.”

Taehyung nodded. “Sounds good.”

They both got to work after that, the only sound around them being the rustling of paper and the drag of the pencil. Jeongguk had both his earphones in, probably blasting some rock or screamo music as he wrote down sentence after sentence. Taehyung noticed how quick he was at writing, and he tried to keep up with his pace, failing miserably. After an hour or so, his hand was begging for a five minute break, and he heard it, putting down his pencil carefully and stretching his fingers. Glancing at Jeongguk to make sure the other didn’t catch him doing nothing, Taehyung found him completely immersed in the book he was reading, eyebrows pulled together, piercing out of his hair’s cover. 

They probably looked like a funny duo, he realized as he glanced down at himself: Jeongguk with his all black clothes, countless piercings and intimidating aura; Taehyung with his oversized white sweater, plaid pants, ruffled hair and puppy eyes.

His thoughts were interrupted by Jeongguk staring at him. Taehyung immediately teared his eyes away and picked up the pencil again, wanting to slam his head straight into a wall for having zoned out staring at Jeongguk and getting caught like that again.

To give him credit, Taehyung did try to stay focused after that. He put on his study playlist, only one pink earbud in to not let himself get too distracted by the music, and he refrained from doodling or daydreaming. But after another two hours of searching for weird myths in books that looked like they were written and published before his grandma was born, his brain started drifting off, anxious for some kind, any kind of entertainment.

As he opened the sixth book in a row, Taehyung was pleased to find that this one had a lot of paintings and illustrations. His eyes jumped from picture to picture, admiring the beautiful ancient artwork. When he turned the next page, he was met with numerous portraits of myth creatures, and he couldn’t help but let out a giggle as he saw one particularly funny looking creature, with eyes so small they seemed to be almost non existing and a mouth so big it looked like it could eat a dining table in one bite.

Taehyung continued going through the book, his task of taking notes long forgotten, pencil left on the table as he giggled at the weird pictures. He must’ve laughed a little too loud, though, because as he was turning another page of the book, he caught Jeongguk looking at him intensely, eyes slightly narrowed. “What are you laughing about?” He asked, glancing down at the book in front of Taehyung.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.” Taehyung said, feeling a little guilty as he noticed Jeongguk’s endless notes, knowing that his own weren’t even half of that length. “I just found some funny pictures in this book.”

Jeongguk’s expression changed from suspicious to confused, eyebrows pulling together in a frown. Taehyung turned the book towards him, pointing to the one image that had made him laugh the hardest so far. “Doesn’t this one kinda look like Professor Choi?”

To his surprise, Jeongguk didn’t scoff or look away to go back to his work. Instead, a smile slowly grew on his face as he saw the similarities. Taehyung couldn’t help but stare at the bunny teeth slowly peeking out of his mouth. “It really does, oh my god.” The younger muttered, eyes scanning the other pictures before turning the book to Taehyung again, pointing at a different painting.

“This one looks like Professor Gwan.” Jeongguk said, smile growing just a tad bit more when Taehyung let out a giggle at the resemblance. His shoulders sagged a little in relaxation, watching as Taehyung searched for yet another picture he could make fun of.

“Tell me this doesn’t look like Kyong.” The light witch stated, the book now sprawled out in the space between them, both boys angling their heads so they could see better. 

Jeongguk let out a small laugh, eyes looking at where the other was pointing, and something inside Taehyung lightened up at the sound. “It really does. I think that’s his more handsome doppelganger.”

At that, Taehyung laughed hard, quickly putting a hand over his mouth when he received a few glares from the other tables closer to them. His silence only lasted for two or three seconds before Jeongguk found another familiar creature, making Taehyung giggle into his hand.

The rest of the afternoon was spent just like that, searching for funny portrays in their books and showing it to each other. By the time Taehyung was almost crying from laughing so much and Jeongguk’s stomach hurt from the same reason, the librarian came to let them know they would be closing soon.

“Oh, okay, thank you.” Jeongguk said to her, still letting out a few chuckles at Taehyung’s latest comparison.

Taehyung checked his phone, eyes widening. “I can’t believe we spent like four hours just laughing at stupid shit.” He said, making Jeongguk turn his head towards him while he was packing his stuff. “It’s almost seven pm.”

“Really?” Jeongguk asked, searching for his phone before confirming the older’s words. “Ah fuck, my mom’s going to kill me. I told her I’d be home by five.”

“Yeah, my grandma too.” Taehyung agreed as he got up, Jeongguk following suit. They walked towards the exit, politely saying goodbye to the librarians who were sending them fake smiles, knowing that they were the two dumbasses who had spent the afternoon disturbing the place’s usual peace and quiet.

Whatever, Taehyung thought. They could use a little life in there.

“I think they hate us now.” The younger stated as he pushed the front door, finally stepping out outside. Taehyung giggled at that, closing the door behind him. A shiver went down his body as the cold air of the first days of Autumn hit him, hiding his hands with his beige sweater paws.

Silence descended upon them, but Taehyung was pleased to find it was not quite the awkward silence he had expected and feared. He smiled a little at that, letting himself enjoy it for a few seconds before speaking up. “Well, I should get going. I don’t want to miss my bus.”

The words seemed to pull Jeongguk from his thoughts,and he lifted his head to look at Taehyung. “Oh, uhm, yeah, of course.” He said, stumbling over his words, something Taehyung had never seen him do before. “Do you, uhm, do you want to meet again tomorrow at the same time? We kind of didn’t get anything done today.”

Taehyung chuckled, agreeing. “Yeah, we really didn’t. Tomorrow I have to help my grandma take care of some stuff. We can meet up during the morning, though, if you want.”

Jeongguk pursed his lips in thought, before nodding. “Yeah, I’m free then.”

“Great!” Taehyung grinned, a part of him slightly happy to see Jeongguk’s no teeth smile directed at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yeah.” Jeongguk said, seeming distracted. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow.”

Taehyung gave him a small nod, waving bye to Jeongguk and turning on his heels to walk away. However, he didn’t go far, only ten or twelve steps, before he heard his name being called.

“Wait, Taehyung!”

He turned around again, eyes a little wide, finding Jeongguk jogging towards him. “I- Yeah?” He asked when the other stopped in front of him, quickly looking at him up and down in search of any injuries or something.

“I uhm,” Jeongguk started, stopping shortly just to pull the hoodie of his black sweatshirt over his head. Taehyung noticed how the sleeves of the clothing pushed back to reveal numerous tattoos in monochromatic colors, and the tip of his ears turned red.

Curse him for being a sucker for tattoos.

“I... I wanted to say I’m sorry.” Jeongguk finally said, catching Taehyung off guard. His lips slightly parted as the younger continued to stammer. “F-for being an asshole before. For yelling at you. I was just... really frustrated and angry and I lashed out on you when you didn’t deserve it.”

“Oh.” Taehyung breathed out, really not expecting Jeongguk to apologise so out of the blue. He realized then that Jeongguk was waiting for a response, fingers twisting and turning one of the rings he was wearing. He shook his head slightly. “I mean- don’t worry about it, I understand. I was a little pushy too.”

Jeongguk let out a small chuckle at that, looking down at the floor. The piercings on his ear moved as he did so, the older noticing them for the first time then. He looked like he didn’t know what to do next, balancing himself back and forth on the heels of his boots. 

Luckily for him, Taehyung did.

“Here, let’s start over.” He said, making Jeongguk lift his head. His brown eyes landed on Taehyung’s face and then on the hand extended towards him.

“Hi, I’m Kim Taehyung. It’s nice to meet you.”

Jeongguk smiled, the tiniest bit of white teeth coming into view again. Taehyung couldn’t help but smile back, lips stretching further when Jeongguk’s soft hand, cold from his rings but warm from his body heat, came in contact with his own.

“I’m Jeon Jeongguk. It’s nice to meet you too.”

(...)

The next Monday morning, Taehyung woke up in a good mood. His grandma even pointed it out, asking him why he was so happy, as her grandson was definitely not a morning person. Taehyung had just shrugged, telling her he simply woke up like that.

That was a lie, of course. No one wakes up happy that early in the morning just because.

To be completely honest, ever since his meetings with Jeongguk during the weekend, Taehyung had been extra happy, the kind that made him walk with a jump on his step. He was relieved that he and Jeongguk were on good terms now - holding grudges made Taehyung feel tense and emotionally exhausted after a while.

Not only that, but he was looking forward to making a new friend. Don’t get him wrong, Taehyung loved Jimin and Hoseok to death, but the other two boys had other friends besides him and they would sometimes be too busy to hang out - so it was nice to have someone else to possibly hang out with.

You’re getting ahead of yourself, his brain told him as he entered the classroom, being one of the firsts to do so. You only hang out twice, for a project. You’re not friends with him.

Taehyung sighed, sitting on his usual desk, close to the window. His brain, although very stupid, was right. Nonetheless, he chose not to hear it, not wanting to break off his good mood.

His thoughts were suddenly pushed to the back of his head as someone slumped down on the seat next to him, catching him a little off guard. Taehyung looked to his side, the furrow in his eyebrows dissipated and being replaced by a small, uncontrollable smile, as he realized who it was.

“Good morning.” He greeted, half expecting Jeongguk to just straight up ignore him. However, the boy lifted his head up from his arms, eyes still half closed.

“Morning.” The younger mumbled, his sleepy face contorting into pain as he heard Professor Choi enter the classroom. 

Taehyung stifled a laugh. “Tough night?”

“Yeah.” Jeongguk let out, rubbing his face to try and stay awake. “I stayed up late playing Overwatch and by the time I noticed, the sun was already rising in disappointment.”

Taehyung giggled at that, waiting until Professor Choi turned around to write something on the chalkboard before speaking again. “So, uhm, when do you wanna meet again? T-to do the project, I mean.” He asked, praying to God that Jeongguk was too tired to notice the eagerness in his voice.

The boy didn’t reply right away, mentally checking his calendar, supporting his chin on the palm of his hand. “What about next Friday afternoon?” He finally said, sounding a little more awake now. “Since we already chose the myth on Sunday, we could start searching for more information about it.”

“Okay, yeah, sounds good.” Taehyung nodded, face turning away to look at Professor Choi in hopes that Jeongguk didn’t see the smile that was threading to slip. His heart sped up a little as he felt Jeongguk’s thigh brush against his own when the boy moved to take out his textbook, warmth spreading through his body just from the small contact.

Too soon, his brain reminded him.

Too soon, Taehyung agreed.

(...)

“You’re late.” Jeongguk commented, watching as Taehyung rushed to sit in front of him at their now designated table. His face was a little red from practically running from the school all the way to the library, hair sticking up because of the wind, chest covered by an orange turtleneck and a large white t-shirt on top of it moving up and down rapidly.

“Fashionably late.” Taehyung let out, trying to catch his breath. “Sorry, my potions teacher made us all stay behind and clean the room after class.”

“It’s fine.” Jeongguk assured, gesturing to the wooden table that was still devoid of any materials. “I was just going to get some books for us to start.”

Taehyung nodded while putting his tote bag on the extra chair next to him. The dark witch noticed the dots of paint that adorned the light brown, almost dirty white fabric. “I’ll help you.”

The two went to the ‘magic’ section of the library together, searching for more books about myths and magic history. When they got everything they wanted, they walked back to the table - but not before Taehyung almost tripped, the pile of books in his arms close to falling on the floor.

“You’re alright there?” Jeongguk said, glancing at him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Taehyung assured, looking at the ground with his eyes narrowed. “Just a stupid step trying to get in my way.”

Jeongguk chuckled, putting the books he was carrying on the table, Taehyung doing the same just a few seconds later. He sat down and looked at the amount of books they had in front of them, internally crying at the amount.

“Well... we better get started if we want to go through all this today.” Jeongguk said, like he was reading Taehyung’s thoughts. The older sighed, taking his notebook and pencil case out of his bag, setting everything in front of him before taking out the first book of his pile.

The hours went by quickly after that, both boys working in silence except for the occasional sniffle or the sound of flipping through the thick pages. As the clock on the wall next to them hit six pm, Taehyung felt his attention span start to shorten - if the sentence he had been rereading over and over again for the last five minutes was anything to go by. He slapped his cheeks softly, hands moving to run through his hair as his eyes closed for a few seconds. Suddenly, he got the idea to listen to some music while working to help him focus for another hour, and he searched through his bag for his earphones.

A groan made Jeongguk look up from his notes, finding Taehyung softly hitting his forehead over and over again against the old book he was analyzing. “What’s wrong?” He asked, looking slightly worried when Taehyung raised his head up.

“I just remembered a friend of mine borrowed my earphones and I didn’t remember to ask for them back.” He explained, lips turned into a pout. Jeongguk blinked a few times, not wanting to think about how cute it looked. “So now I can’t listen to music.”

“Oh, uhm, that sucks.” The younger finally said, chewing the inside of his cheek as Taehyung’s pout remained, growing bigger the more he looked at his earphone-less phone.

The light witch then sighed, simply accepting his defeat. As he was going to pick up his pencil to keep taking notes, Jeongguk coughed. “We could, uh, share mine if you want to.” He offered, scratching the back of his neck.

Taehyung looked up at him, shaking his head. “Oh, you don’t need to do that.” He said, letting out a small chuckle. “I’m just being dramatic, really.”

“I don’t mind.” Jeongguk assured, passing Taehyung the one earphone that had been dangling in front of his body the entire time. “I’m not using it anyways, so.”

Taehyung took the little black bud with an appreciative smile. “Thanks, Jeongguk.”

“It’s nothing.” Jeongguk dismissed, looking at his phone to prevent himself from blushing. He searched through his playlist, hesitating before giving the device to Taehyung. “Here, you can, uhm, you can choose.” He said, gulping slightly as Taehyung took it carefully, scrolling through the hundreds of songs he had. 

There was no reason for him to get nervous, really. Taehyung was probably going to choose one of the songs at the top, not bothering to scroll all the way down to where the-

The first few notes of Summer Nights entered his ear, making him instantly freeze up. Shit.

Jeongguk bit down on his bottom lip, playing with his lip ring as Taehyung locked his phone before handing it back to him. Seeing the other’s nervous expression, his smile faltered a little.

“Is, is this okay?” Taehyung asked, not even waiting for Jeongguk to reply before starting to ramble. “I, just, I really like this movie and - well, to be honest, I like musicals in general, but, uhm, you can change to whatever you want! I’m cool with anything, I like all genres. E-except maybe classic music, because it’s too slow for me, but- I- yeah.”

Taehyung shut himself up, cheeks redder than a tomato. He ran a hand through his brown hair, tucking a few strands behind his ear, the curls peaking out cutely. Jeongguk found himself slightly mesmerized by them, before he quickly shook his head.

“You like musicals?” He asked. Taehyung nodded, not wanting to make a fool out of himself again by opening his mouth, eyes darting to anywhere but Jeongguk. “M-Me too.”

At that, Taehyung’s gaze stopped in his face, smile growing back again slowly. “Really? What’s your favorite one?”

“Grease.”

Taehyung giggled, looking less nervous, and Jeongguk couldn’t help but smile at the sound. The other looked at him up and down, amused. “Yeah, I can see that. You look like you would fit in as one of the T-Birds.”

Jeongguk let out a humorous huff at that, his insecurities about his music and cinema taste dissipating just a bit. “What about you?”

“Personally, I think I’d be a Pink Lady or maybe just Sandy ‘cause I don’t wear a lot of black-”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” He chuckled, interrupting Taehyung’s rambling. “What’s your favorite musical?”

“-oh!” Taehyung exclaimed, fingers tapping on his cheek as he thought about it, the skin there bouncing a little. “Maybe Mamma Mia.”

Jeongguk raised one eyebrow at that. “Really?”

“Yeah!” Taehyung nodded, face lighting up. “I love the songs and the scenarios and the storyline. Not to mention it has Meryl Streep in it, who is like, one of the best actresses ever.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know ‘cause I’ve never seen it.”

The light witch gasped, eyes wide, hand coming to rest on top of his chest like he was physically hurt. “You’ve never seen Mamma Mia?”

“Nope.”

"How?"

Jeongguk shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“So you’re a fan of musicals and you’ve never seen Mamma Mia?” Taehyung asked him just to confirm, sounding like he was saying the craziest thing ever. “That’s a literal crime. Seriously, how are you not in jail?” He said when the other nodded.

“I don’t know. Guess the musical police hasn’t found me yet.” Jeongguk joked, basking a little in the small giggle he got from Taehyung. “I have to watch it someday.”

“Yes, you absolutely do.” Taehyung agreed, the serious look on his face making Jeongguk suppress his urge to laugh. “And you have to tell me what you think about it when you do.”

“I will.” Jeongguk promised with a smile. 

At that, Taehyung grinned, before grabbing his pencil that had been left forgotten on top of his notebook and going back to work. Jeongguk stared at him for a few more seconds, watching the other mouth the lyrics as he scribbled down something, fluffy hair bouncing around as he moved his head at the rhythm of the music.

His lips stretched into a small smile, a real one, before he also resumed his task - the tiny feeling of something new blooming and spreading quietly through his chest.

(...)

“Are you free this weekend?” Jimin asked while closing his locker with one hand, holding his books for their afternoon classes with the other. “My parents aren’t home so I thought we could have a sleepover.”

Taehyung shrugged. “I’ll have to ask Nana, but I’m down.” He said, walking beside Jimin to their Defense Against The Dark Arts lesson. “Can’t stay the whole weekend, though.”

Jimin frowned at him. “Why not?”

“I have to meet Jeongguk at the library Sunday morning.” Taehyung explained as they entered the classroom. “We have to work on our History of Magic assignment ‘cause the deadline is getting close.”

Jimin didn’t say anything while he sat down on his usual seat next to Taehyung. He waited until his friend did the same before speaking up. “You’ve been meeting him a lot lately.”

“Well, yeah...” Taehyung trailed off with a small chuckle, taking out his textbook and notebook. “We’re in a group assignment together. We kind of have to meet to work on it.”

“I know, I know.” Jimin sighed, biting his bottom lip. “I’m just... you should be careful around him, Tae.”

Taehyung fought the urge to roll his eyes, already used to the other’s  Jeongguk is a bad, bad, BAD guy speech by now. “Why do you keep saying that? All we do is work in silence. He hasn’t done anything that was remotely dangerous.”

“Just... be careful alright?” Jimin repeated, looking around before coming closer to his friend. “I’ve heard that he manipulated a girl back in highschool to be his friend.” He whispered, making Taehyung's eyebrows shoot up. 

He pressed his lips together, a slight frown on his face. “How do you know that?”

“A dude from my Potions class who knew her told me.” Jimin said, leaning back. “I’m telling you, the kid is just... not right in the head. Be careful around him.”

Taehyung was going to say something, argue that he couldn’t just believe what one person said like that, when he saw Jeongguk walk into the classroom. The younger was wearing a tight black shirt, matched with a pair of slightly baggy black pants and a big black belt. His shoes were white, for a change, and he had replaced his usual black backpack with a pouch, placed over his shoulder and in front of his chest. The chains adorning it dangled as he walked, as well as his silver piercings, hair pushed back to reveal his forehead. 

His indifferent expression changed when he saw Taehyung - dark eyes clearing up a bit and lips twitching to show the smallest smile, something you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it. Taehyung smiled back, friendly, watching as Jeongguk took his usual seat at the back of the class. 

He didn’t look like the type to manipulate someone, the older thought. If he was, Taehyung was sure he had used it on Professor Choi to get him out of doing the project with anyone else, let alone Taehyung - but he didn’t. What Jimin told him made no sense.

His conscience was telling him that he was playing with fire. Sure, he and Jeongguk had talked a few times, but in the end, Taehyung knew absolutely nothing about him. Didn’t know if he was a dark witch, nor what he was or wasn’t capable of doing.

But at the same time, there was just something deep inside of him that just didn’t believe Jeongguk was this horrible person everyone said he was. Taehyung didn’t know what it was, or where it came from - but it was there, and it was winning against everyone’s opinions.

Maybe it was his gut. Maybe it was his heart. 

(...)

“You’re late. Again.”

“Fashionably late.” Taehyung said automatically, a yawn escaping his mouth. He let himself fall against the wooden chair, sighing. “Sorry, sorry. I stayed up late last night and then slept through my alarm this morning.”

“It’s okay.” Jeongguk replied, as always, before passing him a book. Taehyung thanked him with a sleepy nod, slowly getting his stuff out of his tote bag and starting his note taking.

Two hours passed by just like that. At one point, Jeongguk took off one of his earphones to show Taehyung something he had found that he thought could be interesting to add to their project. However, his mouth closed before he even said anything as he found Taehyung sleeping on top of the book he was analyzing, mouth open and drooling on top of the old thing, hair sticking in every single direction.

Jeongguk stifled a laugh, pausing his music and putting the heavy book down. He got a tissue from his backpack and carefully wiped the drool out of the page to not ruin the rusty paper. After that, he pondered his options.

He could just wake up Taehyung and tell him to focus on their work. That would be the easiest way to go, and the more responsible one too. But, Jeongguk didn’t think he had the heart to do that - not when Taehyung looked so peaceful sleeping, stirring sometimes to nuzzle his head against the book as if it was the softest thing in the world.

Cute, Jeongguk thought, before shaking his head.

He also didn’t want to just get up and leave him, since someone could take advantage of his unconscious state and try to harm him or steal from him. It would be a little weird, though, if he stayed until Taehyung woke up, just looking at him. Jeongguk was sure he wouldn't really like it if he went all Edward Cullen on him. Not to mention his mom would kill him if he wasn’t there for their typical family Sunday lunch.

So, what was he going to do?

Staring at Taehyung for a minute or so, thinking, Jeongguk suddenly remembered a protective enchantment that Seokjin had taught him when he was younger to protect himself from bullies. Careful, to not wake the other up, Jeongguk pressed his hand on the table, closing his eyes and whispering the enchantment to himself. 

“Protego totalum.”

The color blue spread through the object before it went back to its original light brown tone. Jeongguk repeated it a few times, just for good measure, and silently collected his things. He hesitated for a moment before taking out a sticky note and scribbling something on it to let him know he had left, deciding last minute to not mention the enchantment.

He didn’t want Taehyung to think he was weird or... something.

When he stood up, ready to leave, Jeongguk looked once again at Taehyung, who was now letting out soft snores, deep in his sleep. The beige outfit he had on perfectly matched with his state right now - an extremely oversized sweater, that came all the way to the top of his knees, and a pair of comfy looking pants.

He looked simple, soft. Dreamy.

Jeongguk let himself smile a little at the picture in front of him, his usual locked up heart opening up a little bit to take in the warmth that this stranger seemed to irradiate every time he was with him.

Taehyung seemed different from the others. Deep down, Jeongguk kind of wished he was.

(...)

The sound of a phone going off woke up a startled Taehyung, his hand blinding searching for the device. “Hello?” He answered, voice hoarse from sleep and eyes still closed.

“Taehyung? Where are you?” A voice asked from the other side of the line. It took Taehyung more time than it should’ve had for him to realize it was his grandma speaking.

“Oh, hi Nana.” He greeted, wondering why the hell was his pillow so wrinkly. “I’m at Jimin’s house.”

“Jimin’s? I called him and he said you went to the library.”

Taehyung frowned at that, suddenly aware that he had indeed gone to the library to work with Jeongguk. He raised his head, eyes blinking to adjust to the sunlight, taking in the environment around him full of bookshelves and tables with quiet people working.

“Taehyung?”

“Yeah, Nana, I’m here.” He answered while he looked at his own table, realizing the pillow he was nuzzling on was in fact an old, yellow looking book. His frown only got bigger when he looked to the seat in front of him, Jeongguk nowhere to be seen. “At the library, I mean.”

“You told me you’d be home in time to help me at the store.” She sighed, making Taehyung confused. He placed the phone in front of his face to check the time on his phone, cursing to himself when he saw it was almost two pm.

He quickly put the phone back against his ear. “Sorry Nana, I, uhm, I lost track of time.” Taehyung apologised, collecting his stuff as fast as he could while holding the phone with his shoulder. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

His grandma sighed again. “Alright, I’ll be waiting at the shop. Eat something before you come, there’s leftovers on the fridge.”

“Thank you, Nana. I love you.” He said, grabbing his phone again once he got everything.

“Love you too, bear.”

He smiled at the nickname, knowing that his grandma, although a strict lady when needed, had a soft heart and couldn’t really stay mad at him for long. Taehyung turned off the call and put his phone in the pocket of his sweatshirt, throwing the handle of his bag over his shoulder and standing up. However, as he was ready to leave, his eyes, more awake now, caught something colorful on the table. A sticky note. 

Taehyung picked it up and read it.

Hey, you fell asleep and I didn’t want to wake you up but I had to leave or else my mom would kill me. Please text me when you get home safely: XXX-XXX 

- Jeon Jeongguk

The older sighed, feeling embarrassed that he had literally fallen asleep in front of Jeongguk when they were supposed to be working on the project. Taehyung just hoped that he wasn’t too mad at him for leaving him to do all the work. 

His smile grew a little as he reread the note, though. It had been nice of Jeongguk to not wake him up, and he had even left his number to make sure Taehyung got home safely.

How could this guy be the guy everyone said is the worst person ever?

Taehyung shook his head to clear out his thoughts, saving the sticky note on the back pocket of his jeans before grabbing the books left on the table. He took them with him to the main counter, deciding that he should at least do some of the work he had been supposed to. 

A cold shiver ran through Taehyung’s spine as he walked away from the table, but he shrugged it off as he reached the main counter, placing the books he was carrying on it. The old librarian smiled at him in a seeming friendly way, the big glasses on her face making her eyes look huge. “Hello, darling. How was your nap?”

Taehyung let out a laugh, his neck turning red. “It was good, thank you.”

She chuckled along with him, taking note of the books Taehyung was borrowing from the library while she talked. “I had the intention to wake you up when I saw you all alone but I couldn’t get to you.” She explained, making Taehyung tilt his head in confusion. “I assumed your boyfriend put a shield charm around you.”

His eyes widened at the words. “Excuse me, m-my what?”

“The boy you’ve been meeting here these past few days?” She said, smiling at him. “He seems like he cares about you a lot. You’re very lucky to have someone like him.”

Taehyung didn’t reply to that, too stunned as he absorbed everything the woman told him to even deny the allegations of Jeongguk being his boyfriend. 

Had Jeongguk really put a shield charm on him to keep him safe? He didn’t mention anything on his sticky note, and it also didn’t seem like something he would do for someone who was basically a stranger to him. But then again, the old lady really didn’t have any reason to lie to him about that. Maybe she had just misunderstood the whole situation... maybe.

“Here you go, honey.” Her voice brought Taehyung back to reality. He blinked at her before reaching and grabbing the books she had pushed his way. “Have a great day!”

“Y-you too.” Taehyung replied, forcing a smile. He turned around and left the place, heart beating a little too fast for his own good.

(...)

It was only after dinner, when Jeongguk was watching a movie with his mom and brother, that his phone buzzed with a new message.

Sunday, 9:47 pm

Unknown number: hey, this is taehyung

Unknown number: from school

Unknown number: sorry i’m only texting you now, had to help my grandma with smth

Jeongguk’s eyes widened a bit, discreetly hiding his phone screen from the two people next to him on the couch. He saved Taehyung’s number before texting him back.

Jeongguk: It’s okay, don’t worry about it

Taehyung (school): i also wanted to say sorry for falling asleep

Taehyung (school): i really didn’t mean to :(

Jeongguk felt a small smile creep onto his face at the choice of emojis.

Jeongguk: It’s cool, I understand

Jeongguk: Happens to the best of us

Taehyung (school): still i felt guilty

Taehyung (school): so i brought about the books that were left to analyze at home

Taehyung (school): doing it right now !! *1 attachment*

Jeongguk opened the picture Taehyung had sent, showing a rather clean white desk, with a grey laptop on it. The device was surrounded by different books, some of them opened in a random page while others were still piled up, ready to be used. He also noticed the various stickers on Taehyung’s laptop, cute little flowers and animals scattered randomly on the device.

Jeongguk: You didn’t have to

Jeongguk: Also I like your stickers

Taehyung (school): thank you :D

Taehyung (school): my grandma gave them to me a few months ago

Jeongguk: They’re really cute

Taehyung (school): ikr ??

Taehyung (school): my favorite one is this one

Taehyung (school): *1 attachment*

The new image showed the sticker Taehyung was talking about - a little dark blue penguin with big eyes, standing on what Jeongguk assumed was ice. He found himself grinning at the sight of it.

“Why are you smiling at your phone?” Yoongi suddenly asked. Jeongguk jumped slightly in surprise, pushing his phone against his chest instinctively to hide the screen from his brother’s curious eyes.

“Nothing.” He shrugged, trying to act casual.

Yoongi lifted an eyebrow, staring him down, an eyebrow slowly raising. “Were you... watching porn?”

Jeongguk’s face scrunched up in disgust. “What the fuck? Of course not!”

“Boys.” His mother called from beside Yoongi, looking at them sternly. “Language.”

Jeongguk looked at her, eyes wide. “Yoongi asked me if I was asking porn!”

“Well, you hid your phone like you were looking at something you shouldn’t, so-”

“And that means I was looking at people fucking?"

“Hey!” Their mom exclaimed, this time stopping the movie they were all watching. “I said language!”

Jeongguk fought the urge of rolling his eyes, knowing his mom cursed like a sailor when she thought they weren’t listening. “For your information, no I wasn’t watching... that.” He clarified, looking away from his family members and mumbling his next words. “I was just... texting someone.”

“Oh?” Yoongi said, teasingly. Jeongguk was hit with a wave of instant regret. “Little Jeonggukie is texting someone?"

“Don’t.” He threatened, glaring at him intimidatingly. Yoongi didn’t mind it, though, already used to his brother’s bad boy persona.

“Is he a new friend, sweetie?” His mom asked, voice a little too hopeful.

“No.” He denied defensively, feeling a little bad at how fast he shut down that option. After all, Taehyung had been nothing but nice to him. “Not yet. I don’t know. The teacher just puts us together for a school project so we’ve been hanging out at the library.”

Yoongi wiggled his eyebrows. “Sexy.”

“Hyung I swear to God-”

“Mom, can you believe our little Jeonggukie has a crush?” He continued, glancing at his mother before looking back at his brother with a smirk. “Honestly, they grow up so fast.”

“Oh my god, I don’t have a crush on him.” Jeongguk said, voice coming closer to a whine than what he had intended to. “I don’t even know the guy that well!”

“You called him cute, Gguk. That’s pretty crush-ish to me.”

“I didn’t!” The younger groaned, hair now completely cherry pink. He hit his older brother on the arm, eyes punching holes on his stupid smirking face. “One day I swear I’m going to curse you.”

“Ooo, I’m so scared.”

“That’s it-”

“Alright, alright, you two.” Mrs. Jeon interrupted the fight. “This is a curse free household, no one is cursing no one.”

Jeongguk nudged Yoongi’s arm as a last rebuttal, feeling the other chuckle before asking his mom to press play on the movie. When he was sure neither of them were paying attention to him anymore, he fished for his phone again, finding that his conversation with Taehyung had been opened the entire time.

Taehyung (school): jeongguk?

Taehyung (school): aish i’m sorry i shouldn’t have bored you with my stickers sdkjfhskj

Taehyung (school): i have to go back to taking notes anyways so ig i’ll see you tomorrow in class?

Taehyung (school): yeah... goodnight

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Jeongguk: I’m so sorry Taehyung, I didn’t mean to leave you on read 

Jeongguk: I really like the penguin one, it’s very cute

Jeongguk: And don’t overwork yourself, it’s okay, we can just analyze the rest another day

Jeongguk: Hope you have a good night

None of the messages were delivered, which meant Taehyung had most likely turned off his phone for the night. Jeongguk sighed, dropping his locked phone on his chest and watching the rest of the movie with his family, chewing and twisting his lip ring in anxiety.

He hoped he hadn’t messed everything up with Taehyung. He really did.

(...)

“Good morning, class.” Professor Choi said as she entered the classroom, getting a chorus of unenthusiastic mumbles back.

Taehyung’s slurred words didn’t even come close to a good morning, mindlessly drawing on the last page of his notebook. The seat next to him was empty, not that the older cared.

Okay, maybe he did. Maybe he was a little sad that Jeongguk wasn’t there, a part of him still looking forward to seeing him despite last night’s events that weren’t even that big of a deal if he looked at it through a logical sense. Still, he couldn’t help but feel stupidly hurt about them. 

It was mainly his fault, Taehyung thought, the hand supporting his face squishing his cheek as he leaned on it. He shouldn’t have pestered Jeongguk with the stupid things he liked, he was being annoying, like always. And then, to make things worse, he made Jeongguk feel bad about reacting like everyone did and forcing him to come up with a lie to make him feel better.

Taehyung sighed. His head was already hurting from so much overthinking, and it was only the start of what seemed like a really long day. He wasn’t sure if he was going to survive-

A knock on the door was heard.

“Come in.” Professor Choi called, looking at the door.

Jeongguk stepped in, immediately bowing to the teacher. “Sorry for being late, Professor Choi.” He said, slightly out of breath. He closed the door behind him and quickly made his way towards Taehyuyng’s desk, sitting down without even thinking about it.

Taehyung’s stomach did a dumb little flip. Taehyung hoped it was from him getting sick and not from... something else.

“Care to tell me why are you late?” Professor Choi asked, crossing her arms while looking at Jeongguk over her glasses. 

“My brother’s car broke down so I had to walk here.” Jeongguk explained while he was taking out his school supplies.

“Poor fucker.” Someone on the other side of the room let out between coughs, making everyone around them laugh. Jeongguk didn’t react as always, an expert at ignoring comments like these by now. Taehyung, however, threw them a disgusted glare, watching as they all whispered to themselves.

Fucking brainless bitches.

Professor Choi nodded while writing down something in her notebook before continuing with her class. Taehyung was in the process of opening his textbook when Jeongguk nudged him in the arm.

“Hey.” He said, looking at him. “Did you see my messages?”

“Uh, yeah, yeah.” Taehyung decided to say, turning away from him and looking at his notebook instead. “It’s okay, really. Don’t worry about it.” He added, sending the other a quick smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes.

“It’s just, my brother was being an ass,” Jeongguk explained, shaking his head as he remembered the night before. “saying stupid shit... it doesn’t matter. The point is that I really didn’t mean to leave you on read.”

“It’s okay.” Taehyung assured, wanting to change the subject before he said too much. “You, uhm, you have a brother?”

“Yeah.” Thankfully, Jeongguk fell for it. “An older brother. He’s a non-magic.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” He said, keeping an eye on Professor Choi to make sure she didn’t catch them chatting in her class. “So you have one non-magic parent?”

“Not really.” Jeongguk replied while scribbling down something the teacher had writing on the board. “Both of my parents are light witches, but they adopted Yoongi when he was only one month old. Then they had me.”

Taehyung hummed at that, eyes focused on his little doodles. “Must be nice to have a brother.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Jeongguk chuckled. “Most of the time he’s a pain in the ass but I love him.”

The older giggled as he continued to draw. “I was always asking for a little brother to my parents but they never listened to me.”

“Are they light witches as well?”

“Yeah, they were.”

“Oh.” Jeongguk turned to Taehyung then, realizing what the usage of the past tense meant. “I’m... sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Taehyung looked at him, shrugging. “It was a long time ago. I’m fine now.”

“I’m sure they were lovely people.” Jeongguk added, making him smile, a bit sadly, falling in silence after it. The younger let out a forced cough, wanting to change the subject to anything else other than the other’s dead parents. “You’re, uhm, you’re always doing that.” He opted to say, gesturing to his doodles.

“Oh, yeah. I really like drawing.” Taehyung confessed, looking over at his drawings. “Makes me feel relaxed. Not to mention it’s a great way to spend Professor Choi’s boring classes.”

Jeongguk let out a laugh, immediately muffling it with the sleeve of his black pull over sweater. “Well, I think you’re very good at it.” He complimented, eyes scanning the drawing carefully before looking at Taehyung with a smile. “These are really nice.”

“Thank you.” Taehyung said, cheeks turning pink at the praise. “I-”

“Mr. Jeon and Mr. Kim, is my class interrupting something?” Professor Choi suddenly asked, making the two boys snap their heads to the front of the class. The lady glared at the pair. “Would you like me to shut up so you can continue your conversation? Hm?”

Taehyung had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from saying yes.

“Sorry, Professor Choi.” Jeongguk apologised, bowing down his head, Taehyung following him.

The teacher didn’t say anything else, just sighed before continuing with her lesson. The two boys stayed quiet after that, not wanting to get a second warning or something worse.

After a few minutes, Taehyung saw Jeongguk scribble something on his notebook out of the corner of his eye, before passing it to him discreetly through the table.

Wanna meet up again next Friday? We already have all the information we need, we just need to organize it and type out the actual assignment.

Taehyung instantly smiled at that, writing down a reply.

Sure. Let’s kick this assigment’s ass.

Jeongguk let out a small chuckle as he read it, drawing a little thumbs up to show he, too, was tired of the damn thing. The two focused on the lesson after that, secretly looking forward to yet Friday afternoon together.

(...)

“This is... so boring.”

Jeongguk chuckled at that, eyes lifting from his laptop to find Taehyung twirling his clear white wand around. The movement was controlling the endless notes they had made and organized for the past half an hour, making them float around him as he waited for Jeongguk to start his laptop.

“Thank god it’s almost over.” He muttered, glaring at the papers flying around him like they were evil. Taehyung then put his wand down, and the papers followed it, returning to their respective position in a neatly put pile. “Now we just need to type it out and then we’re done, right?” He asked Jeongguk.

“Yup.” Jeongguk replied, opening a new work document. “Here, give them to me.”

Taehyung passed him the organized notes, letting Jeongguk do the job of putting their assignment into digital form - since the younger had said earlier that he was a fast typer -, before continuing to mess around with his wand, trying to pass the time.

However, a few minutes after he had started typing, Jeongguk squinted at the second line of one of Taehyung’s notes. “What does this mean?” He asked him, pointing at the word he didn’t realize.

Taehyung looked at it for a moment before replying. “It’s but." He said, chuckling as Jeongguk leaned back. “Sorry, I know my calligraphy isn’t the best.”

“It’s okay, I’m sure it was just a one time thing.” Jeongguk assured, getting back to his work.

Not even one minute had passed before Jeongguk was asking him about another word.

"Mythology." Taehyung explained, giggling when Jeongguk looked at it again with narrowed eyes, as if that would help him read the word better.

“Sorry, I’m usually not this bad at reading other people’s calligraphy.” He apologised, the typing sound from the keyboard echoing through the almost empty library. “I got new contact lenses yesterday and I’m still getting used to them.”

“Don’t blame my shitty calligraphy on your contact lenses, it’s not fair for them.” Taehyung said, making Jeongguk chuckle. “Are you farsighted or nearsighted?”

“Nearsighted.”

“Me too.”

“You wear contact lenses too?” Jeongguk asked, glancing at him over the laptop before focusing on the document in front of him.

Taehyung nodded, supporting his head on his hand, wand laying beside him on the table. “I used to wear glasses but I got kind of tired of being called four eyes.”

“People would call you that?” 

“Yeah.” He said, rolling his eyes. “Some dumb kids in highschool thought it was fucking hilarious.”

Jeongguk didn’t say anything to that, and the silence that settled around them got too boring for Taehyung. “What about you?” He asked, feeling just a tiny bit guilty for distracting Jeongguk from his work. “Why do you wear contact lenses instead of glasses?”

Jeongguk’s fingers stopped moving for a second before he answered. “I used to break a lot of my glasses in fights when I was younger, so my mom just made me start wearing them instead of buying a pair of glasses almost every month.” He explained, not even sparing a glance at Taehyung.

“Damn. You sound like you were one badass kid.”

Jeongguk let out a small chuckle, shaking his head. He was going to say something else when his attention got stuck in yet another unreadable word. He squinted his eyes discreetly to not let Taehyung know he was having trouble reading it, but the older noticed it nonetheless. “Why don’t I just read the notes out loud as you type?” He suggested, giggling at the other’s difficulty.

Jeongguk laughed along with him. “Yeah, I think that’ll be easier for me.”

Taehyung nodded before getting up and sitting besides Jeongguk, heart picking up in speed as their thighs brushed against each other. He quickly grabbed the notes, starting to read them out loud to stop his thoughts from mushing around and making him a mess.

It was surprisingly easier that way, and a lot faster, which Taehyung was grateful for, since he was tired of being stuck in the library for so long. Every now and then, Jeongguk would ask him to see a word he didn’t know how to spell, leaning in closer and giving Taehyung a whiff of his cologne - a surprisingly sweet lavender scent mixed with the smell of perfectly clean laundry. His ears blushed furiously every time he did so, and Taehyung tried to cover them up as best as he could with his growing hair.

An hour later, half of the assignment already written out, Taehyung started to get distracted again (surprise, surprise). The words seemed mushed together, the boy reading them with the enthusiasm of an old monk. His attention slowly changed from the papers in his hands to Jeongguk’s hands, moving expertly on the keyboard.

They were probably the same size as Taehyung’s, but his fingers were more slender, making them seem bigger. They were ringless today, and Taheyung was surprised to find his hands clean of any ink, assuming that every part of Jeongguk’s body except his face and neck would be covered in tattoos.

Taehyung’s eyes then glazed over the other’s forearms, revealed by Jeongguk’s rolled up sleeves. He took his time analyzing each visible tattoo, since before he was only allowed a glimpse of them when Jeongguk would raise his hand in class or stretch his arms during their excruciously long note-taking sessions. There was one in particular that caught his attention, a pentagram placed on his wrist with the words save me, save me written under it.

Taehyung wondered the reason behind it, and then he wondered if all of Jeongguk’s tattoos had different meanings to him. Wondered what kind of art he had all over his arms and shoulders...

“Taehyung?”

...if he had ink spread across his clavicules, chest...

“...Taehyung?”

...on his stomach, maybe over defined abs...

“Taehyung!”

Taehyung jumped at Jeongguk’s shout, looking at him with wide eyes. The other was waving a hand in front of the face, trying to get his attention.

“S-Sorry!” He squeaked out, cheeks burning hard as he realized he had just been caught straight up staring at Jeongguk.

Jeongguk’s eyebrow arched, looking at him. “You alright?”

“Y-yeah, yeah, I’m alright. I just... zoned out a little.” Taehyung explained, forcing a laugh after. Jeongguk still seemed a little suspicious, so he decided to change the younger’s focus to something else. “Did those, uh, hurt a lot?”

Jeongguk’s eyes followed Taehyung’s fingers, pointing at his forearms tattoos. He shrugged. “A little, but they weren’t the most painful.”

“What was the most painful one then?”

“My neck tattoo.”

Taehyung frowned, eyes landing on the younger's clean neck. Jeongguk seemed to understand Taehyung’s confusion, because he turned around and pushed his hair up, showing Taehyung a tattoo on the back of his neck of two familiar looking hands almost touching. His eyes widened, and he got closer to take a better look. “Wow, I’ve never noticed that!” Realization hit Taehyung on why it looked so familiar. “Is it a reference to Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam?"

Jeongguk turned back again and nodded. “I really liked his works. It amazes me how someone can make something that good with just a brush.”

“I know right? He was really talented.” Taehyung agreed, eyes sparkling slightly, happy to have found someone who also appreciates the same art as him. “My favorite painter is Van Gogh, though.”

Jeongguk hummed, scratching his cheek. “I remember seeing a sticker of Starry Night on your computer.”

Taehyung smiled at that, a little touched at the other remembering something so small. “Yeah, it’s a beautiful painting.” He said, sighing. His free hand supported his hand as he looked at the laptop's screen, distracted for a second, before turning back to Jeongguk. “I want to go to his museum in Holland so bad. Or maybe that interactive one that opened in Paris.”

“That sounds expensive.” Jeongguk remarked. Taehyung rolled his eyes.

“My grandma said the same.” He mumbled, crossing his arms. “She told me to marry a rich man first.”

Jeongguk laughed at that. “Your grandma is right.” He said with a smile, making Taehyung join him.

After their mini break, the two got back to their job, finishing it an hour later. Jeongguk saved the file and turned off the device, while Taehyung stretched out his arms, letting a yawn escape his mouth. He waited until Jeongguk was ready to go before getting up and walking with him, saying goodbye to the old librarian as they passed by her. The lady winked at Taehyung after Jeongguk left the building first, his neck flushing slightly at the implication.

Outside, the sun had already set, the sky painted so prettily in reds and oranges, and it would be only a matter of minutes, maybe half an hour, before it got dark. Taehyung sighed, looking up at the sky and smiling content. The sunset time had always been his favorite time of the day.

“When I get home, I’m going to print this out and we can turn it in next Monday.” Jeongguk said, cutting the silence.

Taehyung looked at him with a smile. “Sounds good.”

They both stood there after that, looking around as some people passed them, most likely on their way home after a tiring day at work. Taehyung fished out his phone from the back pocket of his light denim jeans, turning it on and checking the time. 

“You’re, uhm, you’re going to catch the bus?” Jeongguk asked, glancing at the phone in Taehyung’s hand and at Taehyung’s face after.

“Yeah.” The older nodded, sighing. “I still have to wait, like, twenty minutes until it comes though.”

“Oh.” Jeongguk let out, nodding while adjusting the strap of his backpack on his shoulder. “I can keep you company.” He blurted out then, the tips of his ears turning pink. Taehyung had to blink twice, confusing them with Jeongguk’s actual black hair. “I-I mean, only if you want to, of course.” He added, trying to act casual, hands in the front pockets of his ripped jeans.

Taehyung smiled at him. “I’d love to, but I don’t want to keep you from going home.” He said, looking at the sky again. “It’s going to get dark soon, you should get home before that.”

“Oh, that’s not really a problem to me.” Jeongguk said with a single chuckle. “No one really attacks dark witches, whether it’s during the day or during the night.”

“Oh.” The light witch let out, the confirmation that the younger was indeed a dark witch not making him feel as scared as it should. He shrugged, looking at Jeongguk. “In that case, sure.”

Jeongguk smiled then, shoulders relaxing. The two of them started walking to the bus stop, only five minutes away from the library.

“You’re lucky.” Taehyung suddenly said, breaking the silence the two of them were in. 

Jeongguk turned to him with his eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

“The thing you said earlier, about no one attacking dark witches at night.” Taehyung explained, eyes following the lines in the sidewalk, making sure to not step on them. “You’re lucky about that, I’m always scared of getting jumped whenever I have to walk home alone.”

“Ah.” Jeongguk said. “Do you have to walk home alone a lot?”

“Sometimes.” Taehyung replied, nose scrunching slightly at his next words. “I hate it, though.”

Jeongguk didn’t say anything else after that, zoning out in his own thoughts. 

The two of them finally reached the bus stop that was devoid of people, much to Taehyung’s relief. They sat down side by side on one of the metal benches, and Taehyung sighed as he put his tote bag on his lap - his shoulder crying for help after a long day of having to carry his stuff around.

“Want to listen to some music?” Jeongguk asked, passing one of his black earphones to Taehyung when he nodded. Taehyung placed it on his ear, a familiar melody hitting him when Jeongguk pressed play.

Now I, had the time of my life...

“You like Dirty Dancing too?” He asked, watching as Jeongguk tried to avoid his gaze.

“Yeah, it’s a classic.”

Taehyung hummed in agreement, upper body swinging side to side to the rhythm of the song. He looked at Jeongguk again, finding the other lip synching the lyrics as he looked at his feet. 

As he stared at the dark witch, Taehyung couldn’t help but to be met with a thought.

“You know, you don’t really seem the type to like these kind of movies.”

At that, Jeongguk’s eyes moved to him, eyebrows raising in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you know...” Taehyung started. “First off, you wear black clothes, like, all the time.” He said, gesturing to Jeongguk’s outfit.

The younger looked down at himself, before shrugging. “They look nice on me.”

Taehyung chose to not comment on that. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing any color, though.”

“Black is a color.” Jeongguk argued. Taehyung rolled his eyes playfully, not noticing Jeongguk’s small grin at the action.

“Second, you have all these tattoos and piercings.” He said, now gesturing at Jeongguk’s face and upper body in general. 

“You haven’t even seen half of them.” The dark witch counterpointed, lazily resting against the glass bus stop.

“Of what?” Taehyung decided to ask, slightly afraid of the answer. “The piercings or the tattoos?”

Jeongguk shrugged. “Both.”

The light witch flushed at that, mind wandering for a second at what other... surprises Jeongguk might be hiding. He quickly shook his head, sending the tempting thoughts away, trying to focus on what they were talking about.

“Third,” He continued. “you’re always walking around with that... intimidating expression of yours.”

Jeongguk tilted his head to the side. “What expression?”

“You know, the-” Taehyung started, trying his best to imitate the other’s resting bitch face, the corners of his lips down, eyes a little hooded and eyebrows slightly arched. It was an exaggeration, of course, and coming from someone else might have pissed Jeongguk off - but coming from Taehyung, he just found it amusing.

"Wow, you’re so good at mimicking others.” He said, voice dripping with irony. “Seriously, you should consider making it your career.” He mocked, making the older roll his eyes again.

“What I’m trying to say is,” Taehyung concluded, ignoring Jeongguk’s chuckle. “you look like this... typical bad boy who fucks shit up and rides a motorcycle and then, come to find out, you like musicals."

“Can’t I fuck shit up to the sound of Look At Me I’m Sandra Dee?”

“I mean, you can.” Taehyung giggled. “I just don’t think it has the same shocking effect.” He explained, making the other join him. When their laughter died down, Taehyung looked away from Jeongguk and to the road in front of them. The sun was already setting, disappearing behind the library.

“I get what you’re saying.” Jeongguk suddenly said, making Taehyung turn to look at him again. “Most people are also... surprised when they find out I’m not this big bad wolf everyone paints me to be.”

The words seem to come from somewhere deep inside Jeongguk, eyes locked in his fingers that were fiddling with each other, almost too nervous to look at Taehyung.

The older smiled, nodding to himself before speaking again.

“If it makes you feel better, I never really believed you were that big bad wolf in the first place.”

Jeongguk looked up then, eyes brown like coffee mixed with milk, lips parting in surprise just enough for Taehyung to see his bunny teeth that made him look even younger than he was.

They stayed like that for a few moments, just looking at each other. Taehyung found himself noticing once again how boy-ish Jeongguk’s features actually were, especially then, with the last rays of sun hitting his face. His lips curved up into a shy smile, one that Taehyung had never seen before, and he felt like he was experiencing something he shouldn’t be seeing, something too intimate for someone who was just a project partner.

That made the light witch be the first to look away, just in time to see the bus coming. Jeongguk noticed it too, getting up at the same time as Taehyung, who remembered to take off the earphone from his ear and give it to its owner.

Their fingers touched, just a light brush, but it still managed to turn Taehyung’s cheeks pink.

“Thank you for, uhm, keeping me company.”

Jeongguk smiled again, something akin to fascination growing inside Taehyung at the picture. “Of course.”

The bus came to a stop, a few people stepping out of it. Taehyung blinked out of his trance, waving goodbye at Jeongguk before he got in, bidding a small “good evening” to the tired bus driver as he paid his ticket.

When he went to sit down, Taehyung’s eyes unconsciously turned to look at the bus stop again. He found Jeongguk already looking back at him, hands in his pockets and a thoughtful expression on his face. His heart picked up in speed as the dark witch gave him one last smile, before the bus was moving and Jeongguk was disappearing out of his sight.

Too soon, his brain told him.

Too soon, Taehyung hesitantly agreed.

(...)

The sound of the bell ringing made a half asleep Taehyung lazily lift his head from his History of Magic textbook. His eyes blinked as he adjusted to the light, his brain still a little mushy from the little nap he took.

From beside him, he registered Jeongguk packing up his things. When he noticed him staring, the younger let out a chuckle. “Hello there.” He teased. 

Taehyung mumbled something back to him, nothing coherent, making Jeongguk chuckle again. He moved slowly, packing up his things, already accepting the fact that he was going to be late for his next class.

“Before you go, please put your assignments on my desk.” Professor Choi said, raising her voice so she could be heard over the background noise of students talking and chairs scraping against the floor. Jeongguk stood up from beside him, holding their hard work, giving it to the teacher before coming back to their table.

“Finally we got rid of that thing.” Taehyung sighed, getting up from his seat while stretching his arms slightly. 

“Yeah, I was really tired of it.” Jeongguk agreed, swinging his backpack on his shoulder. “I think I even dreamt about it last night.”

Taehyung laughed at that, feeling more awake now. “Wow, yeah, you definitely needed a break from it.”

Jeongguk nodded in agreement, their chuckles dying down a few seconds later. They stayed in silence after that, just looking at each other, not knowing how to interact now that they didn’t have the project as an excuse to hang out together.

Taehyung scratched the back of his neck, mind faintly remembering him that he had a class to get to, but not wanting to be the first to break their little bubble. Jeongguk tapped his fingers on his jeans, twisting and turning his lip ring with his teeth.

“I guess... I’ll see you around, then.” The dark witch spoke up then, brown eyes meeting his and showing slight hesitancy. Taehyung didn’t let himself dwell much on it, though. He was probably just reading too much into it - after all, Jeongguk was just hanging out with him for the project. Why would the other even want to talk to him now?

“Yeah... I guess so.” He finally replied, releasing a small sigh.

After a few more seconds of silence, Jeongguk nodded, seemingly more to himself than to the older, and left the classroom. Taehyung watched him go, something stupidly close to sadness blooming in his chest, near to his heart.