Chapter Text
nobody remains by my side, I’m okay like this
these words that are easily being said towards me quickly becomes a wall
- BTS, Whalien 52
It’s another drab, boring day for Kim Taehyung.
A girl waves at him. Taehyung puts on a smile.
“Oh, hi Taehyung!”
“Hey there, Chaewon.”
Taehyung waves back, and continues walking to his destination.
Yesung approaches him at the corner of the hall.
“Taehyung! Wanna sit together later for Bio?”
He pretends to think about it. Taehyung then remembers that Yesung’s the only one he’s managed to talk to in that class.
“Sure, why not.”
Taehyung keeps walking.
Seojoon sidles beside Taehyung as soon as he lays his eyes on him. He traps Taehyung with an arm over his shoulder. Taehyung finds himself lacking the will to push him away, plus it’s rude.
“Please join the Drama Club, Taehyungie~”
Taehyung sighs. He still thinks he’s not ready.
“I’m still mulling over it, hyung. I’ll tell you soon if I’ve decided!”
Actually, his day is not that boring, and it’s barely begun. Taehyung thinks that when you know a lot of people, your life is bound to be exciting. You get to experience different things with different people. And it just so happens that Taehyung’s familiar with three-fourths of the school’s population.
He doesn’t know why, though. Probably because everyone’s been in this forsaken school since their primary years? That could be a probable reason.
(But, really, he has no idea how he knows these people. He doesn’t even really know them; he just knows their names.)
There’s Chaewon fron last year’s Algebra. He made a lot of friends? acquaintances? in that subject, since he can’t really bear to be alone there.
Taehyung admits that he mostly familiarized himself with the people from that class because he was going to fail if he only had to rely on his individual work. And he really sucked at it, so he needed all the help he could get (not even Jungkook and Jimin teaming up to tutor him was enough).
Then there’s Yesung from the school’s brass instruments club, which Taehyung joined and quit after a year. Taehyung only joined that club to aide his learning for his music theory class, and to apply his learnings to practice.
He doesn’t really have the will to commit to the club since they do a lot of extracurricular stuff, and Taehyung’s afraid he’s going to neglect his studies if he were to continue being a club member. Taehyung has an above average GPA that he wants to maintain so his college application form would look great.
He sometimes finds it awkward to talk to Yesung, since he’s one of the most dedicated members in the club. Taehyung assumes that Yesung might have a bit of resentment for him, since it seemed like Taehyung wasn’t serious about the club.
Then there’s also Seojoon, a senior who’s been bugging him to join the Drama Club since his class created that modern version of Snow White for their school fair (and with Taehyung being Snow White).
Admittedly, Taehyung was tempted to take up his offer, but he’s still not confident on his acting. He knows that he could learn a lot more if he joined. He also feels that he might not be quick enough to learn everything in the club.
So, Taehyung thinks he doesn’t even deserve to audition for the club with the current him.
With some of these people that he knows, he expects that he’d have tons of exciting experiences with them. Somehow, only a few of them are interesting enough.
Taehyung doesn’t really have any idea why people come up to him and try to befriend him. Hell, he doesn’t even know why he knows them.
People tell him they like him because he’s approachable, entertaining, and fun to be with. They say he’s approachable because Taehyung will talk to anyone, regardless of appearance or reputation. He doesn’t mind the repercussions of hanging out with people with particularly shady or negative images.
He doesn’t give a shit about their “label”, whatever that shit about stereotyping is. It’s high school and we’re almost adults, Taehyung reminds himself every time he hears people stereotype others. Why can’t others remove this stupid idea about boxing people in labels?
Also, Taehyung knows from personal experience that people’s outward appearances can be deceitful, and everyone’s bound to be interesting in some way.
People find him entertaining because he’s pulled off rather spectacular(ly stupid) dares before. Half of those were possible with the help of being drunk. Some were just because of his impulsiveness.
But Taehyung likes to think that he made those bad decisions courtesy of one Park Jimin and one Jeon Jungkook.
Park Jimin is his platonic soulmate, his best friend for life, and they’re born on the same year. They get along well partially because of the same-birth year bond. They first became friends when Jimin was still new in the area, and was still shy around people. Some guys were trying to harass and bully Jimin just because he’s taking contemporary dance classes when Taehyung saw them, and defended Jimin.
It didn’t end up as a brawl since they knew about Taehyung and his “connections”, so they just quietly left after a few choice words from Taehyung himself. The two ended up bonding over ice cream and ramen.
Taehyung and Jimin didn’t expect befriending Jeon Jungkook, the golden boy of their year. He’s a year younger than them, but entered school earlier for his age due to his above average intellect.
Despite this seemingly prudish and strict aura, Jungkook’s actually just a shy, lonely kid who’s had a hard time making friends, most likely because of his age difference with the rest of their year. One day, Jimin and Taehyung found Jungkook alone playing at the arcade. They don’t know exactly how they managed to wheedle their way in Jungkook’s gameplay that had them ending up playing Tekken with (and losing to) the younger one.
After the arcade games, they went out and ate pizza together. It was the start of their trio’s beautifully chaotic friendship.
These two may look like they’re innocent guys, but they’re the devils behind his stupid stunts. Once, Jimin and Jungkook dared him to steal a pushcart from the supermarket, and he ended up running 5 blocks away from the place at 2 a.m. With Jungkook and his drunk ass on the cart.
Jimin’s filmed the entire stealing scenario, but ran away at the sight of people about to apprehend their stupid asses. The little asshat didn’t even help him get away from the angry cashier and the security guards. Now, Taehyung avoids that particular supermarket in fear of getting arrested.
People say he’s fun to be with because, aside from the stupid things he mostly does, he also enjoys doing things with other people, often with disastrous results.
For example, he and his cousin Namjoon almost burnt their house trying to cook dinner (it was only scrambled eggs, since Taehyung insisted he wanted to eat breakfast for dinner). Their parents arrived home to the smell of burnt pans, eggs splattered across the ceiling and the floor, and oil spilt on the kitchen counter.
When they found out it was Taehyung who instigated the “experimentation” on cooking (and Namjoon only made the mess accidentally, he made sure he was being careful), Taehyung was given a lifelong ban from cooking in the kitchen, and is only relegated to setting and washing the dishes.
Despite this seemingly apparent excitement in his life, Taehyung can’t help but feel lonely. It’s the kind of loneliness one feels when they’re in the middle of a crowd of strangers.
He may have Jimin and Jungkook and Namjoon, but sometimes there are things he can’t quite bring himself to share with them. He once wanted to share something personal with Jimin, but he ended up not saying it to him, for fear of getting judged by the person whom he considers very important to him (aside from his family).
People think he has a lot of friends he can confide to, friends he can always hang out with, friends he can have deep and meaningful conversations with. But no, really, they’re only few who he really considers as “friends” (and he’s happy with them, really), but sometimes he can’t help but feel alone. He feels like he’s trapped in a glass box, where he can see everyone, but they can’t ever touch him.
Everyone assumes that it’s easy for him to befriend other people. It’s not, though. What he does is more of acquainting himself with them, not really hanging out much with them to find out their personalities, and what makes them act that way. Taehyung’s starting to feel this more since they began high school.
Taehyung’s done getting his stuff from his locker when he sees Kim Seokjin.
“Seokjinnie-hyung!”
Seokjin turns his head to look at Taehyung, his mouth set into a frown. His face brightens up at the sight of Taehyung, and happily waves at him, and motions for Taehyung to get close to him. Taehyung runs up to him, his stuff safely stored in his backpack.
“Hi Taehyungie, how was your weekend?” Seokjin asks him, as he gets his books and his binder notebook from his locker. Taehyung notices that Seokjin hasn’t decorated his locker yet, since it’s mostly barren, save for the books and a binder notebook. He looks at Seokjin and smiles.
“It’s been fun, hyung. Thank you for being such a nice host last Saturday, I didn’t think I’d get to hang out with you until afternoon then,” he says, as he grabs Seokjin’s arm and drags him to the hall where their classrooms are. Seokjin shoots him a warm smile, and affectionately rubs his chin. “It’s not a big deal, mom and dad were pretty excited to have you at home.”
“Really? I wasn’t really bothering you guys?”
“Yeah, we rarely have people over since we moved, so it’s been a nice change of pace in the house.”
“Oh, wow. Okay. Do you think they’d mind if I go to your house again soon?”
“Nah, they don’t really mind. Also, mom seems to really like having you in the house.” Seokjin shakes his head. “I think she’s planning to adopt you.”
Taehyung laughs at this. Maybe he really can charm everyone, like what Jimin told him some time ago. “Okay, I’ll definitely come over there again.”
The shrill bell rings, signaling the start of homeroom. Taehyung looks at Seokjin, and pushes him to his classroom with a little force. Seokjin chuckles at this, and waves at him. “See you later at Home Economics!”
Taehyung waves back, and smiles at his hyung. He then rushes to go inside his classroom. Taehyung thanks the omnipotent deity above that his homeroom teacher hasn’t arrived yet when he enters the room.
He sees Jimin and Jungkook, and they’re casually waving their hands at him. He waves back, and gets to his desk. Taehyung plops his ass on his seat and sets his backpack below the table when Jimin nudges him.
“Hey, so when are you gonna introduce me and Jungkookie to Kim Seokjin?” Jimin asks, his eyebrows shifting playfully, and mirth prominent in his eyes. Taehyung mock-rolls his eyes at him, and sighs. He thinks Jimin (and possibly also Jungkook) might be thirsting over his new friend.
Kim Seokjin recently transferred to their school a few weeks ago. He’s older than them, but he’s in 11th grade because apparently, he stopped going to school for a year. Many speculate that he has some sickness, others think that he’s some kind of celebrity that just decided to come back to school, but really, it’s no one but Seokjin’s business.
Many people would call Seokjin a handsome guy. Of course, he’s handsome. He has wide almond eyes that make him look really young and innocent for his age. His hair’s a jet black, his fringe covering his forehead. His lips are full and plump, and are as red as cherries. Taehyung thinks that his lips must be pillowy and soft, judging by the way they look.
He’s really broad, his shoulders are wider than anyone’s in the campus. His physique resembles that of a model, with his long, lean limbs and his narrow waist that contrasts nicely with his shoulders.
With his looks and body, plus his cool chic aura, people would definitely be attracted to Kim Seokjin. However, he remains an enigma to the student body, since he rarely hangs out with other people. Actually, Taehyung’s pretty surprised he’s managed to befriend Seokjin. It was on the first day of class when it all began.