Before They Were Bulletproof // OT7 BTS FF x OC ᵖʳᵒˡᵒᵍᵘᵉ

25. Chaos

Monday

Taes luscious brown locks were sprawled across the desk. The professor's voice filled the class as he drones on about exams for the semester. Jimin fidgetted with the fabric of my jumper sleeve absentmindedly. Eyes practically glazed over as he looked ahead to the front of the class. The way he was lazily leaning back in his chair made it appear like he had very little interest and couldn't wait to get out of here.

My suspicions were confirmed when the bell rang and Jimin bid us a good day and rushed off before I could even ask where he was going. Then again, I already had a good guess as to where that was. Tae hadn't even noticed him leave, he looked disoriented from his nap as he sat up and peered around. Letting out a small inward sigh as he noted Jimin was nowhere to be seen.

"You ready for exams?" I asked. Maybe shifting the subject would help distract him.

"Hardly. I hate studying by myself, it's such a bore".

"Want to study together then?" I propositioned. He watched me, the cogs in his head likely ticking over slower seeing as he'd just woken up.

"Can we get lunch too? I'm starving".

"Yeah, how about burgers?" The wide boyish grin that spread across his face was all the answer I needed. The two of us picked up burger sets and went back to my place so we could eat and study in peace.

We settled down on the soft rug on my living room floor, excited to dig into our meals. It was mostly comfortable silence as we sat across from each other at the coffee table and ate. That was, apart from us talking over what topic to revise first for exams. Tae helped me clear the table and lay out all the books and reading material we needed to get started while I threw some rubbish away into the bin.

I came and sat down legs crossed beside him and we started to get dug into our revision. Every once in a while I'd glance over to Tae. He appeared down and restless. Then, eventually, he looked up from the book in hand over to me.

"Can I ask you something?" He came off unsure.

"Of course" I shut my book and turned to face him as to give him my full attention.

"What would you do if you were part of an idol group but they were keeping you a secret..? So like, you weren't allowed to go to shows and interviews and stuff with the others.." Tae was hesitant as he posed the scenario. It took me a second to come to terms with his otherwise seemingly out of the blue metaphorical dilemma. But I easily gathered that it perhaps wasn't.

"Wait, Tae, That's like a really specific question. Is that what's happening to you?" I mumbled. He bit at his lip softly, gaze averting down so that his brown locks shrouded his face slightly.

"Maybe.. Yeah".

"So you get left out of stuff? Why are they keeping you a secret?" I asked. The scenario came off unusual to me and I couldn't help but to want to know more. Why had it come to this, and why hadn't I known anything about it sooner.

"It's kinda complicated, something about not wanting other groups to try and scout me..".

Thoughts swirled in my head as I tried to piece it together. "I.. Don't know if you realize this but, your voice is unique. It could be that simple. They're scared to lose you..".

A small cast down Hm escaped his lips. Whatever the motive it didn't make it hurt him any less...

"But, it must be lonely. Getting left out of the group.." He tensed up. I shuffled closer to him and got up on my knees, I wrapped my arms around him and tugged him into me. Tae let out an unsteady breath. I felt it warm against the bottom of my neck where I clutched him close to me.