Vipers in the Lake | BTS Gang x Reader

Prologue

"Try again Y/N."

You groaned, setting your head down on the desk in front of you. "I can't." You mumbled, the sound lost in the wood.

"You can." Hands poked at your shoulders gently. "You did a question a moment ago. Start slow, what's the first step?"

Batting the hand away, you huffed. Pen tapping against the paper pad in front of you, you scrambled through your brain. How do I do it? Come on, Y/N! Nope, nothing. "I'm sorry. I really don't know." 

"Like this," he said, leaning over you and prying the pen gently from your fingers. "The curve also goes under the x-axis, so you integrate both parts separately, then switch the sign for the part underneath. Remember?" Meeting your eyes, he mustered a small smile and set the pen back down. 

"Why did I ever take math? Can't we just hang out?" You pulled out your best puppy dog eyes, tucking your hands under your chin. 

"Your parents don't pay me to hang out with you," he laughed, pink gums and smile lines appearing. "Plus, you need to get this down for the finals. Your parents would kill me if I let you get a bad grade." He continued to smile, but it left his eyes. "Try these questions for next week, hm? Just do as many as you can, and we'll go over them when I-"

"Y/n." A voice rumbled from the doorway. At the sound, you leapt from your chair, a wide grin pulling your cheeks apart. You leapt into your father's arms, and he caught you, spinning you around in a wide arc before setting you down between him and the open door behind you. You could see Sung-hoon, your math tutor, still sat at the table from over your father's shoulder. His eyes bore into yours, something simmering inside them that you couldn't identify. "How's my girl, huh?" Your father set his heavy hands on your shoulder, smiling down at you as he brushed your hair from your face.

"How come you're back so early?" An elated laugh worked its' way out of your mouth at seeing him. He was around so rarely these days, always away on business trips or speaking at conferences abroad.

"I missed my girls. Where's your mom, by the way?" His hands became firmer, turning you toward the doorway as if to lead you away.

"Oh dad-" twisting around, you glanced at Sung-hoon again. He was packing up, sweeping pencils and textbooks into a leather satchel. "We weren't finished." Your father glanced dismissively over his shoulder.

"Nonsense, darling. Finish early today, hmm? I want to spend some time with you. Your tutor can see himself out, can't he?" He looked pointedly at Sung-hoon, waiting and expectant. 'Your tutor'? Didn't he even know his name?  Sung-hoon's mouth pressed into a grim line, but he picked up his bag and walked toward you anyway. Meeting you in the corridor, he nodded respectfully toward your father.

"Of course, sir. See you next time, Y/n."

Your father grinned down at you once more, leading you down the corridor in the opposite direction to Sung-hoon. He chattered away about how you were finding your studies, a solid hand on your back. You cast an apologetic glance back to Sung-hoon, but the small smile on your face fell quickly. He was stood, ram-rod straight and knuckles white as they clutched the strap of his bag. His eyes were locked onto your father, flitting between the back of his head and where his hand was pressed the middle of your back. There it was again: that strange, surreptitious light in his eyes. You opened your mouth to ask if he was okay, to ask if he wanted seeing out. 

But your father pulled you around the corner, and Sung-hoon was gone.

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"Y/n, honey? Do you not like it?" Glancing up from where you were pushing green beans around on your plate, you met your mothers soft eyes. 

"I do, mom, I'm just not too hungry at the moment. I had some snacks not too long ago." Not totally true. You had snacked recently, but you suspected that the lack of hunger was more to do with your mind still being stuck on Sung-hoon's peculiar exit from earlier that day. Why was that look on his face? What even was that look? Despite spending hours mulling it over in your head, you still couldn't put your finger on it. Now wasn't the time though. Now was family time.