Exchange student - one year ᵗᵃᵉᵏᵒᵒᵏ

3

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"Hey, wake up, honey. Why are you sleeping on the couch?" a soft female voice penetrated Jungkook's dreams. The voice belonged to his mother, who had tried to wake her son from his sleep. With a soft yawn, he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His mother stood in front of him, smiling.
"I must have fallen asleep without realizing it," he yawned sleepily. In fact, he hadn't noticed. After having to play delivery boy for Taehyung the night before, he had sat down in the living room and watched TV, falling asleep.

When he finally opened his eyes and looked at the clock on the wall, he realized that he had slept all night.
"Come on, let's have breakfast.We've already met Taehyung and he seems very nice," his mother smiled at him, and despite his tiredness, her smile brought a smile to Jungkook's face as well.He got up from the comfortable couch and followed his mother into the kitchen, where Jungkook discovered that everything was already prepared for breakfast.There were fresh croissants and rolls, fragrant coffee or tea and a selection of cold cuts. There were even pancakes.
"Taehyung prepared everything.I was really surprised when I came into the kitchen this morning and found everything ready," said Jungkook's father enthusiastically, glancing at his guest son who was enjoying his tea.
Jungkook sat down opposite Taehyung and looked at him skeptically. Had he really prepared everything? Jungkook couldn't help but suspect that Taehyung might have had other intentions, because he didn't believe that someone would go to so much trouble so easily and for no reason, because he had gotten to know him differently.

Breakfast went very smoothly and they talked about trivial topics.
"You seem to be really fluent in our language, Taehyung. Do you speak any other languages?" Jungkook's mother started a conversation while sipping her coffee and looking expectantly at Taehyung.
Taehyung finished chewing his roll and then nodded. "Yes, I speak fluent Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French and have a basic knowledge of Indonesian and Russian," he listed, his slight Korean accent adding a special nuance to his voice.
"Oh, that's really impressive. I can imagine that learning so many languages is very time-consuming. Do you even have time for hobbies?" the host mother continued, fascinated by Taehyung's language skills.
Taehyung actually laughed slightly and nodded again. "Learning new languages, but also learning to play instruments and practising various sports are my hobbies. I like to invest time in things that interest me, even if I may never use them in life," Taehyung said.

The host mother was curious and asked further: "And what about friends? Or a relationship? You don't have time for that when you're just studying."
Taehyung smiled slightly. "I'm not learning everything at the same time. I grew up with languages, so to speak, because my father was an interpreter and I was taught them from an early age. So I have enough free time for friends or a relationship," he confirmed once again.
"So, do you have a pretty girlfriend?" his mother continued to ask curiously. Taehyung shook his head. "No, we broke up just before I came to LA. I didn't want to make her wait for me for a year or even longer if I end up deciding to extend my stay."
The mother sighed dreamily. "That's so romantic, you let her go so she could be happy," she gushed.
"God mom, you're so embarrassing," Jungkook suddenly mumbled, to which his mother just cleared her throat loudly, making Taehyung laugh a little.

Jungkook sat opposite his host brother and looked at him in amazement. He was surprised that he could laugh and at the same time, he was impressed by Taehyung's talent for speaking.
"You said that you also play instruments, right?" Jungkook's mother continued to ask with interest, leaning forward slightly.
Taehyung smiled kindly and replied, "Unfortunately, the selection there isn't that extensive yet, so far it's only limited to piano, guitar, violin and koto. Shortly before I came to Los Angeles, I started learning the trumpet, but I'm going to pursue that when I get back to Korea."
Jungkook's mother could not hide her enthusiasm and her eyes lit up with excitement: "We have a real multi-talent here as our guest. Our Jungkook loves to paint, I'm sure you've noticed the paintings here in the house, haven't you? They were all painted by my sweet Jungkook."
"I'm sure he's not interested, Mom," Jungkook interjected. He felt uncomfortable with his mother talking about him like that in front of Taehyung, knowing that he wouldn't care anyway.
"Let me rave about my son!" the mother pouted slightly and then turned back to her guest son.
"Maybe you could play something for us on the piano sometime. If you haven't seen it yet, there's a small piano in the living room. It's been a while since it was last played, though, and I'm afraid it's a bit rusty. I had always hoped that Jungkook would learn it, but he was more interested in playing the console," sighed the host mother, her voice sounding slightly sad. However, her face immediately brightened as an idea came to her. "Or maybe you can teach him how to play?" her eyes lit up as she asked the question. The idea of her son playing something for her made her heart beat faster.
Taehyung sighed inwardly and pulled himself together not to grimace in disgust, but just kept smiling: "If Jungkook doesn't mind, I can try." Actually, he had absolutely no desire to do so, but he was a guest and wanted to be friendly accordingly.
"Perfect," said the mother excitedly and immediately changed the subject again with a new question: "What about sports? Maybe you have a hobby together?"

Taehyung looked briefly at Jungkook, who was sitting opposite him, and then back at his host mother. "There's nothing exciting about that either. In Korea, it's normal to learn kendo or taekwondo from an early age, although I tend more towards taekwondo. Apart from that, I occasionally play soccer, volleyball or basketball, depending on my mood. I also go to the gym occasionally," Taehyung explained, as if having so many different talents was completely normal.
As Taehyung spoke, Jungkook chewed on his bun, lost in thought, but trying to look unimpressed on the outside. On the inside, however, he was more than impressed and envious.
Jungkook could neither play an instrument nor was he particularly talented in any sport. He didn't even really speak his own national language, Korean. He only knew a few words like "hello" or "thank you", but that was it. He didn't think he would ever be able to use it, as he wasn't interested in traveling to Korea one day.
The only thing Jungkook could do halfway modestly was drawing. While he was thinking about what other talents he might have, he remembered that he could also cook and bake - quite well. Apart from the one incident with the oversalted bolognese, which was clearly not his fault because the salt shaker had suddenly lost its lid!
Inwardly, Jungkook smiled at the fact that there was something he could do and Taehyung couldn't. And more importantly, it was a vital skill, not something like being able to play the piano or speak another language.
"Tell me, Taehyung, how are your cooking skills? Are you as talented there? Or is your talent limited to setting the breakfast table nicely?" Jungkook's mother continued to ask, as if she had read her son's mind. Taehyung, who had answered everything calmly so far, smiled modestly. "Yes, I can cook too, but mainly Asian dishes. My parents were often away for long periods, so I learned to take care of myself early on. Cooking, housekeeping and even doing the laundry were all part of it," Taehyung said.

Jungkook stopped eating his roll as he had lost his appetite. He leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. His self-esteem was slightly dented when he heard Taehyung talk about his abilities. But he forced himself not to roll his eyes.
"Your future wife will be really lucky to have you by her side. I wish I had been that lucky with my husband," Jungkook's mother babbled on, laughing heartily. Jungkook's father, who had been staring half-heartedly at his newspaper, looked at his wife with an indignant expression and muttered, "Really!" Laughter broke out around the table.
"I'm sure your husband is very good at other things. He looks like he's good at crafts or mechanics. I, for example, am a total loser at such things," Taehyung defended his host father.

Jungkook's mother couldn't seem to stop asking questions that morning. She continued to pester her guest son when suddenly a very specific question popped into her head, which she addressed directly to Taehyung: "Tell me Taehyung, how do you actually feel about homosexuality?"
Jungkook choked hard on his cocoa and started coughing violently, causing his father to pat him on the back. But apart from him, no one else seemed to notice Jungkook's sudden shortness of breath.
"As long as they don't annoy me or hit on me, I shouldn't care if they exist or not," Taehyung said curtly and went back to his breakfast.
Jungkook's mother chattered on happily, "Oh, because our Jungkook likes men. I hope you don't mind." Jungkook felt like he wanted to sink into the ground with shame. He slid deeper and deeper into his chair and buried his face in his hands. Jungkook wasn't ashamed of the fact that he liked men and his parents accepted him and loved him just as much as they did before he came out. Still, she shouldn't have just blurted it out like that.
"Oh... Is that so?" Taehyung tried to sound surprised, as if it was new to him.
"As long as her son doesn't hit on me or touch me unintentionally, I don't care," Taehyung finally admitted openly. To say Taehyung wasn't homophobic would be a lie. He couldn't stand these people and wanted to have as little to do with them as possible. But of course, when it came to two women, things were different for Taehyung.
"Don't worry, you're not my cup of tea anyway. I'm not that into assholes," Jungkook said offended and got up to disappear into his room. He flopped down on the sofa, his arms crossed stubbornly in front of his chest and pulled a pouty lip.

But Jungkook couldn't sulk for long. The door suddenly opened and Taehyung stepped in, stopping right in front of Jungkook and eyeing him irritably.
"What do you want?" the blonde-haired man asked, trying as hard as he could not to sound annoyed.
Taehyung sighed. "I hope you don't touch my stuff, faggot. It's disgusting enough that I have to sleep in your bed with you jerking off to your picture book. So do me a favor and stay away from my stuff and me," Taehyung said slightly irritated. From a distance, anyone could be gay to Taehyung, but to be in close proximity to someone like that and still be forced to have contact with that person in any way disgusted him.
Jungkook tried to stay calm, but the words hurt him. Had he just heard wrong? He stood up and looked angrily at Taehyung. "Now pay attention. I don't care what you...-" he began. But before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Taehyung. "No, you pay attention. I can't stand you gay bums. What's so hot about sticking your dick up another man's ass? Just stay away from me and don't talk to me. I'll end up being infected by this plague you've got."

Jungkook was shocked by Taehyung's words. He had hoped that they would get along better, but now his anger was rising. "I thought I was just imagining that you were such an asshole. At breakfast, I really thought for a moment that you weren't so bad! I really wanted to try to get along with you and thought we could be friends!"
Taehyung shook his head and turned away. "I don't give a shit about your friendship. I'm only here because I was forced into this shitty exchange, not to be friends with a faggot," Taehyung declared, putting the issue to rest.
"You're such a fucking asshole!" Jungkook yelled after him as Taehyung left the room.

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