Exchange student - one year ᵗᵃᵉᵏᵒᵒᵏ

9

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Of course, Jungkook put on some more make-up, not like usual, but a little more subtle. He didn't want to provoke Taehyung unnecessarily, but at the same time he felt uncomfortable at the thought of appearing at the party without any make-up at all.
In the meantime, Jungkook was applying a little make-up to Jimin. Normally, the pink-haired one didn't put on make-up, but every now and then he was overcome by seeing how beautiful his best friend looked afterwards and wanted to do the same. Although the people around him were prejudiced because of his pink hair, Jimin took the comments about his supposed sexual orientation in his stride. On the contrary, he was happy when he received compliments on his appearance. His pink hair was often used as an opportunity to assign certain stereotypes to him, but he didn't care much about that. For him, it was an opportunity to break stereotypes - a proud act of rebellion.

When Jimin looked at his reflection in the mirror, he couldn't suppress a broad, self-absorbed grin. Through the mirror, the pink-haired Taehyung noticed him sitting bored on the couch, his cell phone in his hand again. "Tell me Taehyung, don't you want Jungkook to do your make-up too?" Jimin teased him with a mischievous grin on his face. Although he had promised not to provoke Taehyung, Jimin couldn't help but make this comment.
Taehyung, who had to listen to the two boys' conversations for an hour, his ears bleeding, only lifted his eyes to look at Jimin. "I don't need make-up to look good," he replied calmly and looked at his cell phone again. It really annoyed him that half the display was now cracked, but it was ultimately his own fault.
Jimin, unimpressed by Taehyung's answer, grumbled: "Well, that may be true for your appearance, but a little color really couldn't hurt your soul."

Jungkook, who looked back and forth between the two, sighed heavily. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to invite Taehyung to the party. Because when Jimin was drunk, he was incredibly clingy and in a way also annoying, he would surely get one up on Taehyung that night. Jungkook could already see in his mind's eye how the two of them would end up arguing.
"Stop it now Jimin," he admonished his best friend and looked at him pleadingly. "Shall we eat something? There's still some time," Jungkook suggested, hoping to ease the tense atmosphere. Besides, Jungkook didn't like drinking on an empty stomach and insisted on eating something before every party.
Jimin was immediately excited at the thought of food. "Oh yeah, are you cooking?" asked Jimin excitedly, already on fire. Jungkook laughed and nodded, while Jimin was already on his way to the kitchen. The blonde turned to Taehyung, who was still sitting on the couch and asked, "Are you coming too?"
The dark-haired one shook his head and looked at his host brother. "Not hungry."
Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows and tried again, "But it's not good to drink on an empty stomach. At least eat a little."
But Taehyung's answer remained the same: "Not hungry," he repeated. With another sigh, the blond left the room and said, "I'll let you know when we leave." Inside him, however, the worry remained as to how the party would go with these different personalities.

As evening slowly fell and they were about to leave, Jungkook climbed the stairs to his room with mixed feelings to pick up Taehyung. Inwardly, he hoped that his roommate wouldn't feel like accompanying them for some inexplicable reason. He was sure that this would save the younger boy a few nerves.
He knocked quietly on the door to the room, as he didn't know what Taehyung was up to and didn't want to disturb him, but received no answer. He opened the door cautiously and walked in quietly, hoping that Taehyung might have fallen asleep.
Not finding his roommate on the couch, Jungkook took slow steps towards the doorway that separated the back of the room from the front with a partition. He moved extra quietly so as not to wake Taehyung if he was really asleep.

Behind the partition, Jungkook finally saw Taehyung standing in front of the closet, his upper body exposed. Taehyung had his back turned to Jungkook and didn't even realize that he had come in.
Jungkook was literally staring at his roommate's naked back, unable to avert his gaze. Even when Taehyung turned around, top in hand, and spotted Jungkook, he couldn't take his eyes off him. Jungkook was now more certain than before: if Taehyung wasn't such a character asshole, he would inevitably have a crush on him. But luckily, Taehyung's character kept Jungkook from falling for his exchange partner.

Taehyung held eye contact for a moment before turning his back to him again. He felt uncomfortable being stared at by Jungkook like that. For the past few days, since his arrival, he had been struggling to somehow get used to Jungkook's presence - to somehow accept it. But that was easier said than done. Taehyung tried - really tried - not to feel contempt for this boy and really did his best not to throw any derogatory words at him. At least he managed not to leave the room in a hurry when Jungkook was present. Even though he was fighting it hard, he was satisfied with his self-control so far.
"You seem to like what you see as much as you stare at me," Taehyung said calmly, putting on the top in his hand. Jungkook swallowed hard and tried to stop staring at his half-naked roommate. He knew it was wrong to look at Taehyung like that, but he couldn't deny that Taehyung looked incredibly attractive at that moment.
Jungkook blushed, cleared his throat and quickly averted his eyes. "Well, you're just really good-looking," he murmured truthfully, but his voice trembled slightly. "But that's not the point! I just wanted to come and get you, we want to go," he added with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Okay," Taehyung replied lightly, not elaborating.

He stood in front of the mirror, his gaze fixed on the closet mirror as he tied his dark hair into a loose manbun. But in the reflection, he clearly noticed Jungkook's blatant stare, which was called inconspicuous but was in fact anything but.
A soft sigh escaped Taehyung's lips and he slowly turned to Jungkook, who was already hurrying towards the door. But then Taehyung suddenly grabbed Jungkook's shoulders and pushed him against the wall. He placed his hands next to the slightly smaller man's head and his eyes literally pierced Jungkook.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Jungkook uttered, overwhelmed by the situation. He struggled not to buckle under the dominant aura of his counterpart.
Taehyung leaned forward a little and Jungkook felt his heart pounding wildly against his ribs. He waited expectantly for something to happen, but Taehyung didn't even touch him. Instead, he whispered in Jungkook's ear, "Keep your vulture eyes on you. I don't want to have to hurt you." Then Taehyung broke away from him, leaving Jungkook with his heart racing incredibly fast. On the one hand, he was confused about the unexpected closeness of his roommate, on the other hand, he found exactly this dominant nature extremely hot and it caused pleasant goose bumps all over his body.

Jungkook nervously gasped for breath as Taehyung pulled away from him, trying to calm his wildly pounding heart. This unexpected closeness had triggered something in him that he couldn't explain. His heart seemed to be pounding in his chest. The older man had a charisma that fascinated and intimidated Jungkook in equal measure. Taehyung glanced sharply over his shoulder at Jungkook. "Come now," he ordered gruffly and stepped through the door. Jungkook could only manage a curt "yes" before he detached himself from the wall and followed his roommate.
Taehyung's words echoed in Jungkook's head, "Keep your vulture eyes on you." This comment had hit a sore spot. For some reason, Jungkook had thought that Taehyung wouldn't notice his obvious stare since the older man never seemed to look directly at him. But Taehyung had noticed the blond's covetous stare more than clearly.

As the three of them sat on the bus and made their way to the party, the atmosphere on the bus was tense. Taehyung and Jimin were constantly exchanging death stares. Jungkook, who was sitting between them, could literally hear the lightning crackling over his head as they exchanged glances.
Jungkook sighed heavily as he frowned. Despite the oppressive atmosphere, he was still relieved that it had only been glances so far. The idea that the situation could escalate into words or even violence scared him. His heart was pounding hard and he felt his stomach tighten because of it. He simply couldn't deal with stress.

The minutes passed agonizingly slowly as the bus approached its destination. Jungkook could already feel how tense he was, and that was only because his best friend and his roommate were on the same bus. The blonde couldn't tell what the dark-haired man was like when he'd had a drink either.
Was he more relaxed?
More serious?
Or maybe even the kind who cried?
Who became clingy?
Or burst out laughing?
Jungkook couldn't imagine it for the life of him, except maybe that Taehyung became even more serious. Jimin, on the other hand, was simple: he became clingy, annoying and provocative. And Jungkook was already afraid that his pink-haired friend would annoy Taehyung with stupid remarks.

After an agonizingly long 45 minutes, they finally arrived. They could already see the brightly lit beach house from afar, from which loud music was blaring and getting louder with every meter they approached.
Jimin recognized his friend and host Namjoon from afar as he greeted his guests on the front steps of the house. Jimin literally stormed towards him, while Jungkook and Taehyung walked comfortably behind.
When they arrived, Namjoon also greeted Jungkook by bumping into him. He paused briefly when he saw Taehyung and took a moment for it to click in his head. "Ahh, I guess you're the exchange student staying with Jungkook then," the black-haired Namjoon stated. But before Taehyung could confirm this, Namjoon held out his hand in a friendly greeting. "Nice to meet you. I'm Namjoon, a friend of Jungkook's," he introduced himself properly and gave a beaming grin.
Taehyung took his hand and smiled as well. "Taehyung," came the terse introduction.

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