PETIT | taekook ✓

eight

the next day, taehyung ended up oversleeping but luckily, entered the classroom just mere seconds before the bell rang.

the first thing he sees is jungkook, in his usual seat, surrounded by a few tough-looking guys and... laughing happily? with a frown, taehyung walked towards his seat and threw a quick glance at his seatmate and the dudes near him, eyes widening in alarm when he realized who they were.

im jaebum, jackson wang and choi youngjae, who were three of the seven members of one of the most influential and powerful cliques in the academy, and allegedly part of a street gang in seoul.

but he couldn't ponder much about it before the loud shrill of the morning bell sounded and the room went silent as their homeroom teacher entered. whilst attendance was being taken, taehyung kept peeking over at jungkook in the corner of his eye, eyebrows furrowing since the younger hasn't talked or even looked at him once yet.

despite the strange sensation creeping up to his chest, the lavender-haired male disregarded it and leaned back further into his chair.

was yesterday actually a dream?

homeroom quickly flew by, with taehyung staring out the window, jungkook annoyingly tapping his pencil against the surface of his desk, and no conversations initiated whatsoever.

taehyung tried to push away the massive disappointment he felt when miss young soon appeared through the doorway, signalling the start of literature class. however, jungkook still hasn't spoken a single word to the older.

and just like homeroom, english literature went by with the tense silence between taehyung and jungkook, boring lecture information, recital of romeo and juliet acts, and so on. it was not until the class was almost over that taehyung finally remembered that there was a certain project regarding poetry and that he was partners with, none other than, the transferee.

"shit," he unconsciously muttered out loud, reluctantly catching the attention of his neighbor.

"uh, are you okay?" taehyung jumped at the sudden sound of jungkook's voice. he whipped his head to the side and scowled at jungkook's concerned gaze directed right at him.

"now you're talking to me?" taehyung wanted to say, but decided against it because he currently didn't feel like being a dick. thus, he resorted to a simple, "yeah."

jungkook seemed unconvinced. thankfully, he didn't question it further. "so," he began, trailing off for a bit. "about the project, who's gonna be juliet and who's gonna be romeo?" he asked awkwardly.

"um, hello? i'm obviously going to be romeo," taehyung scoffed, completely forgetting about how jungkook practically ignored his existence for the past hour. "you can be juliet, jerk," he pointed at the other.

"oh?" jungkook raised an eyebrow, feeling more amused than anything. "sorry to break it to you, but i'm totally the romeo here."

"fine then, you wanna settle this in a civil way?"

"hm, what do you have in mind?"

"i know the most civil way we can settle this."

"oh yeah? bring it, kim."

taehyung brought up his fist and jungkook smirked when he noticed what was happening, bringing up his own fist as well. in the end, needless to say, jungkook won and taehyung lost in their three rounds of rock, paper, scissors. hence, the younger was tasked in writing a poem in romeo's perspective, and taehyung with juliet.

"i can't believe you thought of rock, paper, scissors," jungkook laughed, shaking his head. "out of everything you could've possibly thought of."

taehyung shrugged, a tiny smile playing on his lips. "it really was the most civil thing i could think of."

"you never fail to amaze me, kim taehyung," the ravenette stated with a grin, not catching the growing blush on the elder's cheeks. "anyways, wanna start on the project later after school? we could do it over at my place, if you don't mind."

taehyung breath hitched in his throat. "what? a-after school? at your p-place?" he coughed, looking around the classroom nervously. "we still have, like, two weeks. why do we need to start so early? it's not like it's that hard of a project or anything, right?" he questioned, desperately searching for any viable excuse so that he wouldn't have to end up in jungkook's house, in jungkook's room, and alone with jungkook.

jungkook tilted his head slightly sideways. "you can just say so if you don't wanna come over, y'know. i don't bite — at least not that hard," he teased, chuckling.

the purple-haired boy flushed a deep crimson shade of red, ducking his head down. "o-okay, fine! i'll go to your house to work on the damn project!"

jungkook beamed inwardly at his second victory of the day. the bell rang once again and everyone hurriedly got up from their seats and left the room, in a rush to get to their next classes. "alright then," jungkook says, standing up from his seat. "meet me at the school gate after school and i'll catch you there. you better not bail on me, tae!" he finished with a wink and exited the classroom, leaving behind a dazed taehyung.

unfortunately for taehyung, his following seemingly perfectly normal afternoon would not turn out in his favor at all. as he stood beside the gates, like jungkook instructed, to wait for his literature partner, his eyes spot something that he wished he didn't see.

jeon jungkook, walking across the street in the opposite direction of the school, and three specific guys walking alongside him.

im jaebum, jackson wang and choi youngjae.