school desk | vkook

- TWENTY-EIGHT -

[the day before, aka the day aeri kissed jeongguk]

Taehyung is peacefully dreaming of being a rapper with millions of fans when he's rudely woken up by the alarm clock vibrating next to him.

"Uuugh," he groans, turning it off. If there's anything he's learned, it is to always sit up immediately when the alarm rings, just rip the plaster off. But that's apparently not a good idea today, because the world starts spinning and everything turns black for a moment. He groans again and lays back down carefully, bringing the duvet up over his head to completely bury himself. His stomach feels a little upset, must be the damn waffle. Taehyung knew it tasted fishy.

"Mooom!" he shouts, voice full of misery. "Don't bother making breakfast or a lunchbox for me!"

His mother, a short woman with long, black hair in a braid, peeks her head in. "You okay, hun?"

"Mmm..." Taehyung brings the duvet down a little so she can see his eyes. "I think I'm sick. Can you or dad call the school so they won't write absence in me?"

"Of course, sweetie." She walks in to ruffle her son's messy hair. "Your dad already left with Taekwon but I'll do it. I'm working from home today anyways and I was going to make breakfast for myself, you sure you don't want any?"

"Maybe later. Thanks."

"Okay then. Tell me if you get worse," she says before leaving.

Taehyung's mom is a very successful woman. She runs her own PR business, helping celebrities get the exposure they need in media and is well paid. Since it's her own business and she's alone, she can sit at home and work most days while her husband goes to work as a telemarketer. Taehyung admires his mother a lot.

With a pained huff, the ill boy reaches for his phone to inform his friends on the situation, starting with Jimin and Hoseok and then, of course, Jeongguk.

GGUKIE ❤️

hey ggukie! i woke up
feeling really sick
(i blame the waffle..)
so you'll have to
survive without me
today. luv you xx

He's about to write "I love you," but they haven't actually said that in real life yet and "luv you" sounded less serious. So yeah.

Taehyung can't bother to look at the replies, so he goes to the bathroom (which is not a pleasant experience) and then back to bed.

He wakes up again around lunch time, this time because of a buzz from his phone. Taehyung sits up (which hurts less this time) to see if it's important.

Text from: Jiminie
Hey, Tae. Are you coming to school tomorrow? I really need to...

Frowning, Taehyung opens the phone to see the whole message. It worries him to see Jimin write so formally, and the way he used "hey" gives Taehyung an anxious feeling.

JIMINIE

Hey, Tae. Are you
coming to school
tomorrow? I really
need to tell you
about something I
just saw. Hoseok
also thinks you should
know asap.

yeah i already
feel better but now
you're worrying me.
everything alright
with you, chim?

I'm fine. *hugs*

ok, good! ☺️
*hugs back*

Taehyung can tell he's definitely not "fine," but his best friend obviously doesn't want to go into it now over text. Besides, Hoseok knows, whatever it is, so Jimin already spoke about it to somebody. And there's no time for further conversation anyways, because just as he's about to check twitter his phone gets another notification. This one makes Taehyung smile.