Brighter Days || Taekook

Part 6

Taehyung is sweaty. Really sweaty. His clothes are drenched. His muscles are sore. He thinks that he's given everything he possibly could, that his body can't be pushed any further than this, but he still knows that he's lacking. Hoseok pats him on the back and tells him that practice is the key to success. Taehyung really needs to succeed.

In the afternoon, the scenery changes from a dancing studio with two walls mirrored walls to a recording booth with only one, and his cold reflection stares back at him. It's the first time he actually hears the other's voices except for the occasional times that Jungkook or Jin sang absentmindedly along with the music they had danced to.

And wow, Taehyung feels so out of place it's almost ridiculous. He learns that Namjoon's stage name Rap Monster wasn't just picked from thin air, and that he enjoys to write lyrics just like Yoongi does. Though secretly, he prefers Yoongi's, because while Namjoon's are poetic and sound beautiful, Yoongi's are rough and honest and portray life the way it actually is. Hoseok is good at rapping too, especially considering that he came to Big Hit as a dancer. Taehyung's surprised to find that he can also sing quite well.

When it comes to Jin and Jungkook, Taehyung really doesn't know how his voice could even hold a candle to theirs. It hurts his ego even more when it turns out that Jungkook can not only sing (although he's incredibly shy about it) and dance, but can also rap. It's unfair how some people just get all the talent at once. Hoseok ruffles the youngest boy's hair and coos how he's their golden maknae, at which Jungkook blushes.

Taehyung really doesn't know how he's ever going to catch up to these boys. He can sing to a certain degree and he's not a stranger to moving his body, but that neither makes him a singer nor a dancer, and he can't rap for shit (though sometimes he wishes he could, because rappers are just so cool). Thinking about how Bang PD-nim asked him to catch up to the boys makes him feel sick to the stomach, because he doesn't know how he's ever supposed to do that.

They take him to their dorm that night, and Jin comes over as well. A 'bonding activity' they called it. It's past nine in the evening when Taehyung first sets foot in what is to be his home in the near future and just thinking about it makes him want to wretch his guts onto the floor. To say he's nervous about it, nervous about living together with four complete strangers for the first time in his life, is an understatement. The last time he lived with someone else was when he still was with his family - and that didn't end all too well.

Namjoon gives him a tour. It's small, but Taehyung didn't expect anything better. It's also dirty, but that's to be a given with a bunch of preoccupied boys that are too busy to arrange proper meals, let alone clean a whole dorm because they are busy chasing their dreams. A kitchen, a living room and a bedroom that they all share, that's it. But it's dry, and the walls are painted white but it's an upgrade to Taehyung's previous flat nonetheless.

"Kookie made some space for you in the closet," Namjoon says and Taehyung follows the soft-spoken boy with his one meager bag that, suspiciously enough, no one had mentioned for the rest of the day.

Taehyung thanks Jungkook after being shown the allocated space for his clothes. It's way too much, but he doesn't say anything about it.

"It's not a problem, hyung," Jungkook answers before scurrying away. Taehyung doesn't remember the last time that someone actually called him hyung, and his heart stutters for just a moment.

They watch a movie together, after everyone's showered and it doesn't escape Taehyung's attention how Jungkook goes last, insists that all the others go before him.

He completely ignores the movie, too aware of the five other boys surrounding him. They pass popcorn around in a green plastic bowl, but he refuses any offers of it. Whenever one of them shifts, Taehyung watches. He thinks he's being inconspicuous, until his eyes meet Yoongi's, who's raising an eyebrow in question. After that, Taehyung doesn't dare take his eyes off the television.