"promise" YOONKOOK

+chapter two+

NOW PRESENTING + 4:57 PM, APRIL 18

"Why the hell is this punk here?" Yoongi asks, making a face when he sees Jungkook, the annoying kid he'd met a week ago, standing in the doorframe. The brat gasps, as if he's just seen a ghost.

"You said a bad word!"

Rolling his eyes, the thirteen-year-old ignores his wide eyes with a huff and crosses his arms over his chest. He's not going to be reprimanded by a short brat. And there are definitely worse words he could have used. Taehyung pulls Jungkook to the kitchen by his hand. "Sorry Kookie," he says, sending an apologetic look to his friend. "Yoongi-hyung curses a lot. But he's allowed to 'cuz he said so. He's super old, which means he can do whatever he wants to, but I think that's just an excuse for his bad habitat."

"Habit, not habitat," Namjoon corrects from the table as he stuffs his face full of cheese puffs. His fingers and lips are covered in orange dust.

Yoongi flicks his forehead, earning a yelp. "Shut your smart mouth. No one asked you."

Jungkook turns to Taehyung as the older boy is pouring the two of them glasses of milk. "Tae, Min Yoongi is kinda mean, don'tcha think? He said the h-word, looked at me funny, and hurt Joonie."

His friend giggles to himself, handing Jungkook a glass of milk. "You have to call him Yoongi-hyung or he gets mad. And he just has a short temper. I think he's really cool. He fights off the bad guys in school," Taehyung says. He suddenly lowers his voice and leans close to the younger boy. "You know how he was all bruised up when you met him? He'd just saved the school from scary monsters! Hyung does it all the time. He says it's a piece of cake 'cuz he's awesome. You just have to get him to like you, and then you two can be best friends. But not bester friends than us, deal?"

Jungkook nods quickly in understanding, giving Taehyung a smile. "Deal."

"Hey guys, you have to try these cheese puffs! They're amazing!" Namjoon calls, but he hurriedly adds, "Just not all of them. They're for me."

"I don't want your stupid cheese puffs," Yoongi grumbles, plopping down on the couch and grabbing the remote. Jungkook surprises him by plopping down next to him with a wide, mischievous grin. The kid looks like a tiny monster with an evil plan. "What do you want, brat?"

"Can I watch cartoons with you?"

Yoongi almost laughs out loud, but for the sake of being just a little nicer, he snorts instead. "I'm thirteen. I don't watch cartoons anymore. I was gonna turn on the news and listen to all the horrors of society." He shakes his head to himself when Jungkook just looks at him, completely confused. "You know, like watching the news anchor talking about who died, who got shot, who went to jail, who threw a bomb at who. Stuff like that."

"That doesn't sound fun to watch!" the kid protests. He yanks the remote out of Yoongi's hand before the older can even blink. "Look, I'll show you my favorite cartoon. It's about these friends who keep saving everyone from bad things. It's awesome! You'll see."

The older boy is appalled when Jungkook finds the channel. It's the stupidest show he's ever seen in his thirteen years of life. "What is this bullshit?"

"No bad words!"

"Whatever," Yoongi mumbles, leaning back into Taehyung's comfy couch. The couch in his own house is cheap and needs to be cleaned. Yoongi won't sit on it. He glances at the little kid next to him, finding him completely engrossed in the TV as three animated characters run around playing frisbee. "Tae Tae, when did you say your parents would be home?"

Taehyung taps his chin as though he's deep in thought before answering Yoongi. "I think they said around nine. We have tons of time."

"Hyung, hyung, look!" Jungkook screeches excitedly. "She got the cat outta the tree! Do you save cats from trees?"

Blinking in confusion, Yoongi looks down at the nine-year-old who's staring up at him in admiration. He wants to snap back that no, he most definitely does not save cats from trees, but it would be real easy to toss Jungkook up into one and just leave him there. Yoongi stops himself when he remembers that he's just a little kid and that he doesn't have to be so rude to him. "Why would I save cats from trees? That's an overused cliche and it's not even that heroic."

"Tae told me that you fight bad guys at school! What kinda bad guys do you fight? Thieves?" the kid rambles. Yoongi sighs when Jungkook gasps loudly. "Or do you fight killers?"

Yoongi scratches his nose, quickly running over his tall tale in his head before he begins to talk. "I fight all the bullies. Any bully, any time of day. It doesn't matter if they're taller than me or shorter than me. I'll still beat their butts," he explains, the corners of his lips twitching upward as Jungkook bounces excitedly on the couch cushion. "That's why I constantly have bruises and bandaids. These little scars on my cheek are from stopping big, mean bullies from scratching innocent kids in the face. The bruises on my knuckles are actually from punching a bully in the nose, 'cuz he was trying to steal money from a first grader."

"You're a hero, hyung!" Jungkook says, reaching up to tug on Yoongi's sleeve. "What's the scar on the corner of your mouth from?"

The older winces at the memory. He remembers the tip of the knife blade pressed against his skin like it had happened only seconds ago. "Some meanie got really mad at me for stopping him and his gang from beating up a kid, so he tried to stab my eye with a knife. But I moved faster than lightning, and it only hit the corner of my mouth. Then I slammed him on the ground and turned him in to the principal."

He came up with this elaborate lie when Taehyung had found him bleeding on a playground swing after school. Yoongi couldn't think of a good excuse when he asked what had happened. It was a desperate act of quick-thinking and storytelling skills, used only because he was panicking. Yoongi doesn't want either Taehyung or Namjoon knowing that he's bullied and gets beat up. So he constructed a lie to make himself into some sort of superhero. Yoongi can clearly tell that Namjoon doesn't buy a single word of his story since the first time he'd told it, which he guesses he should have expected. Namjoon had always been smart, and after all, he's only a year younger than Yoongi.

"Hey Yoongi-hyung, if you're protecting everyone in the school from the big meanies, then who protects you when they hit you back?"

This was a question Yoongi had not anticipated, and he stares down at Jungkook with a slack jaw. "Well..." he murmurs, "I'm a one-person team. I can take care of myself." The kid seems happy with his answer, humming and swinging his legs as the stupid theme song for the stupidest cartoon in the world plays from the TV.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
      And the mome raths outgrabe.