SWEET CREATURE | vk

n i n e t e e n

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Taehyung was suspended.

He was suspended "indefinitely," which basically meant for the rest of the week. According to his school, "all parties involved" in the "unfortunate incident" should be given time to "cool off" and "readjust to academic life."

Translated from bullshit back to English, that meant that Taehyung had at least a day or two to himself.

He didn't quite know where to put his energy. He walked aimlessly around the house, cleaned his room, walked his dog, received a berating voicemail from his mom, and finally, sorted through the footage he had gotten of Jungkook.

Some of the clips were good- at least, Taehyung thought they were. He downloaded videos of them laughing on the roof, Jungkook's reaction to Tangled, that bus vlog where Jungkook kept sneezing, and a long, rather disturbing video of Jungkook getting beat up. Yet, he didn't get a grasp of Jungkook's character as a whole.

And Taehyung wanted to understand Jungkook, he really did- but there was something blocking him from doing so, some armor that Jungkook flaunted, blending into his skin like camouflage.

He wanted to get closer to someone. Taehyung had connections, he had friends, he had people he could count on, but he wanted to feel something. He wanted to laugh because jokes were funny, not because his friends thought they were. He wanted to smile without feeling a sting on the skin of his lips, as if the simple act of pretending stretched himself thin, because sometimes he smiled only because he had to. He wanted to be impossibly close to someone, to have them lay their eyes on his hair, his face, his smile, his everything, and say, there he is. That's my favorite person. And he would say it right back, he knew he would, because Taehyung's heart was often the only thing that led him.

Taehyung also thought, in his humble opinion, that Jungkook was adorable.

It was with that thought in mind that Taehyung found himself making his way to Jungkook's house. Jungkook didn't go to school that day either (he was rather informally suspended, you could say. The district didn't want him there, and he didn't want to be there either).

Taehyung didn't know what he was trying to do, but he brought a candy bar, a jacket, and his dog with him as he left his house. Taehyung imagined the bright smile that would dance its way over Jungkook's face at the sight of Yeontan and chuckled to himself, treading the path to the bleaker part of town.

Jungkook's neighborhood could be considered intimidating, but in the daytime, it was simply unattractive. It was okay, though, because Taehyung had his dog and he wanted to make Jungkook smile, and Taehyung was going to, he was sure of it. He wanted to make Jungkook smile.

After approaching the house, Taehyung knocked on a scraped up wooden door quite loudly, and the pounding sent a layer of dust drifting into the air. No one answered. Taehyung knocked again, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He heard some noises from behind the door and pet his dog. He heard more noises and decided, finally, that he would knock just one more time.

When the door opened, Taehyung's smile dissipated. A stocky man appeared in the doorway, clad in a stained shirt and jeans. He rubbed his chin.

"Who are you?"

Taehyung bit his lip. "Is Jungkook here?"