Before the Dawn (jikook/ vminkook)

3. Him again

On Monday, Taehyung handed over his prints. The group pictures. The ones he was okay parting with. He'd asked as nonchalantly as he could manage about when the next showcase might be. The yearbook president shrugged, said he didn't know. But he suggested going to one of the dance teams' practices after school and asking them. They'd know.

Taehyung contemplated that idea over the course of his next couple classes, but he never quite arrived at a decision. He kept getting interrupted from his daydreams as his classmates made attempts to introduce themselves.

"Everyone's been talking about you a lot, you know," A girl was whispering to him now, from the back of their history class.

"Why?" Taehyung didn't like to admit it, but he kind of liked this sudden attention. It hadn't been like this last week, had it?

"Well, I mean you're the new kid, and we've never had a transfer come to our school any later than freshmen year. And no one knows anything about you, so I guess it's only natural for people to be curious,"

Taehyung mulled it over, straightened up in his chair slightly. "I guess so," he agreed. "If you want to know anything, just ask. I'm not trying to be mysterious, I promise."

Unless it got him talked about more. Then maybe he could try to be as mysterious as possible. Wait, why did he even care? Taehyung didn't know anymore.

He felt caught between not wanting to be desperate for friends (because what was the point? They'd all go their separate ways in a year's time anyways), but also wanting people to want to be friends with him. He couldn't justify putting in effort to build friendships with an expiration date, not anymore, after all the moves he'd endured. But if people came to him... who was he to turn them away?

Like this girl, for example. She was curious about him, if nothing else. But it was nice to chat with someone, Taehyung supposed.

"I'll start with your name," She smiled warmly. "I know you introduced yourself our first day, but I forgot, sorry,"

"Oh, it's ok. It's Taehyung,"

"Nice to meet you, Taehyung, I'm Mina,"

Mina. Taheyung repeated the name in his head so he wouldn't forget. "Nice to meet you,"

Mina gave a little laugh to herself. "Maybe this is weird, but I overheard you take pictures. I'm friends with Minho" She offered the name as an explanation, but Taehyung had no idea who the hell Minho was.

"Minho...?" He parroted, questioning.

"Yearbook president," She laughed, "Anyways, you take pictures, and I don't know if you're any good, but I was wondering if you'd take mine,"

"Actually, I'm horrible,"

"Oh I didn't mean-" her hand shot to her mouth, an embarrassed smile emerging.

"No, it's fine," he laughed slightly, "I wouldn't mind,"

"Oh my gosh thanks, I really need headshots for this audition my mom wants me to do," The words tumbled out, and she suddenly lowered her tone to a hushed whisper, "But we don't really have the money for professional ones right now, you know?" She tucked some hair behind her ear, seeming nervous. "But anyways it would really help me out,"

Taehyung just nodded. He was looking at the little freckle beneath her eye as she spoke. The longer he looked at her, the prettier he thought she was. Like that understated kind of pretty. Not that it really mattered to him, but he noticed.

"Amazing, really, thanks so much. Maybe we can do them next weekend? And oh!" Mina paused as she realized her whisper had grown a bit too loud for classroom chatter, and her eyes wandered to their teacher. When she turned back to Taehyung and continued, her voice was softer. "I can't pay you, but I can at least buy you a coffee or Boba or something. Maybe we can go after school today,"

Taehyung didn't really have a reason to say no. The offer kind of threw him off a little, but it would be nice to have someone to hang out with.

"Sure, thanks," he half laughed.

They exchanged numbers when the class was over, and Taehyung promised to text her when the day was done.

*

Taehyung took his time going to his next class. It was practically next door, and he had nearly five minutes before he had to cross the threshold. He paused at a large window that looked over the parking lot in front of the school.

For such a grand school, the parking lot was quite small. Most teachers and students took public transport, considering the school was right in the heart of the city. Even so, there were plenty of cars packed neatly between the white lines.

Just then, something caught Taehyung's eye. A motorbike roared into the lot, the engine howling above the distant din of traffic. It looked to be going a little too fast for parking lot speeds, but Taehyung could only shrug to himself. He wasn't the police, what did he care.

He watched as the rider dismounted, ruffling his fingers chaotically through his wind-battered hair. Taehyung assumed he'd been trying to smooth the locks into a shape that looked more tame, but it didn't help. Every part of him looked wild. Hazardous, somehow.

The rider turned and sauntered towards the school, carelessly shrugging a single shoulder out of his black windbreaker as the September sun beat down on him. He was three periods late, but he didn't seem to give a single fuck.

And that's when Taehyung realized. Those high cheekbones, full lips... he'd seen that face before. Even from this far away, the jolt of recognition that flashed through him was undeniable. Taehyung was positive it was the same boy. He only had about twenty photographs of that face tucked away safely in his bedroom drawer.

His eyes must've been burning holes into the boy, because suddenly he looked up in the exact direction of the window. Taehyung panicked, unable to move. Ice-cold embarrassment raised the hairs on the back of his neck, but still he couldn't look away. The boy's face gave nothing away, and after what felt like an eternity, his gaze wandered off, finding something in the distance that interested him more.

Taehyung watched as the boy ran his fingers through his inky black locks. Before the boy's gaze could flicker back to the window, Taehyung sought shelter further down the hall, tucking clammy hands into his pockets as he went.