Chapter Text
Here is summer: clammy hands and clammier bodies, one room in the house with a functioning air conditioner, empty tray of ice cubes in the freezer and insistent pleas from parents, go outside! Maybe visit that friend of yours you brought over once when you were 11!, back to school ads when you haven’t even put your books away yet and your sister’s new obsession you can’t care less about.
Summer.
“And then Edward just breaks up with her.” Hana is sniffing, head in her hands as if she were Bella swan, actually, Taehyung isn’t sure if even Bella herself is this torn up about her creepy boyfriend. “But it’s to keep her safe, oh my god, and then she becomes depressed-“
“Is that the part where she stares out of a window for a year?”
“No, it’s different in the book. Oppa, the movies are messed up, you have to read the books.”
Taehyung nods as if he’d even consider reading four books about movies he’s already over his own obsession with. He brings a thin slice of the apple he’s carefully cutting into pieces for a smoothie towards his lips. Hana is now talking about the evil vampires that only become a major plot point when it’s convenient.
“And then she has to go to Italy-“
“What about her dad? Isn’t he going to intervene with his teenage daughter going to another country?”
“Oppa, they’re not Asian, Americans are different,” Hana insists. Americans are different is her mantra. She reaches for the plate of apple slices and Taehyung makes an annoyed sound.
“It’s for a smoothie, stop munching on them.”
“You’re doing it too, at this rate you’re going to make the smoothie tomorrow,” she replies swiftly, and hey, who told her she could talk to him like that? Taehyung never talked to Seokjin like this. He can’t help but thinking that the fruit of his labour never paid off. “Anyway, so the volturi, that’s the evil vampire clan-“
His mother calls from the kitchen, “Tae bear, can you help with the vegetables?”
“I am making a smoothie!” He calls back, doesn’t say, Hana is right there.
“Hana!”
She groans standing up, fisting a few more slices just to spite him, she takes away her hand before Taehyung can smack it.
“Why can’t he do anything? Why are you letting him get away with being lazy?” He hears Hana say in the kitchen.
“You know he is going through a hard time right now,” his mother replies over the sound of the sizzling oil. “Your brother is very stressed, we need to give him time to relax.”
“He doesn’t look stressed to me.”
Here is summer before you start university, the overwhelming feeling that your entire life as you know it is about to change, your entire self as you knew it is going to change, your mother overcompensating because she’s worried, defending you against your ruthless sibling and calling you a nickname she used to call you when you were in pre school because she wants you to know that she understands, although you’re not sure she does. You think she’s just scared that you’re going to drift away.
Every interaction with his mother, Taehyung plays a game of balance. Every time she says something about how he is going to get over his phase of thinking he likes boys, the balance tips in the direction of wanting to drift away, every time she laughs at his jokes and tells him a story from her childhood that he has heard a million times, it tips in the direction of never wanting to forget this person he has poured so much love into and received so much love in return. The balance depends on a million other things as well, her opinion on the way he dresses, her behavior towards his siblings, her reaction to him requiring privacy. They all tip the balance in one direction or another.
It’s exhausting, the balance.
His salivation is that he’s not going to have time to think about the balance when he finally enrolls.
“Isn’t hyung supposed to be home by now?” Taehyung calls out, eating another apple slice. Hana is right, the smoothie is never going to come to fruition.
“He decided to leave a little late with Jungkook, so he should be here by dinner.”
“Right.”
Jungkook is coming too.
“Jungkook is coming too?” Hana exclaims. “Will he stay for dinner? Eomma, can you ask him to stay for dinner?”
“Jeez, what’s it to you, Hana?” Taehyung asks, genuinely baffled.
“He might want to spend some time with his family, but it has been awfully long since we last saw him, didn’t he? He looked so mature last time I visited Seokjin, remember when he was just this little boy?”
Taehyung doesn’t actually, because when Jungkook was a little boy, Taehyung was a littler boy. He has seen the pictures his hyung sent back though, won’t admit to it, but he zoomed in on his best friend more times than strictly necessary. He does look mature, older. So tall.
“Please ask him to dinner,” Hana insists in the kitchen and god, does she have a crush on the guy or something? She’s barely 13, what is Jungkook, 20? Pre teens are a menace.
“What about Jimin?” His mother asks.
“He’s not going to be in for a few more days,” Taehyung replies absently. “But he’ll be home in a week at most.”
“Didn’t you say he was going to be back with Seokjin?”
“He was going to, but has some errands to run before he comes home.”
The doorbell rings at that precise moment and Taehyung does not have an excuse to not get it, he shoves another apple slice in his mouth before lifting his stiff butt off the chair. Bracing himself for one of Seokjin’s creative welcomes, safe to say he’s a little caught off guard when he is greeted by the sight of shoulders broader than he remembers and a smile that hasn’t changed a bit since the first time he saw it over a toy train(except for the gap tooth that has since been graciously filled).
“Hi,” he says lamely.
“Hey,” Jungkook says, all teeth and pretty eyes. Taehyung hates this.
“TAE-BEAR!”
Taehyung’s face twists as his brother comes into view, delivering one of his. I am trying my best to annoy you hugs, he ruffles his hair, makes sure Jungkook gets a full view of it. “My, you’ve grown. Why, I remember the last time I saw you, you were but a wee little boy barely reaching my waist-”
“Hyung-” Taehyung replies, pained. Jungkook snorts.
“How time goes by, eh?” he says in english.
“Hello to you too,” Taehyung grumbles, hoping the way he returns the tight hug articulates his fondness. Everytime he sees his hyung, he is reminded of just how much he misses him and his loud brand of affection. “Last time I saw you, you were shitting your pants.”
“Hey now, I leave for two years and you forget how to talk to your hyung? Also, finals are brutal, you wouldn’t know,” Seokjin scolds, smacking an aggressive kiss on his cheek before stepping inside, not before ordering him to carry his stuff inside.
“I don’t get a kiss too?” Jungkook teases. Taehyung rolls his eyes. Two years of college and he still thinks he’s funny.“Come inside.”
For all her excitement to see Jungkook, Hana is no where to be found when they make their way inside. His mother hugs Seokjin and Jungkook both, asking them questions Taehyung can never remember to ask, mostly because the answers are always the same. Taehyung imagines answering honestly to one of his mother’s, “how are studies going?” Questions, and wonders how can she expect Seokjin to ever tell the truth. Jungkook sweetly calls his mother Eomma and inquires about her life, even offering to help her in the kitchen.
Thank god Kim Lyn doesn’t have an elder daughter, Jungkook wouldn’t have had the freedom to go around being all perfect boy next door material without being pressured into permanently becoming a resident of the Kim family if that were the case.
Hana appears later when they are setting up the table, not greeting Jungkook until he initiates it.
Taehyung is suddenly worried if he acted the same around Jungkook when they were younger. God, he sure hopes not.
The conversation flows smoothly over dinner, courtesy of Seokjin and his mother, who carry it out while Taehyung tries not to cringe at the way his little sister is twirling her hair and Jungkook listens as if his family is the most interesting thing in the world. At one point, Taehyung lightly kicks out in Hana’s direction, but his barefoot meets a boot. Jungkook raises his eyebrows at him, before knocking his boot against Taehyung’s heel.
Taehyung retaliates by grinding his heel into the toe cap, muffling a laugh into his rice when Jungkook hisses audibly.
“Taehyung is looking to join you next year, you know.” He looks up at his name. “He has applied for some other places, but I think Kyungsung is the strongest contender. Besides, it would be good for two brothers to study side by side, right?”
The rice and Jungkook’s foot against his own lose their appeal. Taehyung wants to be up in his room.
“But the art program in Seoul is much more advanced, you know.”
His mother pours herself a glass of water, she’s being sweet and casual but Taehyung can see how exaggerated it is. “Well, he has the summer to think this through, maybe he won’t even want to pursue arts by the end of it.”
And okay, that is still a thing. That hope and a bit of self assurance in her voice when she says that he’ll change his mind by the end of the summer, as if it’s obvious that he should.
Taehyung wants to yell, I am right here, and he also wants to shrink until he disappears.
“Ah well, that’s up to him. The jjigae tastes amazing, Eomma.”
Seokjin doesn’t look at him as he says it, but Taehyung still recognises it as a favour. The conversation turns towards jjigae and then eventually towards Jungkook’s family, who are out for the night. He politely declines the offer to stay the night, but agrees to stay for a movie upon Seokjin’s insistence.
“So, arts huh?” Jungkook says when his mother and Seokjin start cleaning up.
“Yes, still arts,” Taehyung replies, unreasonably defensive.
“I like it, suits you,” Jungkook says easily. “Can I commission you to paint a picture for me?”
“I don’t paint,” Taehyung tells him for probably the millionth time. “I sketch, you know that.”
“Sorry, get them confused. Okay, so can I commission you to draw a picture for me?”
He stands up, taking his plate. “No, you can’t.”
“What, is it too expensive for me to afford?”
He’s always on this, wanting to commission Taehyung for a piece. Taehyung doesn’t like that word because he’s not confident enough to attach a price to his work, and also, can it even be called work? It’s just some doodles here and there. He’s not going to make Jungkook pay for half assed scribbles. He’s not going to make Jungkook think that he’s someone who will accept payment for half assed scribbles.
“I don’t do commissions, shit, I barely draw finished pieces. You wanna give me money for some messy doodles?”
“Messy doodles are interesting. They have character, and it’s hyung to you.”
“I am not taking your money, and it’ll be hyung when you act like one.”
Jungkook turns in his chair, legs on either side of the frame as he watches Taehyung shift the leftovers to the fridge. “Whoa, what happened to Seokjin’s timid little brother? Where’d all this sass come from?”
“It’s a new development,” Taehyung replies cheekily. “And I wasn’t , fuck off?”
“Vampires don’t eat people, Oppa. That’s ghouls.” Hana is saying somewhere.
“You were so cute,” Jungkook reminisces. “Remember when you climbed up on these monkey bars all by yourself and were too scared to come down, so I had to stand there and coax you to jump for half an hour? What’d you say? “Hyung, please don’t let me fall.”
“How many times are you going to talk about this,” Taehyung stresses, face burning. “I was what? Seven?”
Jungkook leans his cheek against a palm, grinning. “Nine. You weren’t that young.”
“Whatever. You don’t have to bring it up everytime we interact, you know.”
“I have to bring it up most times, you’re sassy now, I need all the ammunition I can get.”
Bantering with him is so easy that Taehyung almost forgets about the amount of time he’s pictured him naked. Jungkook stands as well, probably to offer to wash the dishes because that’s how annoyingly nice he is, his hand lingers on Taehyung’s lower back as he passes by him. “Almost my height now,” he murmurs absently, and Taehyung has to suppress an embarrassing shiver.
Taehyung watches him come up behind his mother, taking the sponge from her hands and insisting that he do it.
His back is terribly broad, and what the fuck, is that a ponytail?
Here is summer, His brother’s best friend existing on this cloud above mortality, completely unaware of his attractiveness and the effect he has on hormonal teenage boys, Taehyung torn between convincing himself that he’s over that childish crush and trying to get Jungkook to look at him, staring at him all summer daydreaming about kissing his lips.
As promised, Jungkook stays for a movie. Seokjin and Hana want to stay up for their father to get home, so they make it two movies. One horror and the other a romantic comedy. The couch is small for four people, but Hana doesn’t want to go grab a chair, so she squeezes herself between Seokjin and Taehyung while Jungkook sits on Taehyung’s other side.
“If any one wakes me up in the middle of the night to take a shit, I swear to god, Jungkook,” Seokjin says, tearing into his popcorn.
“It’s not that scary, Hana has a heart of stone-“
His sister giggles.
“-Tae, I can’t vouch for.”
Taehyung scoffs. “I think I can take some poor makeup and sound effects.”
“Like you took them when we watched Scream?”
“What are you, a granddad? Stop bringing up irrelevant old shit.”
“You can cling to me if you want, hey.” He winks. Taehyung kicks at his shin.
“Oppa got scared watching Evil Dead, that’s like, the worst horror movie ever. The 1981 version.”
“Didn’t that make millions of dollars at the box office?” Seokjin asks.
“Yeah, in 1981.”
“What, people in the 90’s made some really good horror movies, this generation is uncultured.”
Hana rises to the bait. “Name one good horror movie made before the twentieth century, Oppa, and no, Rosemary’s baby doesn’t count, that's psychological horror.”
“How is that psychological? The baby was Satan, also, psychological horror is still in the horror category.”
“You got scared watching Evil dead?” Jungkook says to him while his siblings’ argument gets increasingly ridiculous. “The 1981 version?”
“It’s the idea,” Taehyung grumbles. “Of being deserted in a haunted place without a way back. That’s terrifying as fuck.”
“The blood looked like koolaid.”
“It’s the idea, and some scenes were well executed!”
“Oppa, what is your favourite horror movie?” Hana asks, presumably tired of Seokjin and his unimpressive movie knowledge.
Jungkook grins. “Mean girls.”
Hana laughs obnoxiously at that, and Seokjin announces loudly that he is starting the movie.
“Isn’t that the same person who directed the conjuring?”
“Hana, don’t talk during the movie.”
“This is supposed to be enjoyable,” she grumbles, before taking out her phone. “Ha, it is the same guy. James van.”
Taehyung watches with mild interest as the couple on screen start making out, Jungkook keeps inching the bowl of popcorn between them away from Taehyung when he reaches for it.
Hana starts complaining about something again, while Seokjin indulges her, and it’s really irritating, but it also wouldn’t be a movie night without it. The movie picks up when the husband leaves and the woman is alone in the house with this creepy doll she received in the mail. The scary music starts as the woman keeps anxiously staring at the doll, and it is a little hair-raising. Taehyung is clutching a throw pillow in his lap way too tightly. They all jump a little when the husband comes home to find his wife dead- here’s the gross part-with her tongue cut off.
“He can just show them the receipts he got at the fast food restaurant!” Hana exclaims. “To prove that he wasn’t at home during the murder, he has an alibi.” She emphasises the English word.
“What do you want me to do about it,” says Seokjin, whose shoulder she had been enthusiastically shaking.
“Is it just me or is there some sexual tension between this guy and the detective on the case?” Is Taehyung’s takeaway.
“You did not use the words Donnie Whalberg and sexual in the same sentence,” Jungkook says, distressed.
He’s one of those people, who actually knows the name of the cast in movies while Taehyung can barely remember the names of the films. Probably looks up movies after he’s done with them. What a nerd.
“I am gonna be sick. What’s with the tongues.”
“Oppa, weren’t you paying attention? It’s because the town people cut Mary Shaw’s tongue off, so now this is her method of revenge-“
“Jungkook doesn't that guy talk exactly like Professor Lee?”
“Shit, he does! god.”
Seokjin does an exaggerated impression of whoever Professor Lee is, and Taehyung finds himself laughing along with Hana despite not knowing who that is. It’s almost easy to imagine that Jungkook and Seokjin are in high school and Hana is just ten and obsessed with Frozen, and Taehyung is too shy to retort when Jungkook teases him, pretending to be scared so he would put his arm around him while Seokjin and Hana laugh at him and Jungkook tells them that it’s him who’s afraid, he’s the one who asked for it.
But this works too.
The movie is genuinely rattling, Taehyung doesn’t think even Hana can deny it. They huddle closer without realising it, just like they tend to do. Taehyung scrunches his nose when he feels Jungkook’s hand near his hair.
“There’s butter on your fingers, get them away from me.”
“Yeah?” Jungkook pushes them further in his hair, ruffling them thoroughly.
“Jungkook,” he whines.
“Taehyung.”
They get into a mini scuffle, and fuck him, when is this boy going to stop growing? He’s got these huge arms now, and this stomach. Are those abs or something? Taehyung puts all of his weight on the other in an attempt to shove him to the ground, but Jungkook lifts his butt off with a foot and almost makes him eat dirt.
“If you guys are done rough housing can we start on the movie?” Seokjin calls out. Next to him, Hana yawns.
“Appa is not home,” she observes absently.
“Do you want to go to bed?” Seokjin pokes her shoulder, but his voice is gentle.
“M good,” she says through another yawn, laying her head down in his lap. Seokjin cards his fingers through her hair, messing it up and chuckling when she grumbles.
“He’ll be home before midnight,” Taehyung says, it’s not a defence nor a means of comfort, but he wants Seokjin to know.
“Okay. Hana, you wanna pick next? Wanna watch Twilight?”
“I told you, the movies messed up, you have to read the books to get the story,” she says passionately.
“Rob Pattinson’s hot though,” Taehyung intervenes.
“He looks homeless,” Jungkook points out.
“Not in the movie, and even still, he’s sexy.”
“You like the hobo look?”
Taehyung shrugs. “It works for him, won’t work for anybody.”
“Think it’d work for me?” He grins, reaches up and musses his hair so it falls into his eyes, giving it a messier look. Does he know he looks stupid attractive right now?
“Would anything?” The answer would be yes, but Taehyung loves giving the impression that he is blind.
“Two years without us to keep you in check and you’re a brat, shit.” Jungkook leans back, he looks more amused than anything.
“And you’re even more egoistical than before. Keep me in check, you said?”
The corner of his mouth twitches, and okay, dim light, that infuriating lock of hair in his eyes and his lips. He has grown, Taehyung thinks.
“I suppose I will have to do the picking,” Seokjin sighs from the other side of the couch, defeated.
“No thank you,” Taehyung hurries to say. “I have a movie in mind.” He doesn’t, but he’s not letting Seokjin decide on a romantic comedy. He ends up picking something that looks old, classic, but even Tom Hanks can’t keep him from yawning twenty minutes in.
“When are they going to meet,” Hana says through a big yawn.
“They’re obviously going to spend the whole movie looking for each other,” Seokjin groans. “The cast is hot, but I think I am about to drop.”
“You need to stay awake till they meet,” Hana insists
She then proceeds to fall asleep before they meet, Seokjin following close behind. Taehyung leans his head against Jungkook’s shoulder at some point, it’s getting late and they’re both almost asleep, it’s not too weird. The leads meet at last courtesy of Tom Hanks’ irritating son, and there’s a moment where they look at each other and that’s that really. Taehyung yawns.
“Hey, tae? You up?I gotta run,” Jungkook says next to him, apparently not asleep. He shrugs Taehyung off gently. “Tell them I said bye.”
Taehyung shifts. He probably found that boring, Taehyung thinks. Jungkook, like anyone over the age of thirteen, isn’t into that true love shit. Taehyung suddenly wants him to know that he hated the movie too.
He grunts, irritated at the loss of his neck support. He nuzzles his face into the back of the couch instead. “Close the door on your way out.”
It’s too dim to be sure, but the corner of his mouth twitches. “Missed you too.”
Taehyung is not sure how long passes before his father is there, he bids them all hello, asks if Seokjin is awake, and does that dad sad face thing when Taehyung tells them they aren’t. He tells him good night and leaves for his room.
If you ask Taehyung, it should be expected of everyone to sleep during the day and stay awake during the night in summer. The social norms fail to consider that the sun is brutal enough for it to be almost apocalyptic. Dragging himself down the street with the heat murdering his skin, Taehyung is suddenly glad for his mother’s overcompensating skills, he would be being drilled to go outside otherwise.
Currently the only reason he is out is to get a damn eraser. Does his sister even go to school? She doesn’t have one damn stationary supply on her. Are they sure Hana isn’t skipping school to hang around delinquents and ride motorcycles or some shit?
The mart down the street is just one block away, but the walk is still excruciating. Taehyung is just considering if he has enough won to buy some ice cream too when a huge blob of chestnut wheezes past, the leash flying behind.
Taehyung perks up at the sight of the dog, but then frowns when he sees none other than Jungkook running after it.
“Jungkook?”
“Oh god, fuck. What is your problem?” The other says when he finally reigns it in, gripping the leash tightly to stop it from escaping. He flinches when the dog reaches for his hand with its mouth. “Hey, taehyung.”
Taehyung makes his way towards them, underneath a small shade. “Who’s this handsome little cutie?”
Jungkook looks at him like he’s insane. “What did you just call him?”
“Is he yours?”
Jungkook finally gets the dog to calm down, giving him a glare when he tries to bite his hand again. “Unfortunately. Wait, what are you-“
Taehyung scratches the dog behind his ears. It’s so fluffy, he seems to like it too, baring his neck to give him more access. “What’s his name?”
Jungkook is blinking. “What are you, some kind of dog whisperer? Why is it not trying to murder you?”
Taehyung snorts. The dog barks, abandoning Jungkook to get in Taehyung’s space. He’s adorable. “I think it might be just you.”
Jungkook sits down on the hot footpath. He’s sweating all over, white shirt clinging to his skin. It’s really gross. He should take it off. “Parents adopted him just this week, get this, because they missed me.”
“So they replaced you with him?”
“Said this monster reminded them of me.” Jungkook looks baffled.
“That’s ridiculous,” Taehyung replies. “He’s way more cute.”
Jungkook grunts. “Wait till he tries to tear your face off.”
The dog moves closer, and Jungkook is instantly on guard, but he just licks a strip across Taehyung’s face. “Oh my god. I think he is giving me a kiss.”
Jungkook wrinkles his nose. “They named him Kook. Tried to rearrange my face and they were like, aw he loves you! Take him out for a walk and spend every waking moment with him because we failed to think this decision through and neither of us actually have time for this.” He sighs, running a hand through his perspired hair. “Sorry for complaining. I love them, really. I just don’t think I am ready for a little brother. That’s what they’re calling him.”
Taehyung hugs the dog around his thick neck, letting him kiss him more. It smells a bit, but Taehyung finds him way too cute. He wants one of his own desperately but after the death of their family dog years ago due to a road accident, he’s just not ready for the responsibility.
There is also the guilt, but he has been working on that.
“No, I get it. Parents, right?” Taehyung sets his ass on the path next to him, it’s scorching. His butt doesn’t deserve this. “But hey, maybe he’ll grow on you. We all have problematic young siblings.”
“Yours doesn’t bite.”
“You ever gotten into a fight about last slice of pizza with Hana? You haven’t seen what I’ve seen.”
Jungkook laughs, slapping his leg lightly. “He’s being all sweet in front of you, I’ve been fighting for my life all morning.”
“He’s being an asshole, isn’t he, Kook?” Taehyung croons, fluffing up Kook's fur. “You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Can’t believe you’d take the side of a dog you’ve known for five minutes over me.”
Taehyung shrugs. “You’re of no use to me.”
“You’re heartless, Kim.”
“‘Nah, you’re just fun being mean to.”
Jungkook leans back on his hands, they must burn with how hot the path is. He smirks. “Not what you said two years ago.”
Taehyung blushes. “You’re not allowed to bring that up. Shut your fucking mouth.”
“It was precious,” Jungkook coos, patting him on the back. Taehyung swats his hand away. “I haven’t forgotten my promise, afraid you have though.”
“Fuck off.” Taehyung shoves him to no avail, Jungkook
laughs. “Fuck you. I hope you fucking choke on your saliva and die right here. I hope kook fucking eats you.”
He’s sure his entire face is red, and Jungkook is still laughing, and suddenly Taehyung is ten and Jungkook is beating up a boy who called him a name, he’s twelve and Jungkook ruffled his hair and he’s blushing about it, he’s thirteen and Jungkook is telling him that he’s really fucking smart, he’s fifteen and Jungkook is tearing up with laughter at a joke he made and he wants to kiss him so badly, just once, he’s sixteen and he’s trying not to cry telling Jungkook to not forget him, promise to him that he won’t forget him, a confession at the tip of his tongue that never makes it out as Jungkook hugs him tightly, chuckling a little wetly.
Jungkook makes a disgusted sound peeling away his shirt from his stomach, and okay, those are abs. Since when does he have abs? And how can Taehyung ask to see them in the most casual way?
“I better get going, feel like you could fry an egg on my butt right now.”
Taehyung hums, giving Kook a few more scratches behind his ears. He perks up cutely again. Taehyung wants to steal him. “Bring Kook around, okay? We’re best friends now.”
Jungkook stands up, dusting his hands. He offers a hand for Taehyung to take, and he has the most ridiculous urge to measure their hand sizes, to see if Jungkook’s hand is still bigger than his own.
“I am feeling a little excluded here,” Jungkook frowns.
Taehyung dusts his hands on his jeans. “Good.”
He watches Jungkook leave with the dog, who’s still more than a little uncooperative about the whole ordeal. He still needs an eraser and some ice cold strawberry milk, but he turns on his heel and walks back home instead.
His mom informs him about movie night and Taehyung’s reply to it is a noncommittal nod, mostly because he knows it’s not going to end up happening like always. Seokjin throws an apple at him, for him to catch or injure his head, he doesn’t know, but he catches it and Hana whoops next to him. He locks the door to his room shut, takes a deep breath and takes out his school bag and a file from his closet.
He rummages around his bag, looking for something, anything that isn’t a chewed up pencil or a test paper and ends up scrolling his phone for the next two hours, passing over a few texts from his classmates that he hasn’t replied to in over weeks.
J: how was your exam?
Girl I can never remember the name of: wanna hang out later?
Why does he have my number: hey tae
Twenty more minutes laying down on the cool tiled floor, he’s looking through his gallery and all his messy photos and screenshots and memes.
May, April, March, February, january-
Hana and Seokjin, Taehyung and Hana, Seokjin and Taehyung with the occasional Jungkook cameo. A rare picture of someone from school. Embarrassing after shower selfies. He’a really in deep now.
2018: Jungkook and Seokjin grinning at the camera with Taehyung between them, his eyes accidentally closed. It’s a blurry picture he should have deleted already, honestly. If it was in someone else’s phone, he would’ve hounded them until they did. He zooms in on Jungkook’s face, then on the arm he has around Taehyung’s shoulder.
He can almost hear his dumb laugh, the one he heard just minutes ago. All loud and ringing and shit.
He turns the phone off and throws it across the bed, burying his face into a pillow.