23 – V focus

Taehyung walked home worrying about Jimin. He was so sensitive and Yoongi had broken his heart. Asshole. Sure, he had kissed Jimin, but there was no way that Yoongi loved him as much as he loved Yoongi. He got home and repacked his bag, saying a quick goodbye to Yeontan before leaving for his study group.

By the time he got home, it was 12:30 am. Earlier than usual, but Taehyung wanted to catch up on as much sleep as possible so he went to bed still fully dressed in school uniform. He just about managed to shrug off his tie to stop himself choking in his sleep and drifted off within three minutes.

There were numbers and Romanised letters everywhere. Taehyung walked through the park he used to play in as a child and relaxed. The fields stretched for ages and the lake sparkled brightly under the setting sun. He found it difficult to see with all of the characters clouding his vision. He stumbled over something on the floor, but something stopped him from hitting the ground. He found himself back on his feet and looking clearly at Jeon Jungkook.

His brown eyes glinted softly in the dusk light and his hair shone a luxurious, chocolate red. He looked at Taehyung with his hypnotising gaze and Taehyung wanted nothing more than to kiss him. The setting shifted to Taehyung's bedroom and Taehyung noted that he had never actually been there in a dream before. He took Jungkook's hand and led him onto the bed, pushing him onto his back. Taehyung crawled over him and stared into his deep eyes for a second before kissing him sweetly.

With each passing second, the kiss deepened and Taehyung felt nothing but pure exultation as his hands roamed over Jungkook's body. He felt his lover unbutton his shirt and Taehyung returned the favour. Skin to skin contact was electrifying and Taehyung didn't dare to break the kiss for even a second. He dipped his tongue into Jungkook's mouth and felt him moan. Taehyung shivered and traced the younger boy's muscles with his fingers. A high-pitched screech invaded the darkened room and everything faded to white as Taehyung opened his eyes.

Taehyung's alarm was going off and Yeontan was crying from the end of his bed. Taehyung let go of the pillow he didn't realise he had been clutching to turn off his alarm and Yeontan shut up and trotted out of the room. Taehyung rubbed his eyes and found them to be wet.

As he got dressed, he remembered the dream. He was a little bit shocked at his own imagination. Jungkook was 15; that dream was barely legal. He hadn't realised how strongly Jungkook was affecting his life and it freaked him out just a little bit. He decided to try to ignore it and concentrated on getting ready for school. He walked to the bus stop and tried not to think of Jungkook.

Jimin was not on the bus. Taehyung didn't know where he was, but he wasn't in his usual seat. As he looked around, he realised that Min Yoongi was also missing. There was no way they were playing hooky. Yoongi was in 3rd grade; at that stage, getting the plague wouldn't stop you from going to school. Taehyung sat by himself and prepared for a low day.

He wandered the school by himself. He was already struggling with his thoughts, and having no Jimin to comfort him was harder than he had expected. As he walked aimlessly around the empty corridors, he saw Jungkook walking with two of his friends and smiled politely at them as they passed, but was very aware of the redness in his cheeks.

In the midst of his thoughts, he felt a hand on his shoulder and started at the contact. He turned around to see Jungkook smiling childishly at him. "Morning, hyung!" he said and Taehyung wanted to die. He needed to talk to someone, anyone about how he was feeling and Jungkook existing was proving to be very problematic. But he couldn't let on that anything was wrong, so he smiled and said,

"Hey, Kookie. Why aren't you with your friends?" Jungkook looked back at them and shrugged.

"They aren't as interesting as you are." His arm was still on Taehyung's shoulder and Taehyung swallowed hard. He had never wanted to hear that goddamn bell ring so much in his life. Jungkook was still smiling his dazzling smile. "So what happened with Yoongi and Jimin? I haven't seen either of them today." Taehyung genuinely smiled. As long as he wasn't talking about himself, he'd be fine.

"Well, my friend, rather a lot happened. All Jimin told me was that Yoongi kissed him then just left him," Jungkook gasped and looked like he was watching a TV show. "BUT neither of them were on the bus today and I know Jimin well enough to know that he never gets sick. And, by the time you get to 3rd grade, little one, you don't play hooky with just anyone." It felt a bit weird calling Jungkook little nicknames on the heels of Taehyung's dream, but he had to seem as normal as possible.

"No way! You think they're playing hooky?" Jungkook frowned. "But Yoongi's playing in the hockey tournament at lunch; I saw his name on the sign-up sheet." This confused Taehyung, but what confused him even more was Min Yoongi walking towards them down the corridor with a bunch of his friends. "Okay. So maybe definitely not playing hooky. But he definitely wasn't on the bus?" Taehyung shook his head and glared daggers at Yoongi. The older boy saw him and said,

"Oh, Taehyung? Jimin's in the locker room, I gave him a lift to school." One of his friends ooh-ed at him as they walked away and Taehyung and Jungkook heard him say, "Shut up, faggot, I'm not gay like you," which preceded sounds of hitting and laughing. Taehyung didn't look round but sniggered slightly. Jungkook joined him and said,

"Is that right?" and they laughed as they walked to the locker rooms. The bell rang as soon as they saw Jimin and Jungkook skipped off to his classroom. Taehyung sighed in relief when he remembered he had English first. Taehyung hugged Jimin and they walked to their classroom together.

"Jiminie, where in hell were you this morning? I needed your help, you know," Taehyung flicked Jimin's forehead playfully and the smaller boy blushed.

"Sorry, I woke up really late and missed the bus. I was walking to school when Yoongi saw me from his car and made his dad pull over to pick me up." Taehyung scoffed.

"You accepted a ride from him? After he fully made you cry yesterday?" Jimin went a very deep red.

"Well, the thing is, yesterday, he pulled me off the bus and dragged me to his house," he looked at Taehyung, who was still confused, "and we stayed in his room for a while just talking and studying and…doing other stuff. It was a lot of fun. But we still can't show that we're even friends at school and I hate it." Taehyung smiled. He could tell that Jimin was still thrilled at this newfound relationship. They sat down and Taehyung rested his head on his hands.

"So," he said, "what's he really like?" Taehyung had been listening to Jimin talk about Yoongi for a very long time, but they had never had this much information before.

"He's…sweet. Not soft, but caring. He does his best to hide it but he really is nice. He helped me with my History homework and he's got the most adorable poodle. Sure, he's got a dark side and he takes his temper out on windows and walls and chairs, but he also let Jungkook in over the weekend and he said they just ate chocolate and talked about love. Speaking of Jungkook, I think you should…" Taehyung was saved by the teacher walking into the room and shutting everyone up.