15 – JK focus
Jungkook didn't dare tell Taehyung he had been tripped. It was such a petty excuse and it might start some unnecessary drama that Jungkook definitely didn't want. Besides, his classmate hadn't hurt him that badly; he was just bleeding a lot, that was all. It wasn't as if Jungkook had never been touched before.
He flopped down onto his bed after a very long day and didn't know how he would get up and go to school the next morning. He looked at his clock and rephrased his thoughts. He didn't know how he would get up and go to school that morning. He crawled under the covers where his dog had already sought refuge and closed his eyes without changing out of his clothes. He thought about the day before and he thought about Taehyung. How Jungkook had fallen and Taehyung was immediately by his side. He couldn't ask for a better crush than that.
He awoke later that morning, just about. He rolled off his bed and lay on the floor for a minute, adjusting to waking life once again. Very tired indeed, Jungkook changed his shirt, packed his bag, swept through his hair once with a brush and left the house.
It was freezing outside and Jungkook regretted not taking a coat. The bus was crowded and Jungkook tried and failed to drown out the noise with music. He jumped slightly when someone sat next to him. The tired part of his brain (most of his brain) wanted to tell whoever it was to go away, but Jungkook knew he wasn't that kind of person. He took one of his earphones out and looked across. It was Yeo Chang-Gu a.k.a, the boy that tripped Jungkook.
"Hey, Jungkook, I just wanted to say sorry for tripping you up yesterday," he said and Jungkook was confused, but let him continue, "I know it was a dick move and I'm sorry. I just wanted to win and everyone knows you're one of the fastest runners in the school. How's your knee, by the way?" Jungkook felt that politeness was the best option, given that he didn't really have many good friends.
"Oh, it's fine, thanks for asking. You were probably going to win anyway if I'm honest. I'm not going to hold a grudge against you or anything, we're cool," Jungkook smiled and Chang-Gu smiled back and said,
"Okay, cool," before leaving to go and sit somewhere else. Staring out of the window, Jungkook replayed his music and wondered what had prompted such an apology.
He walked into the school and prepared for a very long and boring day. History, English, Geography, double Chemistry, Religion, and Physics. Jungkook missed middle school and its five-period days.
Somehow, Jungkook managed to make it to the end of Physics without collapsing completely. His prediction was correct: it had been an incredibly boring day. Jungkook hadn't seen Taehyung, Jimin or Yoongi all day and sat alone in the library at lunch. He wasn't really in the mood for trying to hold a conversation with someone and stayed pretty quiet for the whole morning. The bell was about to ring for dismissal when an announcement came on the tannoy.
"Could Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook please report to the Games office after school, please?" The whole class ooh-ed at Jungkook and he rolled his eyes. What had he done? The bell finally rang and Jungkook fought against the mass of students rushing to the door to get to the bus stop. When he arrived on the other side of the school, Taehyung was already leaning against the wall, waiting to be admitted. He looked up at Jungkook and shrugged. Jungkook shrugged back, equally intrigued as to their summons.
The head of Games, Mr Ko, poked his head around the doors and told them both to enter and take a seat. They sat down and Jungkook felt incredibly nervous. He was just glad he had Taehyung by his side. Mr Ko sat across from them and folded his hands in a classic teacher pose.
"Now, boys," he began, "a situation has come to our attention concerning yesterday's athletics events. Jungkook, it was of our opinion that you tripped, but it seems that you both had other ideas." Jungkook looked confused and Taehyung looked down. "A student, who will remain anonymous, has informed us that you took it upon yourselves to verbally reprimand a fellow competitor for tripping you over, which is something that he did not do." In his periphery, Jungkook saw Taehyung's head turn sharply upwards. The teacher looked at him. "Is there something wrong, Taehyung?"
Taehyung looked insulted and annoyed but Jungkook looked at him silently, pleading with his eyes that Taehyung wouldn't say anything. He didn't know what was happening, but he really didn't want to get into an argument with a teacher. Taehyung looked back and his face softened. He understood.
"No, sir. Sorry, sir." Mr Ko sat back in his chair.
"Good. Now, this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and can be severely damaging for a student. For your punishment, you must tidy up the equipment cupboard. We will also give you a warning. If something like this happens again, your parents will be called in. Do you understand?" Taehyung and Jungkook mumbled,
"Yes sir," and were dismissed. They didn't talk until they reached the equipment cupboard. It seemed that quite a few people got detentions since it was already pretty clean. Taehyung threw down his bag and loudly asked,
"Why didn't you say anything? You were tripped, you had the right to complain!" Jungkook was confused. He didn't like Taehyung being angry; it didn't feel right to Jungkook. Trying to stay calm, he replied,
"How did you know someone tripped me?" Taehyung sighed in exasperation and Jungkook felt very guilty for making him feel that way.
"Because I saw it, Jungkook, I'm not an idiot." It seemed that the frustration was infectious, as Jungkook also found himself getting heated.
"Out of everything he said, you're getting mad because he thought I tripped by myself? What about 'verbally reprimanding' someone? That didn't happen either!" Taehyung didn't retaliate, but suddenly went red and started picking at his nails. Jungkook was annoyed at him and didn't quite know why. "Hold on, you actually 'verbally reprimanded' someone? Why the hell would you do that?" Taehyung animated himself again.
"Because he tripped you up! He made you bleed! You were expecting me to just let that go? Hell no, Kookie, you deserve better than that!"
"I- " Wait. What? "Did you just call me 'Kookie'?" Taehyung blushed again and smiled for a split-second, warming Jungkook's heart.
"Oh, yeah, um, sorry, I don't quite know what I was thinking. But you do deserve better than that." Taehyung was less furious than before. In fact, he was rather gentle. Jungkook knew that he genuinely believed in what he was saying and he was ever so slightly panicked by a sudden urge to confess.
"Look, Taehyung, it's fine, okay? I get that you were just looking out for me. Chang-Gu even apologised to me this morning." Taehyung chuckled and smiled his cute boxy smile.
"Yeah, I did tell him to." Jungkook laughed. He looked at Taehyung as if he was the only thing he ever wanted in his life. They started organising the things on the shelves and Jungkook said,
"You can call me Kookie if you want to. I'm just not used to having nicknames. My brother calls me JK sometimes, but only when he's making fun of me." Taehyung laughed and Jungkook savoured the sound. "You know this place is pretty tidy already, I don't think they'd notice if we just left it like this. Besides, if we run now, we could still catch the bus." Jungkook didn't really want to leave, but he did know that Taehyung needed to catch the bus. Taehyung looked around and then at his watch.
"Yeah, okay," he said, walking towards the door. He tried to turn the handle, but he couldn't. He frowned at Jungkook and tried harder. It still wouldn't open. "What the hell?" Jungkook walked over and looked through the window.
"Ah." The door was locked from the outside. "Taehyung? We're locked in." Taehyung sighed and ran his hand through his hair, subconsciously making Jungkook fall in love with him.
"Okay, Mr Ko left right after we did and the cleaners don't go through this corridor until quarter to five-ish." Jungkook tilted his head inquisitively. "I used to stay here after school for a while. And it looks like we will be again." Jungkook couldn't help but smile.