One week earlier

Jungkook is jealous. 

Jealous in what way, you ask? In many ways; In fact, he has a list.

Things that make Jungkook jealous:

NO.1—Schools that don't wear uniforms

He's never really cared about it until his parents finally caved in and bought them cable. The way schools are portrayed in American movies show students wearing whatever clothes they see fit. Here however, Jungkook is stuck wearing a generic school uniform. And they don't even get to wear the cool yellow blazers that idols wear in their fancy music schools; another thing he could write on the list.

NO.2—People who enjoy coffee

A craze that Jungkook can't get behind but so genuinely wants to. The benefits of drinking coffee are truly something he should be taking advantage of; however, Jungkook can't stand the taste. The only way to make it bearable is to pump a shit ton of sugar into it; but that begs the question, is it even coffee after that?

Taehyung on the other hand, drinks it straight black with no sugar. He's not a fan of Jungkook's coffee order; he would say something along the lines of, "Might as well just buy a can of coke."

Speaking of which...

NO.3—Taehyung

Jungkook's annoyingly super attractive best friend. Yes, he said attractive—Jungkook can appreciate an attractive person when he sees one (and he happens to see Taehyung a whole lot). He is stupidly good looking; not to mention, he manages to make their stupid uniform look good. Taehyung would look good in mostly anything—especially those fancy yellow blazers. How annoying.

NO.4—Cool yellow blazers that idols have in their fancy music schools

He added it. Refer to entry No.1

"Can I borrow a pen?" Taehyung asks, pulling Jungkook out of his inner rants.

Jungkook reaches into his pencil case without hesitation, handing Taehyung over a spare pen which is kept for moments like this; however, this doesn't stop Jungkook from leaving a snarky comment. "You should probably start bringing your own pens instead of freeloading off me."

Taehyung shrugs, clicking the pen to start doodling over his homework. "Why should I? This arrangement works."

NO.5—The fact that Taehyung can make anyone do anything he wants

Jungkook calls this pretty boy privilege. He looks in the mirror every day, waiting for his own glow-up moment to magically appear. Puberty did Taehyung many wonders; Jungkook however... we'll leave it at that.

Jungkook watches as a girl walks up to Taehyung with a (presumably) box of chocolates wrapped up in a pretty bow. He's starting to think he should keep a mental tally on how many times this happens—three times this week (this one being the third)

She does a 90-degree bow offering the chocolates to Taehyung which; knowing him, he will accept.

"Will you go out with me?" She says.

Jungkook side-eyes Taehyung, waiting to see what he'll say this time.

Taehyung takes the chocolates out of her hands, making the girl glance up at him. Her eyes sparkle with hope; that is until Taehyung opens his mouth. "Thank you. This is sweet of you." He smiles, looking directly into her eyes. "It takes courage to ask someone out. I truly envy you."

The girl—not entirely sure about Taehyung's answer—asks, "Is that a yes?"

Taehyung shakes his head, his smile now turning into a thin line. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline. I'm saving myself for someone I already have my eyes on."

The girl takes a few steps backward, brushing down her skirt—clearly flustered. "I-I'm—okay." She bows again before rushing out of the classroom.

Jungkook snickers under his breath. "Way to go. Reject the girl but keep the gift."

Taehyung ignores Jungkook's comment, focusing his attention on the chocolate box in front of him.

"Who is this girl you are saving yourself for, anyway?" Jungkook crosses his arms, leaning back into his chair. "You've never mentioned any girls before."

Taehyung looks to Jungkook smiling. "I made it up."

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"To stop people from asking. Duh."

"What would you do without your weekly gifts?"

"You can't not accept a gift. It's essentially free."

"People usually give gifts expecting something in return."

Taehyung scoffs. "That's just stupid. Why give the gift to begin with? If you expect a gift in return, don't bother. Just go out and buy yourself something."

"It's the act of giving. It's not fun wrapping up a box of chocolates with a pretty bow, only to send it to yourself; besides, not all gifts can be bought."

Taehyung nods as if he actually agrees with Jungkook, but after a long pause, he says, "what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Is this about gifts?"

"No—I meant—" Taehyung rubs the side of his neck. "Someone you like. Is there anyone?"

Jungkook tries his hardest not to burst into laughter. Like he has time for that. There's no point in even thinking. "No. Not a chance."

"But you are quite handsome. I'm sure you can find a girl—or boy easily."

"Well, you'll be the first to know." He tells Taehyung almost everything anyway. He tries to picture himself with another person, but the visual of it doesn't materialise, all he's left with is a blank mind.

Taehyung's shoulders relax, opening the box of chocolates. "Want a chocolate?"

"No thanks."

"Why not?"

"I don't want your admirers' stuff."

NO.6—Taehyung's admirers

Truth be told, Jungkook wouldn't mind living Taehyung's life. He won't ever be seen saying it out loud, but it would be nice to have people that admire you. He gets it; Taehyung is an admirable person—it's one of the reasons why he gravitated towards him in the first place. His biggest fear is that one day he'll be left behind as Taehyung outgrows their friendship; not to question Taehyung's loyalty, but loyalty can only go so far.

💌

Jungkook sits at a table fit for a group of friends, eating his lunch alone. He really only has one friend—Taehyung—so when Taehyung isn't around he doesn't have anyone to talk to. It might be dramatic to call Jungkook a loner—acquaintances exist; however, he chooses to be like this. He's spent all his childhood being friends with Taehyung, Jungkook doesn't know any better. Perhaps he's just afraid of change, or perhaps Jungkook just doesn't mesh well with people trying to befriend him to get closer to Taehyung—which happens more often than not.

A tall boy with puppy-like features sits across from Jungkook, breaking him out of his thoughts. Jungkook awkwardly sends a nod of acknowledgement to the boy which earns him a bashful smile in return.

"Sorry, may I sit here? —Is this seat taken, or—" The boy fumbles, sheepishly looking around the cafeteria. "I can find another seat."

The boy goes to stand as Jungkook reaches out his hand, stopping him in his tracks. "No, it's okay. You don't need to leave." Jungkook retracts his hand, dropping his eyes down to the table. "My friend decided to ditch today, so I could use the company."

The boy swallows, giving a nod before sitting back down. "Thank you."

He moves his eyes to the boy's tray of food. Banana milk. He looks down at his strawberry milk that he got because they had run out of banana. He had thought that he could give it to Taehyung, seeing as it's his favourite flavour; however, Taehuyng is nowhere to be found. He's probably chatting up some girl for all Jungkook knows–which he doubts –it's probably the other way around and Taehyung is most likely being held captive by one of his admirers.

"Do you want to trade drinks?" Jungkook asks.

The boy looks at his banana milk, then to the strawberry milk, then back to the banana milk. "Okay," he says, caving in.

They switch their drinks and Jungkook immediately pops the straw in.

"Jungkook—" Taehyung calls, freezing upon seeing the other person across from Jungkook.

Did he watch the exchange?

"Oh. Hi Taehyung, you missed out on strawberry milk today," Jungkook dully says.

Taehyung slides into the seat next to the boy, reaching out his hand. Horror flashes over the boy's face.

"You must be a new friend of Jungkook's. I'm Taehyung."

The boy takes Taehyung's hand—reluctantly—shaking it. "Soobin," he says.

They eat their lunch, small chatter coming from Jungkook and Taehyung while Soobin sits there in relative silence.

💌

Later that day, at Jungkook's house, he finds himself searching the attic for the game console Taehyung insists on playing. "Surely the GameCube is still up in the attic," he said, forcing Jungkook to keep looking.

"Why play Smash on GameCube when we have it on Switch," Jungkook protested. Despite his initial stance, he agreed. So here he is in the attic, hoping his allergies don't act up with all the dust.

Box after box, Jungkook is near giving up.

"Ah ha!" He finds the GameCube but his attention is diverted to a pretty, pastel pink box with High School memories written on it.

Being the nosy person that he is, he decides to take a peek. It must be his mother's. Inside are photos of her looking around the same age as him.

Weird.

His attention focuses on folded little pieces of paper littered all through the bottom of the box. Unfolding one, he reads; Today, I can't keep my eyes off you. All I can think about is the taste of your lips from when we played spin the bottle last weekend. I don't know if you felt what I felt, but I would love to have a chance to kiss you again.

Jungkook cringes at the image of his mother kissing a random boy—he knows it's not his father, since they met in university. It's strange that she kept these.

He opens another one; meet me behind the bleachers. I have something I want to tell you.

And another; You look beautiful today. Keep your chin up, and don't worry about what others say.

Lame.

Jungkook wonders if Taehyung receives love notes with the gifts. It must be nice.

If only...

He could... Wait...

"I have an idea!" Jungkook thinks out loud.

"What's taking so long?" Taehyung calls from downstairs. "Surely you've found it by now."

Jungkook's cheeks flush as a devilish grin grows. "Coming!"

Operation: Make Kim Taehyung jealous commences.

💌

A.N: 

Thank you for reading 💜