quite frankly, jeongguk was screwed. as he walked to the school office with his fists clenched, following behind sehun and resisting the urge to punch him, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to how fucked he was.

why exactly?

they were going to call his parents.

now, there was the possibility his parents wouldn't pick up. they were very busy people, so why on earth would they answer the school that their good for nothing son attends?

but then again, jeongguk had escaped from his father the last time they spoke. who knew, maybe the man would jump at the chance to get his son's whereabouts.

jeongguk held his breath while walking into the principal's office, wishing that he could just call taehyung and have the whole thing be over with. but, it wasn't that simple.

he sat down in one of the chairs, scooting to the side to be as far from sehun as possible when the other sat in one next to him. the principal, mr. song, sat behind his desk with his arms crossed, looking sternly at the boys who shuffled uncomfortably in their seats.

"so," he began, eyes looking back and forth from jeongguk to sehun who both cowered under his gaze, "why exactly are you two picking fights in my courtyard?"

mr.song gestured towards his back window, where it had a clear view of the entire schoolfront. he had seen the whole thing.

jeongguk chuckled humorlessly, figuring that he should have the upperhand here since sehun used a degrading slur.

"sir, he called me and my boyfriend fags, so naturally i got defensive." jeongguk explained, and the principal raised his eyebrows.

"what does that have to do with anything?"

jeongguk's jaw dropped open as he could feel sehun smirking beside him. he should've known better, he lives in south korea for christ's sake.

"well don't you think that his use of a derogatory slur should be taken into consideration?" jeongguk continued to plead his case, even using "big words" because mr. song was a man of class.

mr.song leaned forward in his chair, uncrossing his arms and resting his elbows in front of him on the desk.

"i think, that you still went over to him first and started yelling." he said, and sehun's smug expression was boring holes into jeongguk.

"because he was giving me nasty looks! also he pushed me first, i was just defending myself."

"jeon jeongguk, that is hardly a justification!" mr.song snapped, and jeongguk's patience was starting to run thin.

"how am i the only one being yelled at? sehun-" jeongguk pointed over at sehun, who was leaned back in his chair without a care in the world. jeongguk on the other hand was on the edge of his seat in disbelief.

"is that any way to talk to your superior?" mr.song bellowed, and jeongguk's mouth shut, the words disappearing along with his burst of confidence.

"n-no." he said, jaw clenching when sehun stifled a small laugh at his stutter.

mr.song kept his eyes locked with jeongguk's, glare intensifying. "sehun, you can go back to class." he didn't break eye contact with jeongguk while saying it, and jeongguk's eyes widened when he heard the door click shut.

he let sehun leave, just like that.

"mr.song, how is this fair?" jeongguk asked, staring back at mr.song with fingers gripping the seat handle harshly.

"i don't think you're in a place to ask that question jeon. you can take a seat outside while i take this up with your parents." he pointed a finger towards the window of the office, and a small chair could be seen leaning up against it.

jeongguk froze up, not taking any action to do what he said. "please, i-i'll do anything j-just don't call-"

"mr.jeon, what did i tell you! go sit outside, now!" he snapped, and jeongguk nodded, getting up and walking out.

the gears in his mind whirred, trying to figure out a way to get out of this. he sat in the chair, immediately tapping his foot like a maniac.

he was staring off into space, his hand over the outline of his phone in his pocket when a voice snapped him out of it.

"gguk?" he snapped his head towards the sound, smiling in relief when he saw jimin in the deserted hallway, clutching a hall pass.

"jimin!" he waved, and jimin slowly walked over. "i always forget you go here." he said, and jimin stopped walking. "gee, thanks." he mumbled, looking at his shoes.

"it's only cause you're the grade below me! now come here, i need help!" he exclaimed, and jimin approached him slowly.

"with what?" he started getting close to the chair, and jeongguk held out his hands, stopping him. "stay back!" he yelled, scaring jimin and making him jump.

"sorry, it's just mr.song will see you through the window if you get too close." jimin's shoulders dropped, and he took a few steps back.

"okay, now what do you need help with?"

"i need to get out of here, like now." jeongguk said, and peered over his shoulder to look in mr.song's office.

his stomach dropped when he saw that the man was already on his phone, most likely talking to his parents at this moment.

"why?" jimin asked, leaning against the wall and observing jeongguk's panicked state.

"um..." he trailed off, not sure if he wanted to go through the pain of explaining the whole thing, "not important. but i need to leave the school asap."

"why don't you just call your parents to come pick you up?"

"uhh, can't. they're..." jeongguk realized he was acting totally suspicious, and he needed to come up with answers way faster. "busy." he finished, adverting jimin's eyes.

jimin looked at him apprehensively, but thankfully didn't question him about it further.

"well why don't you just call taehyung?"

jeongguk shook his head, looking into mr.song's office again. he was already off the phone. shit.

"mr.song would see me pull out my phone..."

he then looked at jimin, eyes wide. "could you call him?"

jimin nodded, and pulled his phone out. "what should i say?" he asked while scrolling through his contacts.

he had gotten taehyung's number from yoongi, jimin was a socialite and wanted to befriend anyone he could.

"i don't know, just tell him to come pick me up, pronto!"

jeongguk's tone was getting more and more desperate, and jimin looked a bit taken aback when he practically yelled. "jeez, okay!"

he held the phone to his ear, hearing the ringing sound. it only rang three times before taehyung answered.

"jimin, what's up?"

"uhhh," he looked to jeongguk for answers, but he just waved at jimin to hurry up with it.

"jeongguk needs you to come to school and pick him up."

"what? why!"

jimin looked to jeongguk again, but jeongguk was swiveling around in his chair nervously, staring at the door to the school like it was the only thing keeping him alive.

"he won't say, all he says is that he needs you to hurry."

jimin heard rustling sounds on the other side of the phone like taehyung was getting up.

"jesus, i just sat down. tell him i'll be there in 10 minutes."

jimin put a hand over the speaker, and turned to jeongguk. "he says 10 minutes." jeongguk shook his head rapidly, looking terrified. "no, he needs to come sooner!"

jimin sighed and brought his ear back to the phone, surprised that taehyung was still there.

"he says he needs it to be sooner."

"fine, tell him i'll be there in 5."

with that taehyung hung up the phone, and jimin put it back in his pocket.

"he'll be here in five."

jeongguk groaned, but then composed himself. "okay, good. you can go back to class now, bye jimin!" he said, waving jimin off.

"wait, but-"

"bye jimin!"

"jeongguk, one more thing!" jimin yelled, and jeongguk fell silent, halting his panicking because he realized how rude he was acting. he nodded for him to continue.

"can you tell taehyung to text yoongi? taehyung's been kind of m.i.a for the past week and yoongi is getting worried."

jeongguk cocked his head, he had no idea any of this was going on. "yeah, i'll talk to him."

jimin nodded, a weight lifting off his chest. "thanks. bye jeongguk."

"bye jimin."

jimin sighed and turned around, heading back to class and leaving an extremely nervous jeongguk still tapping his foot in his chair.

he sat for around 3 minutes, his panic only growing more and more over time. his dad's company wasn't far, so he could be here any minute now-

the door to the office opened, and mr.song peeked his head out. "your father is outside to pick you up, i expect he'll reprimand you for your actions."

he had no idea.

"you will be serving detention for the next few days, and you are not to leave campus eat lunch."

jeongguk felt like his throat closed up when he looked out the door, seeing his father's car sitting next to the curb. fuck, fuck, fuck-

"mr.jeon, are you hearing me!" mr.song snapped, and jeongguk realized he had completely tuned out the principal's words.

he stared at the man blankly for a few seconds, recollecting himself. "hello?" he yelled when jeongguk still hadn't given a response.

jeongguk suddenly grabbed his backpack, stood up, and bolted.

he ran the opposite way of the door, on the way to the bus loop rather than the carpool line.

"jeon jeongguk, where on earth are you going!" mr.song yelled after him, but jeongguk just kept running, grabbing his phone from his pocket and fumbling with it.

he raced through his contacts as he raced through the halls, clicking on taehyung's and immediately pressing call.

the phone only rang once.

"jeongguk, what the hell is going on! i'm outside, where are you-"

"i need you to drive around to the bus loop." jeongguk panted, bursting through the doors and stepping outside.

"the bus loop? why?"

"taehyung, just please."

taehyung went silent, and he heard the sound of a car moving.

"on the way."

the phone clicked off, and jeongguk waited impatiently, tapping his foot out of fear.

he saw taehyung's car pull up and immediately sprinted to it, opening up the door and throwing himself inside.

"jeongguk, what on earth happened!"

jeongguk panted, sitting in the back seat because he couldn't find it in himself to run all the way around taehyung's car and get to the front.

"sehun, fight," pant, "homophobic principal," pant, "jimin, phone," pant, "dad is here."

at the last thing, taehyung's eyebrows raised so high that they could've fallen off his face.

"what? your dad is here?" he asked, and jeongguk nodded lazily, staring at his panting form in taehyung's rear view mirror.

he was looking at himself when a black car appeared in his view, alarming him instantly. he turned his body around and sat up, looking at the road behind him and seeing his dad's car driving towards them.

"taehyung, drive!" he yelled, and taehyung jumped in his seat.

"jeongguk, what?"

"drive, that's my dad's car!"

taehyung looked in his mirror in confusion, and his eyes widened when he saw the car steadily approaching them. he slammed his foot on the gas pedal, and the entire car lurched forward.

they sped out of the parking lot, leaving jeongguk's dad sitting there, probably confused.

"jeongguk, what the fuck was all that?"

jeongguk turned his head back, looking behind them to make sure his dad hadn't followed them.

"i'll explain when we get home, just please drive."

taehyung took one look at the panic on jeongguk's face, and nodded.

"okay."

"thank you." he leaned forward and pressed a small kiss onto taehyung's shoulder, despite the fact that he was wearing jeongguk's hoodie and could hardly feel it.

what would he do without him?

-