XIII. RAIN AND YOU

Nosy neighbors were the worst.

But it wasn't like he had no history of being one either. One time, back in their first dorm, he and Yoongi were having some late-night talks about their struggles when they heard a loud commotion outside. Concerned, they dashed to the nearest window to see what it was about. It was a couple that they always see being lovey-dovey 24/7. The perfect couple that everybody rooted for.

"To hell with you!"

"You say that as if you'd make it to heaven!"

"Don't you dare insult me! You're the one who did something wrong!"

"I didn't mean it, I swear. She's nothing to me!"

"As if I care about your excuses! You cheated on me!"

Taehyung gasped audibly from the window, eyes wide at what he just heard. The fiery couple's heads turned to him, making Yoongi clasp a hand over Taehyung's mouth, pulling him away from there before dashing to the other side of the room to close the lights.

Unfortunately, this made them angrier and their curses were amplified, becoming a mixture of fighting each other and the boys who were watching the scene like it was a drama. They got the scolding of a lifetime when the news reached the company.

Even up to the present, Taehyung would shudder at the memory.

He stood in front of Gyeoul's gate, pressing on the doorbell repeatedly because the more he stood there, the more uncomfortable he got from the unwavering stare of an old woman from the next house. The old woman was talking loudly to herself about 'that useless dancer having too many men coming to her house in the past few months.'

Feeling himself getting irritated at her, he allowed himself to make eye contact with the woman, taking advantage of his intimidating visage to scare her off. She glared back at him and looked away.

"Hey, sorry for taking too long," Gyeoul breathed out as she opened the gate, quickly ushering him inside.

Taehyung smiled as he observed the sleep still evident in her eyes. "Good morning," he said, ruffling her hair and making it more disheveled than it already was. Gyeoul blinked slowly, not having the energy to smack his hand away. He raised the protected clothes hanging from his arm. "I brought a few jackets and shirts for more options."

"You can start browsing my clothes just avoid the two bottom drawers of the dresser. You can look around the house if you want, just avoid my parents' bedroom, it's the other room down the hall," she told him as she led him to her room. "Or you can stay here and sleep on the bed. Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge. I'll be quick. Sorry again—"

"Did you know that your neighbor says horrible things about you?"

That woke Gyeoul up, "The old lady? Did she do anything to creep you out?"

"Nothing other than staring, though I'm used to it. But she started saying bullshit about you. She said that you were a useless dancer—"

"Hey," she cut him off, gently squeezing his elbow for a moment. She smiled, "Don't bother paying attention to her. She's not worth it." The dancer dropped her hand, grabbing her things from the top of her dresser and walking inside the en-suite toilet and bath halfway. "It really is fine. That just means I still have something to prove to people."

With that, she closed the door.

Taehyung kissed his teeth, looking around the room to figure out where he should start. His eyes settled on the potted plant by on her windowsill and walked towards it. Taking a closer look at the plant, it looked properly cared for. When he was younger or whenever he went back home, he would always catch his mother talking to the plants while watering them. The endearing thought of Gyeoul possibly doing the same made his heart melt into a pile of mush.

He tore his focus away from the plant as his eyes caught sight of a record player on top of shelf space. There were multitudes of records lined together, ranging from classical, old jazz, pop, and r&b. Pulling one out of the vast collection, he put it on.

A melodious tune filled the room. Like Someone in Love by Chet Baker playing, making the atmosphere of the room dreamy. Taehyung smiled, leaving the record player and going to the built-in wardrobe. He opened it, surprised that it was a small walk-in closet.

'Lately, I find myself out gazing at stars, hearing guitars like someone in love.'

"Sometimes the things I do astound me," Taehyung sang, scanning the closet. "Mostly whenever you're around me."

Humming along to the soft tune, he sifted through the hanged and folded clothes. There was already a specific theme in his head, but upon seeing the variety of clothing inside, his mind ventured to more outfits that he could already plan a week's worth of outfits for her. Versace here, Versace there. Gyeoul must love the brand as much as he loved Gucci.

Pulling a few items of clothing out, laid them neatly on the bed. He had to remind himself multiple times to be organized while doing it. If it was his room, the whole place would have been trashed with piles of clothes.

Accessories, Taehyung suddenly thought. Going to her desk, he opened one of the wooden boxes with intricate carvings, assuming that it was a jewelry box. It indeed was. But it was all bracelets and the concept in his mind didn't need one, so he closed the box without taking a second look and looked through the other jewelry box that contained her earrings. Then at the necklaces that hung from a little stand on her desk.

If only he took the time to look through the first box, he would have found out about their relationship long before they found out.

The bathroom door opened and out came Gyeoul clad in a large black shirt and basketball shorts, a brown towel lazily thrown over her shoulders.

She bit the inside of her cheek, watching as her friend stood over her bed that had clothes lined neatly on it. He held his arm up, a bunch of her necklaces hanging on his arm as he compared the shine of the metal to the colors of the clothes. Gyeoul smiled, her shoulders bouncing slightly, trying to keep a chuckle in as she noticed the concentrated look on his face. He probably didn't even notice her coming out of the bathroom.

"Is this a Run BTS episode? Why are you so serious about this?" Gyeoul teased, walking up to him. "It's just a TV appearance, not a pageant, darling."

He quirked an eyebrow, brushing past her and putting the necklaces back from where they came from. "It's my birthday gift to you, remember?" He walked back to her, taking the towel from her shoulders and drying her hair for her. "I found a button-up shirt a shade lighter than one of the blazers I brought. We can pair it with some white-ish trousers. What do you think? I saw more options in the wardrobe if you don't like it."

Gyeoul tried to focus on the clothes, but she couldn't when there was someone drying her hair like he was her mother and late for something. She reached back slightly and smacked his hip. Taehyung giggled and only did the same again, this time more messily.

"Stop that or I'll post one of your ugly selcas."

Taehyung gasped dramatically, "You wouldn't dare."

"Are you sure about that?"

He smirked, "Like I don't have ugly pictures of you on my phone too." The dancer pursed her lips in defeat. With him still drying her hair like a madman, she reached up to put her hands over his to halt his movements. "Let's blow-dry your hair."

"You're taking the stylist theme a little too seriously, Kim Tae."

The idol moved so he was in her peripheral, raising his eyebrows with an adorable smile that reached his eyes and still holding the towel to her head. Their faces were only mere centimeters from each other. Gyeoul never noticed that he had such long eyelashes. She narrowed her eyes playfully at him, raising her knuckles to get his face away and making him laugh.

Unable to say 'no' to him, Gyeoul allowed him to lead her back to the bathroom. Once they were inside, she moved his hands away from her head and hung her towel. She then pulled a blow dryer out of the cabinets under the sink and plugged it in.

Quickly taking the blowdryer from her hand, he pointed it at her like a gun and started swaying his body.

"Bang bang bang."

Gyeoul laughed, mentally slapping her forehead. She hooked her finger on his belt loop and pulled her closer to her. Just by that simple and nonchalant action, he faltered with his movements. He blinked at her, avoiding the urge to hold a hand over his heart to feel his heartbeat. He ignored the feeling and went on to point to her face. He turned it on and 'shot' her, a goofy grin spread across his lips.

❆

Walking out of the bathroom after he changed his clothes, he saw Gyeoul looking at herself in the mirror. "My clothes look better on you than they ever would on me," Taehyung commented, fixing the lapels of the blazer.

Gyeoul narrowed her eyes at the very angelic yet devilishly handsome idol. "That's a lie and you know it. You're probably the most beautiful man I've ever seen. Everything looks better on you, don't start with me on that."

He smirked, going back to her desk to look for suitable earrings again. "It's all about charisma, my dear friend. People would be more attracted to charms than looks."

"That's easy for you to say, you're as charming as you're gorgeous! You're so pretty that it actually hurts."

"I'm enjoying the compliments, please don't stop," he grinned. He walked up to her and opened his palm, picking up some of the earrings. "Rose gold suits the color the best."

"Thanks." She picked the multiple earrings and put them on her lobe piercings, putting another one on her helix. Once she was finished, she dropped her hands and stepped away from him. "Do I look okay?"

'Okay' would be the understatement of the decade, he thought. A glimpse of heaven, more like it.

"You look hideous, but at least the clothes compensate for it."

Gyeoul shrugged and nodded her head, satisfied by his comment. "I'll take it." She looked out the window, "We should get going before it rains."

"Do you have an umbrella? We should bring one just in case. I think Jin-hyung borrowed him when he went—" he pursed his lips, chastising himself for almost blurting it out.

It was none of her business what happens in their personal lives so Gyeoul ignored his little mishap. "We have umbrellas by the door."

She walked over to the mirror to give herself one last once over. Taehyung stood beside her and did the same. Gyeoul couldn't help but think about how good they looked together. Separately, of course. Looking good as individuals finely dressed beside each other.

Taehyung pulled out his phone and opened the camera app. The dancer responded automatically by fixing her stance beside him. He tilted his head slightly in her direction, putting his free hand in his pocket. Gyeoul mirrored his actions.

"Are we done?"

"One last."

Instead of remaining in the same pose, Gyeoul stepped closer to him and rested her elbow on his shoulder, looking at him instead of the camera.

Quickly clicking the button with his shaky hands, he stepped away from Gyeoul and cleared his throat. He gulped, scratching the back of his neck, and smiled at her, "I lied." He walked to another part of the room and stopped the music playing from the record player.

"What about?"

"About you being hideous. You look heavenly."

Gyeoul clenched her jaw to keep her cool. She looked back at his earthly brown eyes and smiled, a fond gleam in her eyes. 

"No wonder there's an angel in front of me."

His lips parted, heat traveling to his cheeks. He cleared his throat, "We should go before we miss the call time."

She grabbed her bag from her chair and nodded. The idol took his clothes from her bed and walked out first. There was that nagging feeling in the back of Gyeoul's mind that was telling her that something was missing. While they moved along the house, she was ticking off things in her imaginary checklist.

Before they could make it out of the house, Gyeoul's heart almost dropped to the pit of her stomach as she realized what was missing. "Wait!" Taehyung jumped, clearly startled. "I forgot something in my room."

"You scared me."

"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly. "The umbrellas are by the shoes, just pick one out. I'll meet you in the car."

Taehyung nodded and she walked back to her room. He put on his shoes and took the first umbrella he pulled. Deviating from Gyeoul's original plan, he stayed outside the door because it was already raining. His thoughts drifted back to everything she did and said earlier. Heart fluttering, he bit his bottom lip and smiled down at his shoes.

Inside her room, Gyeoul rummaged through her cabinets in search of her bracelet. Her eyes fell on her jewelry box and rolled her eyes at herself for being so thoughtless. Of course, it would be there, why would she think differently?

Walking up to it, she opened it and fished out her bracelet. She sighed in relief as she found it under the other bracelets and put it inside her bag.

After making sure that all things were unplugged and all lights were turned off, she walked out of the house. Taehyung was there by the door, making her jump in surprise. He pursed his lips into a smile and opened the umbrella, beckoning her to come closer. She smiled and did as he directed.

Taehyung put an arm around her and pulled her closer so their clothes wouldn't get wet. Gyeoul laughed and put a hand over his, moving it more to his side when she noticed that he positioned more of the umbrella over her.

❆

Bang Sihyuk and Ahn Gyeoul walked side-by-side to an entrance of the large egg that would magically transport them to another dimension. He was personally giving her pointers on how to act and whatnot, nothing that she haven't heard from the other managers when she was first given the job. Other than that, he encouraged her to let her true colors shine.

"Enjoy. Just be yourself, that's the reason why we chose you for today's special guest for the mini-mission."

"If that's the case then, PD-nim, is it okay if I drop your name?"

He chuckled, "Do whatever you two want, just as long it doesn't negatively affect me or the company."

"Of course, sir."

Sungdeuk was already inside the futuristic egg when Sihyuk and Gyeoul made it down the hall.

"Good luck again, we'll be watching."

Gyeoul bowed respectfully at the CEO and went inside the egg.

"Did you get the green light?" Sungdeuk asked. Gyeoul grinned, nodding her head. He returned the smile, "Let's act serious, okay? Just to intimidate them for dramatic effect. Don't laugh."

"When you say that I shouldn't laugh, that'll only make me laugh even more."

"Just stay still and let your subzero persona shine through."

On the other side of the egg, the trainees were watching a video of BTS announcing that there was still a mini-mission before the first test. They let out expressions of surprise.

The egg started to rotate, bringing the I-LANDers to the edges of their seats in both nervousness and anticipation.

"What's going on?"

"Is someone — is someone coming?"

Collective gasps spread around the room as the two figures were revealed, their backs turned.

With strict and passive expressions, the two dancers turned around. The gazes of the trainees glued more on the face they didn't expect. There was a mixture of being starstruck at seeing the famous dancer in real life and fear because they knew the mini-mission involved dancing. Quickly getting up, they greeted and bowed at them respectfully. Gyeoul and Sungdeuk walked the steps and stood before them.

"Sit down, sit down," Sungdeuk instructed. He looked at Gyeoul's cold expression and almost went against his very instructions of acting strict. He pursed his lips to keep himself from laughing.

She forced the corners of her lips not to move. With wide, nervous, and curious eyes staring at her, her stony exterior broke and a small laugh bubbled out of her lips. "I'm sorry," she said, turning to Sungdeuk for a moment before turning back to the trainees with a warm smile spread across her lips. "Good evening, everybody. I'm Ahn Gyeoul, it's nice to meet you."

They bowed once again and sat down. The 95-liner watched as they nervously chewed on their lips and rocked their body on their chairs. Did she look that scary?

"Going through the egg feels so weird, it's so futuristic that I thought I was in a sci-fi movie," Gyeoul said, looking back at the gate and then back at Sungdeuk.

He hummed, "I thought the same thing when I first came here." Nodding his head at the space around, he said, "This is I-LAND."

"This is a very nice set-up. I hope you take more opportunities to take advantage of your facilities in the future and work harder." She looked at them and they only stared back at her, nodding their heads and smiling awkwardly at her. The dancer raised her card to cover her face as she laughed, "You're all so quiet." Turning to Sungdeuk, she asked, "Are they normally like this?"

"They're not usually like this, but today..."

Gyeoul smiled, putting one of her hands in her pocket. "It's okay, I understand." She pursed her lips, awkwardly making eye contact with every one of them, but they remained in the same state. Nodding, she started to clap her hands and they quickly followed. She laughed, shaking her head. "It's okay to smile."

"I think they're afraid of you," Sungdeuk teased.

"What's there to be afraid of? I'm not scary, I promise. You can loosen up. I'm not here to scold you or anything," she told them, her eyes brightening up when they started smiling genuinely at her. "Oh! Do you see that? They're not afraid of me. See?" She raised her arm to high-five the closest one to her, Daniel, if she wasn't mistaken. The boy grinned and high-fived the instructor.

"You've made your point," Sungdeuk stated, smiling fondly at his junior. "The mini-mission for the BTS test is a dance battle between I-LANDers."

"We'll allot a few minutes before we start so you can try warming up." She raised a fist, smiling at them, "Fighting!"

They cheered and went to the large dance studio behind them.

While the trainees premeditated their dance moves, the instructors watched them while they sat on the steps.

"The winners will appear on the screen, right? How will we announce the winners? Do we have to show the card to the camera?" Gyeoul asked her senior.

Sungdeuk opened his mouth to speak but then realized that he wasn't informed either. "The technology here is pretty advanced. I'm sure if we just say the names, they'll be the ones to flash their faces on screen."

A few moments later, the I-LANDers were instructed to go back.

"BTS Test's mini-mission: dance battle," Gyeoul announced, "The top three winners will get to choose which BTS song to perform and his team members."

"So, everyone will have to try their best," Sungdeuk added.

Gyeoul hummed, "Now, who here wants to go first?" She smiled, tapping the card on her palm as she watched them whisper amongst themselves, waiting for someone to step up. "All right, if no one is coming forward then I have to take matters into my own hands." The boys gulp, feeling anxiousness spread after hearing those words. "When I say Bang Si, you say Hyuk! Bang Si!"

"Hyuk?"

They're a little confused, but they have spirit.

"Bang Si!"

"Hyuk!"

"Bang Si!"

"Hyuk!"

"Son Sung!"

"Deuk!"

"Hyuk!"

Gyeoul laughed, beckoning Jay and Niki to come to the middle, "I don't think that sounds right." She pointed to another one who she heard say the wrong syllable. "And don't think I didn't hear you, you're up next."

Cheers erupted as the two boys stepped to the middle of the dance floor.

"Music, start!"

username1: BRO GIA AND BTS IN ONE EP NDJJUAJAJS

username2: the thought that gyeoul and jungkook probably interacted outside the show makes me all warm and fuzzy inside
     |
     username1: what i'd do just to see jk's reaction to meeting her
     |
     username2: ikr jk best fanboi

username3: is it just me or does the jacket she's wearing similar to the one taehyung wore once?
     |
     username4: I WAS WAITING ON SOMEONE TO PICK UP ON THAT
     |
     username3: they're born from the same year, both from daegu, and both are undeniably pretty. they're besties for sure

username5: lmao what's with these editors putting baby sfx whenever v and gia does something

username6: the way i'm manifesting a ghope dance collab man

username7: lol gyeoul making them chant bang pd's name is peak bighit energy
     |
     username8: and you see how freely she talks to son sungdeuk? there's no way she's not working with them

username9: dude i'm watching iland to see who debuts and now i'm simping over another person who doesn't know i exist haha life goes on ig

❆

Umbrellas were useless if the users were scared of pressing that button that would extend the metal.

"Okay! One, two... one, two... one, two..."

Gyeoul sighed, glaring at her friend, "Give me that," She snatched the umbrella from his hand and held it away from them before pressing the fatal button.

Unfortunately, it flew out of her hand.

She blinked, her hand still in the same position.

"Good job, even the umbrella hates you," Taehyung said sarcastically, running out of the little house's protection to fetch the umbrella. He quickly put it over his head and ran back to her. "Come on! Eomma will scold us if we get any later!"

"At least I opened it!"

Taehyung put the umbrella over her head, "I shouldn't be so mean to you anymore, you're leaving soon."

The girl was surprised at his sudden statement. It was the same day she told him that she was leaving. An absolute wonder it was for the skies to be connected to the aura between the two friends. It was as if the skies cried with them.

"And you shouldn't only cover me with the umbrella," Gyeoul scolded, pulling his sleeve so his clothes wouldn't get wet than they already did. "My appa says that if you shouldn't stand too long under the rain or you'll get sick."

"This sucks."

"I know, but at least we'll see each other again when we grow up, right?"

NOTE

the original guest in that episode was bae yoonjung. the dialogue relied heavily on the original.

on a random note, i wish i could discover bts again to experience that nostalgic feeling of hearing butterfly while watching bon voyage again for the first time again.

song(s) mentioned in this chapter — like someone in love by chet baker | bang bang bang by bigbang