Tuesday the 30th, Oct 2018.

'Shouldn't his hair be swept to the left instead?'

'Nah, it's always been to the right.'

'Are you sure? I could have sworn it was to the left last time.'

'You probably never see anything right'.

'Would you both stop ogling at our professor's head?'

Namjoon kept his gaze trained on the mass of fluff in the very front of the theatre. 'Its just that... he brushes his hair to the left every time, but today it's at the right'. He brought an index finger and a thumb to his jaw. 'That's suspicious.'

Taehyung angled himself towards Jin sat at his left and whispered in disagreement. 'Namjoon doesn't know what he's saying. That hair's always been to the right. There's nothing new. Joon's just got an incompetent memory.'

Namjoon's mouth fluttered open in offense. 'Taehyung—' His voice rose a twinge higher,

'Shhh!'

'Shut up, idiot!'

Namjoon's lips sat in an angry pout. 'Tae's the wrong one. He's the one with a malfunctioning brain'.

'I never said—'

'That's exactly what you meant.'

'Grow up.'

Namjoon shook a fist in Taehyung's face.

'Our one year age difference doesn't change anything!'

Taehyung serenely eyed Namjoon's rolled up palm.

'There was a reason you had to sip from a coke bottle when Seokjin and I had our first beers, younger bro'.

Namjoon's face flushed. His whisper was almost inaudible.

'I got born a year later because it took much more consideration to create me! You and Jin were a rush—you both aren't special—but me! It had to take a whole year for the world to get ready for me'.

Taehyung's eyebrows were asymmetrical.

'So you were too immature for 1996'.

Namjoon's face glowed a sour red.

Jin piped up, flailing his arms at the boys that sat at both his sides, but with a gaze on Joon.

'Whoa whoa, slow there, Mickey mouse bottoms'. Specks of humour floated about his eyes. 'I don't understand why you both are making this such a big deal.'

Taehyung scoffed and faced the professor's thick fluff.

Namjoon burned a hole through his notepad with a flaming stare.

'Jin, you're buying me a burger.'

Jin's eyebrows followed Taehyung's asymmetrical example. 'And why would I do that?'

Joon's face fleeted to the older's in a beat. 'Because I want one, that's why'.

'And... that's my business because?'

Namjoon's coal eyes bore into Jin's cocoa ones.

'Because you made a promise, sir. You made a promise to buy me burgers whenever I wanted one, for the next month'.

Jin's eyes widened in diameter. He tapped his jaw for two seconds, and then faced Taehyung, who was beginning to shift his head slowly to the left, so he could somehow get a better view of the lecturer's hair.

'Tae? What's today's date?'

Taehyung snapped his head upright. He switched his phone on, then off again.

'The 30th, why?'

Jin turned to Joon, his lips up in a slight smirk.

'Come again on the 1st, sir'.

Taehyung gave a mocking cough, his eyes skipping to and from the younger's displeasured demeanour.

Namjoon would have been a tomato right then, if he were small and round.

--

'That's a tall order, Namjoon. You possibly couldn't think you'd gain a main character role two years after graduation. That doesn't happen. It never happens and you know it.'

'I'm exceptional. I shall be the first it'll happen for. I shall break records. You know it, but you're just super envious'.

'Stop being so unrealistic. You might be fantastic at acting, but there's no way you'd secure an important spot just like that. No industry works that way!'

'And what do you know?'

'I know everything I need to, because I actually research.'

'Fibber.'

'Shush'.

'Pessimist!'

'How's that a bad thing?'

Jin watched the two banter back and forth, the table rackingly shifting as Namjoon one too many times threw his hands on it.

He drew focus off of them after a second or so, and let himself settle in the back of his head; his mind wafting about memories stored and situations undergone.

Then he stopped the mind trip and let his eyes wander around the interior of the restaurant instead; the blues of the walls, the whites of the tables, the purples of the chairs, the oranges of the ceramic cups.

The clock overhead to the right spelt 7:46pm, and the windows accounted for the truth, because through them Jin could see the sky mold gradually; dark gentian beginning to evolve from ombres of canna and rose, shimmering stones blinking apart from one another, silently.

The air smelt of the crisp of food and the breeze of some kind of plant—he didn't know what kind—but the mix matched, and it eluded comfort.

And the salivation of the tongue, if unfortunately there was someone in there who hadn't begun the journey to filling their stomach.

He drew a sigh.

It felt good, being there. It felt so good, it seemed like the word "bad" existed for no reason.

Jin understood exactly why that felt so to him, even if no one else would. And Jin didn't mind. The amount of good he felt was much more than enough to be bothered by whosoever's mindful counteractions.

Because good was all that mattered. The feeling of good, he meant. Once he felt good, all's good, indeed.

All's good to him.

'Bro, shit doesn't go down that way. They're gonna know.'

'How will they know?'

'Doesn't matter. They will find out.'

'How actually will they?'

Jin raised his hands. 'Ok, all's done, break it up, people'.

'Oh no no,' Taehyung began, subconsciously adjusting the collar of his jacket, 'he really thinks he's up to something here.'

Joon clicked his tongue, riling the snobby look on his face a notch higher. 'I know what I'm saying',  he spat, and flung himself off his chair. 'Maybe you're the one who needs to realise how things can work, and stop holding on to the apron strings of the alreadys and has beens'!

Jin got up to sit Joon back down on the chair. Taehyung drew his head back and cackled hard.

'You're not going to make it far if you keep carrying about that trash you keep for a mentality'.

Namjoon's cheeks stole the pink from ripened strawberries, and his mouth he opened as wide as the width of an orange.

'I do not wish to continue this conversation.'

Taehyung leaned back into his chair. 'You've finally come to your senses.'

Namjoon gripped the sides of his own head. Wisps of his hair trapped themselves between his spindly fingers.

'I don't have anything more to say to you.'

Taehyung smirked.  'Of course you don't. That's how it is anytime you have nothing left to shoot from your gun of unparalleled idiosyncrasies.'

Namjoon rolled his eyes, and one would have thought they weren't going to come back up front again from how long the whites stayed exposed.

'I will lunge.'

Taehyung jabbed a finger in the air, vicious and ready to call the rest to throw hands if the need suddenly arrived.

'Lunge, then.'

Jin buried his face between his hands and slid further down into his chair.

'I'm sorry, but I've got to ask you two to leave'.

Jin threw his head up. Taehyung's finger joined the other fingers and moved to sit in his lap. Namjoon felt the sting of an abruptly halted argument, and he winced.

'I'm sorry,' the manager began again, her eyes screaming levels of annoyance, 'but you've been making so much noise here for the past—', she checked her watch, but as her face suggested, no particular time lapse could be picked exactly as accurate, 'past whenever you've been here for, and the other customers aren't too happy about it. Again, I'm really sorry, but you've got to go'.

Jin repeatedly pinched the side of his left palm. His eyes poured into the manager's, searching through the gateway of her heart for a residing pint of anything close to compassion.

'We can come again, right? We're not being banned, are we?'

She sighed. 'I guess we could put you on probation, somehow, where if you quiet down next time you visit, you'd be free to come again anytime.'

Namjoon sighed, relieved. 'Ah, thank—'

'But if', she continued, her gaze stabbing into Namjoon's, and he visibly shrunk lower into his chair, 'if otherwise, you will have to not come here again, ever.' She paused, and looked at Jin. 'Except you—you're quite calm, and that's fine.'

Jin didn't feel the corners of his lips tug up into a smile, because they didn't.

'Thank you very much. I, um... yes, thank you.'

Taehyung spoke. 'Thank you so much. I'll make sure he', he gestured at Namjoon, 'behaves every time we're here'.

Joon scrunched up his nose. 'I'll have you know, that I can—'

Jin got up as though something bit him. 'Ah yes, we'll be going now, haha, thank you, off we go, ha'.

The manager gave a forced smile and trod towards the inner parts of the restaurant.

'Crap', spat Joon, and in his shrunk posture began to shove the rest of the rice into his mouth.

'You should have eaten that a while ago,' Jin said, eyeing the amounts left in his plates. 'Not when we have to leave'.

Namjoon chewed faster. 'Pressure's a strong woman'.

Taehyung sneered. 'It's also a cunning woman, when she cheers as you choke on boli of food to death'.

'Do shut that smart mouth and let me finish my pre-dinner'.

Jin sat back and watched Namjoon's spoon fly back and forth. His fingers began an impatient rap on the table.

'Hurry up,' he said, and his second hand stilled the first's motion on the table.

'Uhm-yuk turuf'.

'Sure, whatever that means'.

Namjoon got up just when the manager was coming out of the curtains that led into the staff section of the restaurant. She was surprised to see them still there, and by the scowl on her face, the boys knew they were in for an ear full. And so they took their bags and filed out quick, avoiding well the Manager's face of which they were sure carried paragraphs of stored up frustration.

'Geez', sighed Taehyung, once they were out into the night, and he pulled his hoodie up on his head. His eyes skimmed beyond the walkway and into the road, taking in the lights that zoomed past them. Yellow they were, when they were in front of him, but behind him when he turned, they were an alarming red. He let his hands rest in his pockets, where they picked at tiny balls of lint over and over again.

'Yeah', Jin replied, his left foot kicking at a stray rock.

'It's alright,' Joon breathed, feeling the cold wrap around his fingers, and he put them in the pocket of his jacket, as Taehyung had done. 'She'll let us back in. And if she does not, there are still tons of restaurants around'.

Taehyung swerved his head to look at Namjoon. 'No no, not that. That's ok, it's not a big deal at all'. He took his hands out of his pockets and brought them to the string of his hoodie. He pulled. 'I'm just tired, sort of. I need sleep'.

Joon made a scoffing noise.

Jin cocked his head to the right.

'Do you stay up a lot?'

Taehyung's face had a bit of surprise dancing on the edge of it, but then it cleared and his mouth opened in gentle laughter.

'No, it's not that. Except at times when I really need to finish up an assignment or do some extra studying... or when I'm playing an online game well into the night on weekends, I do get a reasonable amount of sleep,' he mumbled the next part, 'and that's if Joon's loud ass snoring doesn't get in the way'.

'Did I hear my name or did I not?'

'You heard nothing, Joon. Your ears are all clogged up from your brain spilling those messed up opinions, remember?'

Namjoon frowned really hard.

'Stay in your lane, Tae', he spat, bringing a hand out one of his pockets, getting ready to do the harsh pointing thing once more.

'L-O-L'.

'You're asking for it'.

Jin held his hands out again, for say, maybe the fifth time that day.
'Alright alright, let Taehyung tell us why he's super hungry for sleep'.

Taehyung sighed. He stopped walking, and the rest stopped too.

'It's just—'

'Just what?', Joon piped.

'Gosh, let me speak, please?'

Namjoon put his free hand back into the other free pocket. His head lulled to the side and his lips pulled up in a tiny pout. He watched a little girl's bike tyres glint in the dimmed lights as she sped down the road.

'Practice today was extra hard', sang Taehyung, swinging his hands through his pockets and bobbing on the balls of his feet. 'I just want to go to bed. There's kind of nothing more to it—other than the fact that it's a weekday and my limbs feel like they're gonna fall off and I want to sleep them back to normalcy'.

Jin blinked.

Joon guffawed. 'GoSh drama much? You made it seem like there was some deep underlying something going on'.

Taehyung's eyes blazed from one of the bright yellow lights flying down the road. He smiled, and his teeth blazed too.

'Well, to be honest, you're about 90 percent of what makes my day tiring, Joon.' He turned to Jin, a different kind of spark lighting up his eyes. 'Don't you feel the same, buddy?'

Jin caught on, and he smiled. His teeth caught the yellow light fever too.

'So true. I wake up, ready to do great things in a new day, and bam!' He made an expansion motion with his hands, 'Joon walks in and all my energy is gone'.

It was way past the times in the day when the sun made things much easier to see, but the embarrassment in Namjoon's cheeks were much more pronounced than the anger in his eyes.

'I don't—,' he yanked his hands out both pockets and brought them up so they had bird eye view of the sprout of hair at the centre of his head,

'You both would be nothing without me, and you know it!'

Jin sighed deeply, and Taehyung placed a hand on his chest, at the spot where he could feel the beat of his own heart the strongest.

'Out of energy,' breathed Jin, a sudden sullen sink in the bags under his eyes.

'Freakishly tired,' Tae said, and gripped at his heart tighter.

Namjoon huffed a breath. It spiralled in front of his face in a cloud of white.

'I will get you, Taehyung. I've done it before, and I'll do it again'.

Taehyung took his hand off his chest and straightened up to his full height. Laughter twirled in his eyes and a smirk danced on his lips. He squirmed mockingly in his Vans.

'Ooh, I'm so scared'.

Namjoon narrowed his eyes till he couldn't see.

'Sleep with one eye open tonight, Tae. You're gonna get it.' He flashed a finger at the direction he believed Jin was stood. 'You too, Jin'.

Jin's eyes matched the glint in the bike tires Joon had watched earlier.

'Good thing I sleep in my apartment, where the doors are secured by a fantastically unique code, and where there's no you'.

Namjoon somehow narrowed his eyes even more, and if it were possible, he would have breathed steam out his nostrils like a kettle.

He stared at them, and the other two were silent for the moments he had his gaze locked.

Then he swerved on his heels and walked away.

Taehyung brought his right hand in front of him, as if he somehow expected it to stretch and pull Namjoon back to them.

'Wait, Joon—'

'One eye, Tae!' Namjoon raised a fist as he stomped, his head steadily facing the path in front of him. 'One eye!'

The two turned to face each other. And then Taehyung turned to stand behind Jin.

'Stay with us tonight?'

'What?'

Taehyung shook the hood off his head and ruffled his black locks. 'I'm actually worried he might hurt me'.

Jin triple blinked. Then he laughed, albeit a little awkwardly.

'You really think Joon would hurt you?'

'He did just emphasize my need to sleep with an eye open'.

Jin pat Tae's shoulder, squeezing gently between seconds. 'You can't actually—'

'Just stay with us at the dorm tonight, please? So Joon doesn't murder me in my sleep?'

Jin raised a hand to his chin.

'What makes you think he won't try when I'm there?'

'He won't. He respects your sanity'.

'Ah, I see.'

Jin hummed in thought.
'And after tonight passes, wouldn't he try to kill you another time, when I'm not around?'

Taehyung put his hands into his pockets. 'Let me think about that after I've survived tonight'.

'And what about me? He did threaten me too'.

'Again, Joon's after me. I'm the one who began taunting. I'm the one who needs protection. Joon could say it all he wants, but he couldn't even try to touch you. But me?' Taehyung ran one of his large palms down his face. 'I should as well kidnap a guardian angel from heaven and pay them to sit at the foot of my bed'.

Jin shook his head in slight laughter. He brought the hand that rested on Tae's shoulder down to his back, slapping it softly. Disbelief shone through his voice.

'You're taking this a tad bit too serious'.

'Oh I'm not. You have no idea the things he's tried.'

'Enlighten me'.

Taehyung sent a glance to the dark sky ahead.

'There was that one time he tried to set my toes alight'.

Jin's mind stopped.

'Do not enlighten me any further'.

Taehyung slid his hands back into the pockets of his jacket and grinned, his teeth showing a dull white in the dim lights, since no cars whisked by at that very moment.

'So, stay with us tonight?'

Jin stared at Namjoon's locomoting form, diminishing from distance. Taehyung stared too, and he suppressed a shudder that ran from the top of his head down to his toes.

Jin's hand was still pressed to the mid of Taehyung's back, and nevertheless so slight, he felt his shiver over the layers of cotton, denim and thicker cotton.

'K'.

--

Jin felt his eyes pry open. He didn't exactly have a reason why, but when they did, he began no process to shut them and dive back into the rocking waves of peaceful slumber.

He tried to listen around him—for the tiny sounds of the night—the army of crickets and the choir of the unknown, seeping into the darkness and giving life to shadows.

They were sounds he was accustomed to being lullabied by; and slowly but surely, he could hear them, hear them minding their business and doing their thing, but still somehow telling him they knew he was listening, and Jin began to feel like he had every night, weeks before. He rubbed his arms and sighed, suddenly feeling suffocation from the duvet over his waist.

He let his eyes wander around the room from where his head lay softly on the mass of feathered cotton; to Joon's bed, to the little fridge beside the door, to the outline of the small table in the middle of the room, to Tae wrapped in a burrito of familiar blankets on the floor, and that's when he saw it.

His body stilled, and despite the burrow of the warm bedcovers and thick duvet he was sandwiched between, the cold ran strong through his entire form.

He squinted, and that was when he could make him out.

'What are you doing?'

Namjoon stopped in his tracks.

His eyes flared in the darkness. His face was drawn in a scowl—Jin could tell from the way his eyebrows matted against each other. He opened his mouth to talk, but there was no light to reflect itself on the teeth that peeped.

It was in a whisper, when his voice made a debut to the shades of the deep dark.

'I'm going to show that nut what suffering is'.