Sweat puddles in the creases of Taehyung's palms as he anxiously walks up to the location that he was clearly told to avoid. He wishes he could just avoid the place completely, blocking it out of his mere existence as if it was part of a dream.

But Lim's Cafe was no dream.

And he wasn't here to live no fairytale either. Instead, he grips onto the resignation letter, the paper crinkling from his rough handle. But a mere dent in the paper wasn't his cause of anxiety, no, instead it was the expression of the demon haired boy that caused his guts to wilt away.

The male glares at him, his chocolate orbs swirling with the mossy greens of disgust as he watches the smaller boy approach him.

Taehyung stops in front of him, uncomfortably switching from one leg to another as he fiddles with his fingers.

"What do you want?" The redhead bites out rather harshly. Taehyung flinches at the tone, feeling as meek as a city mouse under the red-heads glare. "I-I came to give this," he says while handing over the papers. The other male grabs the paper and stares at it, lips curling into a slight scowl at the bold words displayed on the front. 

Taehyung opens his mouth to speak, to beg the male to allow him to slowly pay off the compensation fee but the other male beats him to it. 

"I thought he was joking when he said you will resign."

Taehyung furrows his thick brows, face contorting into a confused expression as he ponders over the spoken words. "Who is he?"

Baekhyun looks up with annoyance sweeping his expression. "He, as in the one who paid off your stupid compensation fee. Who else would I be talking about." 

Taehyung's eyes widen almost comically. His compensation fee of nearly one thousand dollars... paid? By who-

But then it hits him. 

Jeon Jungkook. 

Baekhyun watches as the boy comes to a realisation, a cunning smirk gently slipping onto his lips. 

~

"Okay class, since you have all completed your assigned homework, I will allow you to work with your partners on your assignment, use this time wisely and don't muck around." Ms Song says with a wide smile, gesturing for her children to move next to their partners. 

Taehyung turns his head to Jungkook who is slumped in his chair. He giddily walks up to him, wanting to profusely thank him for the deed he had done, however, as he approaches the boy, he notices the frown on his face. 

Taehyung plops down onto the seat next to him and looks at the boy carefully, noticing the lack of attention he is giving him or in fact, the lack of attention he is giving anything. 

"You alright?" Taehyung whispers gently, despite the loud chatter in the room. Jungkook finally looks at him, as if finally noticing his presence. 

"Yeah," the ravenette grumbles, the rough tone contradicting his answer. Taehyung slightly frowns, wondering what is wrong with the boy but reluctantly decides not to dwell on it. He could thank him another time. 

But as Taehyung tries to work through the assignment, he starts to notice the increasing sense of restlessness of the ravenette. The way he anxiously taps his foot against the ground, the way he gnaws on his lips, the way his eyebrows furrow in worry. 

Taehyung can't just watch the boy suffer like this.

And so he puts his pen down and reaches into his bag, his hand digging past various books and files until it reaches a small pouch. With a slight grin, he pulls out the pouch and opens it, revealing the secrets inside. 

There beneath the soft cotton walls of the black pouch rests a single lollipop, the secret saccharine indulgent that he savoured for times of stressfulness. 

He pulls out the grape flavoured candy and nudges the ball of anxiety next to him. Jungkook slightly startles at the contact, his body breaking out of its trance as he looks over at the small item in the boy's hand. 

"Take it, it will help," Taehyung insists while pushing the candy into the boy's hand. 

Jungkook eyes the lollipop and then looks at Taehyung, who is looking at him expectantly. 

A small smile flickers over the boy's resting scowl at the blue heads eagerness to feed him the candy. He unwraps the treat and then pushes it into his mouth, staring at the boy as he does so. 

Taehyung breaks out into a toothy grin, displaying his pearly teeth in a sense of victory that Jungkook couldn't understand but found himself adoring. 

"Feel better?" Taehyung asks, tilting his head. 

Jungkook watches the pair of big doe eyes staring at him, the boy's expression akin to a curious puppy. Jungkook sighs, feeling his palpitating heart rate slowly start to moderate. 

He smiles, his voice somewhat a little rougher than usual as he speaks, "Yeah, yeah I do."

Taehyung blushes and immediately looks away. 

~

Jimin takes a big bite out of Taehyung's sushi that has the blue-haired boy grumbling over his big mouth. 

"That was half my lunch you just ate," Taehyung pouts, staring at the pathetic piece of sushi left in his hand. 

Jimin grins widely, his eyes hiding behind his chubby cheeks. "A man needs to be fed!"

"And a man needs to be at least 6 feet tall but you don't seem to comply with that requirement, now do you?" Jin butts in while walking towards the table of boys. 

Taehyung burst out into laughter as Jimin glares. "I am 6 feet!" 

"Yeah, when you stand on my dick," Jin says while taking a seat next to the boy. 

Jimin kicks the boy from under the table, eliciting a throaty groan from him. 

Namjoon rolls his eyes, unimpressed by his friends' immaturity.  He sighs, "can we stop mucking around and talk about something important for once."

"Like what?" Hoseok asks, finally lifting his eyes off his phone.

"Like my big dick energy," Jimin states with a grin, fist-bumping Taehyung as he does so.

"No Jimin, something more realistic-"

The blond gasps in horror. "I'll have you know, my penis is a pleasant size-"

He's cut off by Hoseok, whose eyes light up suddenly as a thought suddenly comes to his mind.  

"We have Survival Camp next week!" 

The boys all groan simultaneously at the reminder, except for Taehyung who has no idea what that is. 

"What's survival camp-"

"Hell,"

"Death,"

"Death in hell."

"Hell in death."

Taehyung still doesn't know what this so-called survival camp is but least to say it does not sound pleasant. 

Little did Taehyung know, survival camp is going to be a lot worse than not pleasant. 

~

A thick blanket of inky darkness drapes across the sky, speckled with stars that twinkle like the nursery rhyme. 

The smoke from the cigarette wafts up into the sky, greeting the graceful stars with its toxic fumes. Jungkook takes another long drag out of the cancer stick as he leans his tired body against the black-framed balcony.  The boy's features are twisted with worry, his youthful skin crinkling with the edge of fear. 

Taehyung watches his roommate with concern, noticing how the boy's anxious state seems to have tripled since he last saw him. What was he doing so late at night?

With thoughtless intentions, he calls out to the boy, his voice ever so delicate, ever so quiet. "Jungkook?" 

The ravenette doesn't look back, doesn't even acknowledge his presence. Instead, he once again pulls up the cigarette to his red lips and takes another drag.  

Taehyung grimaces. Hating the smell of smoke and the sight of Jungkook smoking. 

He slowly walks up to the taller male, taking caution in his steps in order to not alarm the other. He doesn't know what's wrong, doesn't understand why Jungkook is acting so unlike himself.

He stops when he's right in front of the boy, his doe eyes taking in the sight of utter distress.

Taehyung slowly exhales before hesitantly reaching up and pulling the cigarette out from between the boy's lips. He drops the silent killer onto the ground and lets the sole of his shoes crush out it's raging glow. 

"What'd you do that for?" the ravenette grumbles lowly, a slight scowl replacing his frown.

Taehyung looks down at the tiled floor which now has smudges of the ash sprinkled across it. 

"It's bad for you," he whispers gently. 

Jungkook huffs, "don't fucking care what it is for me, at least it helps."

Taehyung shoots his eyes up to stare at the other, his caramel orbs staring into a pit of darkness. "Helps you with what?"

Jungkook tenses at the question, breaking eye contact with the boy and looking out towards the sky. 

Taehyung feels a sense of worry seep over him as he spots the other's jittery hands. He reaches out and then pauses, questioning his own actions. But then he looks up at Jungkook and notices the boy's anxious expression. 

He doesn't even intend to do it, but he does. He slides his arms around Jungkook and pulls him into a tight embrace. The ravenette tenses at the foreign feeling, not used to having the warmth of another body embracing him. 

The exchange of body heat stretches out into the coldness of the night, silencing the noisy crickets and mocking the lonesome moon. Jungkook feels his body relax and his heartbeat settles. He smells the sweet smell of strawberries and feels himself melt into the other's touch. 

"Is everything okay?" Taehyung asks, his voice muffled by Jungkook's thick hoodie. 

The silence continues to linger.

But then he speaks. His tone is so soft, so unsure. So unlike Jeon Jungkook. 

"I don't know."

The blue head craves for elaboration but it never comes. But instead of fretting over it, he tightens his grip around the ravenette, holding him impossibly closer. 

And a small smile slips onto his face when he feels the other's strong arms wrap around him and hold him just as tight. 

~

It was 9:00 pm, sharp. Jungkook wasn't one to be prompt but this was different from his everyday tasks. 

It wasn't every day he put his life on the line. 

The lavish old man stared at him with a coy smile, welcoming his presence like a hawk welcoming its prey. 

"Ah, Jungkook-ah, how nice to see you again. You weren't planning on running away now were you?"

Jungkook bowed his head, forcing himself into submission. "No, sir."

"Hmm, thought so," the man grinned. He then extended his arm, tracing Jungkook features with the cold metal tip of the pistol. "You would never run from me."

Jungkook clenched his fists to stop himself from flinching. He couldn't show his fear. 

The man then dropped his hand and pulled out a package. 

Jungkook's heart stopped. 

"S-Sir, t-this could be r-risky. W-what if the police-"

The man ignored his words. "Off you go now, you don't have all day." 

And the next thing he knew, he was in a dark alleyway in the shady part of town. 

But then he wasn't because then he was getting chased by the cops, running through the eerie streets as if his life depended on it. Well, it kinda did.  

Then he was stumbling into his empty dorm room, utterly breathless and heart crashing against his rib cage. 

And then he was leaning against the balcony, smoking his third cigarette in hopes of calming his overwhelming nerves. 

They didn't calm his nerves. 

But a small, blue-haired, bambi-eyed boy did. 

-

A/N: I don't knowwwww what I'm doing. HEHE school can suck my ass. Thank you for reading my pretty little babies, I love you. 

(If you don't like being called a baby then here: thank you for reading you hard mudderfudder) 

pls ignore me I'm off my rocker rn.