y'all :

"the girls are a reflection of their better selves!"
"the girls are their conscience!"
"they're the member's solo songs! jungkook's girl teaches jungkook to begin again after his accident!"
"namjoon's girl is taehyung's sister from the hyyh series and he's protecting her bc he wasn't able to protect tae!"

me :

_______________________,

jungkook focus
dark hair falls into his line of vision, partly obstructing his view as he looks out at gwangju's streets below him. the streets are pretty much abandoned in this type of weather; cold torrents of rain and ice cool winds are enough reason for people to not go out. and if that isn't enough; the greying clouds above rumble with warning, occasionally revealing a threatening gold beam of lightening.

jungkook doesn't allow the weather to halt him from enjoying the feel of wind against his skin, however. he rests his forearms against the balcony's safety railings and leans outward slightly to catch sight of the fleets of speeding cars that splatter grey rainwater on a couple pedestrians who get too close to the curb, causing the soaked walkers to shake their clenched fists and curse loudly at the driver who drives off, completely ignorant.

jungkook picks up the cup of peppermint tea sitting sheltered by the french doors, and brings the warm cup to his lips, blowing softly before tilting the beverage back. he swallows the liquid with a sigh; he'd much rather have a strong coffee right now but in his friend's apartment, the only thing stocked beverage wise is herbal teas.

they're currently taking refuge in jungkook's friend's studio apartment — his friend who's moved out a while ago but left the accommodation for jungkook's taking who makes use of the building from time to time whenever he's in gwangju. it's a one room home — similar to jimin's but not as homely as the latter. it's bare, empty and sparsely furnished with a simple pull out couch as a bed, a useless tiny kitchenette pressed into the wall and a clean enough bathroom that joins up with the room, which taehyung currently uses to shower himself clean.

speaking of taehyung, jungkook stops himself from taking another swig of his tea as he's reminded of what had happened earlier on after eating out at YUICHI'S. the tips of his ears bloom crimson as he recalls holding taehyung's hand and liking the feel.

— AN HOUR AGO
taehyung walks just behind jungkook, a smile on his face, a hop in his step and feeling unbelievably content as they make their way down the road. they've just walked out of YUICHI'S cafe after taehyung had practically inhaled the food down — you'd think he'd stop halfway though the dishes, announcing that he was going to be sick but no; taehyung had happily scarfed down his meals with no complaint.

jungkook regards taehyung silently as he walks down the road with him close by, mentally noting down the happy smile fixed on to his face. jungkook breathes a sigh of relief when he notices the aforementioned feature on his face because now taehyung no longer looked like he hated jungkook's presence and neither did he look as ill as he did before. the younger finds himself glad.

"where are we going?" taehyung asks behind jungkook, voice sounding muffled behind the hoodie drawn up close to his face, the garment attempting to protect the raindrops from hitting his skin. pikachu is sopping wet underneath jungkook's arm and taehyung is in similar condition –– jungkook, however, is pretty much dry what with the fact that he's wearing a leather jacket atop his clothes and he somehow manages to find foliage to dart under and take cover. taehyung isn't nearly so lucky. he traipses after jungkook, hoodie and shorts sticking to his skin and hair. it's not a pleasant sensation as you can clearly detect by looking at the discomfort on taehyung's face.

why they somehow mentally agreed to walk outside in the pouring rain confuses both taehyung and jungkook as they walk through the icy downpour, shivering.

"we're going to the store to buy you your hair dye." jungkook replies, dodging a puddle of rainwater that could potentially soak his much favoured but beat up sneakers.

"we're gonna dye my hair now?" taehyung responds, sounding more than just surprised. "that's three things done today." taehyung accounts, remembering the fairground date, the kiss and now this, the hair dyeing.

"yeah. so what colour do you want?" jungkook asks, curious as to know what colour taehyung'd go for. but taehyung seems to not know because he shrugs defeatedly, murmuring an "i dunno."

jungkook raises an eyebrow, "you put you wanted to dye your hair on your bucket list but you don't know what colour?" jungkook retorts just when the rain bursts into a heavier downfall, one that shocks taehyung into gasping and squealing as he feels ice cold raindrops slide down his warm neck.

luckily, they run to a small convenience store close by, a convenience store that's packed full with people who desperately try to get out of the rain's way, seeking shelter in the overstuffed grocery store until the freezing downpour passes.

they both walk in, immediately creating a puddle at the entrance of the shop which the shopkeeper tuts at, reaching out for her well drenched mop. taehyung grimaces apologetically at the woman as they start to walk away from the puddling mess.
as they walk, jungkook subconsciously takes taehyung's hand so as not to lose him in the busy throngs of people. completely unaware of the effects of holding hands with taehyung, jungkook barges past people, heading down aisles whilst complaining about the 'idiots' that block up the place.
taehyung, on the other hand, is heating up like crazy; he's getting so uncomfortably flustered and bothered by jungkook's little action that he almost wants to tug his hand away. but he likes the feeling so taehyung stumbles after him with glowing red cheeks, his mind excitedly overanalysing the tiny action.

after ploughing his way through several pointless sections, jungkook comes to a stop at a minuscule section labelled 'haircare/hair styling', the little shelved compartment laden with cheap scented shampoos and hair gel that jungkook ignores. what he wants is the items below the haircare products; the hair dyes.

only five select colours of hair dye are available in store, the colours being platinum blonde, a bright purple that claims to fade into a lavender colour after a few washes, a bright red, ash grey and a traffic cone orange.  jungkook pulls a face at all the colours — they all seemed a little too gaudy but who knows, perhaps taehyung could make it work?

he's about to bend down and pull one of the boxes out to get it and show it to taehyung when he realises that he's still holding the older's hand — the latter's hand surprisingly warm in his cool palm. he looks down at their entwined hands, surprised at what he sees.

now this is usually the bit where jungkook hurriedly pulls his hand away and looks away, embarrassed. but, instead, he finds that he kinda likes the feeling of someone's heavy hand in his hand, holding on securely so he wouldn't lose the person anytime soon. he likes it especially knowing that it was taehyung's hand he was holding.

which is weird.

he should probably let go. taehyung's probably finding it super awkward and uncomfortable and—

jungkook looks at the boy.
oh my god, he's blushing –– that's so cute.

"j–jungkook?" taehyung stammers and only then does he snap out of staring at a reddening taehyung.

"u–uh," jungkook stutters, looking away and immediately letting go of taehyung's hand and stepping back. he clears his throat and gestures towards the hair dye, "choose one that y–you like." he cringes at the stutter in his words as he scratches the back of his neck.

aaaaand they were back to being awkward blushing twelve year olds.

taehyung nods slowly, a tad bit disappointed that jungkook had let go of his hand. he brushes the thought away as he bends down onto his haunches to read the labels of the hair dye. he picks up the bright-purple-that'll-fade-to-lavender and studies the model's hair imprinted on the box's surface. chewing on his lower lip in thought, he looks past the hair dye and inspects the others, neither impressing him much.

defeated, he starts to chant "eenie, meenie, miney, mo. catch a tiger by its toe. . ." taehyung mutters the rhyme under his breath as he taps each one individually. when the rhyme finishes, his fingertip is placed on the chosen hair dye; bright red. shrugging at the choice, taehyung picks up one of the boxes and hands it to jungkook who raises an eyebrow.

"you sure?" he confirms.

"yeah." taehyung nibbles on his lip, worrying it red, "why? is it a bad colour?"

jungkook shakes his colour, "no, it's nothing. c'mon, we gotta buy other shit that's needed to dye hair," jungkook mutters, reading an article on his phone, "now, apparently you need plastic clips." he mumbles, going off in a random direction to find the plastic clips all the whilst thinking about the firm feeling of taehyung's hand in his.
— AN HOUR LATER

jungkook scoffs when he remembers how he had reacted — stammering and stuttering like a super awkward prepubescent teen that'd finally mustered up the courage to 'flirt' and had failed rather badly. he groans at the thought.

internally beating himself up for his reaction, jungkook sets his peppermint tea to the side and resumes leaning his lower arms against the balcony's railing, clasping his hands tightly. he looks down, inspecting the way his own hands interlocked together — resembling very much like how his and taehyung's hands had looked earlier.

he stares at his hands. it felt good holding his hand for once, and not his wrist, he thinks, unclasping his hands to study the lines embedded into his palm.
it felt even nicer when he held on, subconsciously squeezing it when he got flustered—

oh my god, shut up, jungkook. listen to yourself.
shaking his head, jungkook lifts his mug back to his lips, gulping down the cooling peppermint tea.
before he could further antagonise his mind, the boy hears a door click open behind him and someone calling out his name softly.

taehyung.

he supposed to reply to taehyung's call and inform him of his presence but he's swallowed way too much unnecessary tea and he finds it difficult to gulp it all down so suddenly. he hears bare feet padding against the floorboards and he turns around, finally swallowing the tea.

even though he's long since gulped down the liquid, jungkook somehow chokes at what he sees displayed before him.

"why didn't you answer me when i called for you??!" taehyung squeals upon noticing jungkook on the balcony, struggling to keep himself decent looking. "oh my god!"

taehyung is standing there with a red blush coursing from his cheeks to his exposed neck, to his bare chest and probably lower if it weren't for the fluffy white towel that sticks to taehyung's body, doing a meagre job of covering his skin. his dark hair is still damp and plastered to his forehead, causing little droplets of water to snake down the sides of his face –– and dear god, taehyung just looks so ethereal with the snowy towel bunching up against his beautifully tan skin and dark hair.

jungkook feels something twitch down there.

. . . he, now, officially wants to die.

"hurry up and put clothes on — i wanna get this hair dyeing business over and done with." jungkook coughs, trying to turn around to allow taehyung some privacy but his eyes seems to refuse running over taehyung's lithe frame.

"t–turn around then." taehyung stutters, looking like a frightened prey under jungkook's eyes.  jungkook snaps his gaze upwards to meet taehyung's nervous eyes that dart around frantically. they create eye contact for a few loaded seconds before jungkook reluctantly turns away, tongue swiping over his suddenly dry lips and taehyung violently shivering — shivering from what he doesn't know: the cold air seeping into the room or the look jungkook possesses as he takes in a half naked taehyung?

"don't peek, okay?" taehyung mumbles, rearranging the towel around him once jungkook's back faces him.

". . ."

"jungkook!"

"i promise, jeez!"

"im watching you." taehyung warns quietly as he drops the towel.
as he stares out at rainy gwangju, jungkook listens to the sound of clothes rustling behind him as taehyung dresses himself.
it takes all his might to not peek over his shoulder and catch a glimpse of taehyung in the process of changing but jungkook stays true to his promise and doesn't turn around until taehyung gives him the okay signal.

"you can turn around now." now kitted out in the old love nest shirt and wearing his ugly but comfy yellow shorts, taehyung squeaks out, absolutely refusing to make eye contact with jungkook after what'd just happen.

jungkook almost wants to coo at the sight when he turns around but he (thankfully) manages to restrain himself, and instead walks towards the plastic bag dumped nearby to the french windows. he picks it up, clearing his throat while doing so. taehyung looks over at the younger at the sound. the latter holds the bag up, "shall we get started?" he says, quirking an eyebrow.

[a/n: okay so only now do i google how to dye hair &&& find out that you're supposed to dye your hair when it's dry not wet otherwise your scalp burns or something –– whoops, sorry tae. but let's just pretend that it's okay to dye wet hair, okay? im too lazy to change the deets]

a few moments later, taehyung sits in the wooden chair jungkook had dragged into the bathroom, making the piece of furniture face the wide mirror which taehyung now sits in front of, wearing a stylish black bin liner around his torso and humming along to a song that jungkook doesn't recognise.

the younger stands by the older, reading a web article on the internet on how to dye hair correctly whilst wearing an expression denoting total concentration. as discreetly as possible, taehyung watches jungkook with the help of the mirror in front of him, using the reflection to watch how a tiny crease forms between jungkook's dark brows. taehyung finds himself wanting to reach up and smooth the little crease away with his index finger.

"okay, so first we gotta line your hairline and neck with vaseline so your skin doesn't get stained." jungkook states distractedly. he picks up the small vaseline tub and with a finger, smears the substance carefully around the hair with taehyung assisting him by lifting his fringe up for jungkook.

"hold on, lemme clip these up." jungkook murmurs, noticing taehyung's help. he takes taehyung's fringe carefully and clips the hair back with the disney princess clips (jungkook uses cinderella) ((the web article jungkook was following recommended plastic clips and unfortunately the only plastic clips available in store were tacky disney princess ones)). he does the same with the rest of taehyung's long hair.

taehyung spots the clear packet of glittery princess clips in jungkook's hand and laughs, taking the packet into his own hands to study the different princesses.

"who's your favourite?" taehyung asks suddenly, looking up at jungkook who rolls his sleeves up and tugs clear gloves onto his hands.

"dunno, jasmine maybe?" jungkook shrugs nonchalantly, "who's your favourite?"

"i don't know; ive never watched any of these films — are they good?" taehyung hums curiously, "and which one is jasmine?"

"the one with black hair." jungkook replies as he follows the hair dye's box's instructions and measures out the needed amount of hair dye and developer.

"this one?" taehyung asks as soon as he finds a princess with black hair, pointing at the girl on the plastic clip.

"yeah. and to answer your question — i find them pretty boring. i feel like you'd enjoy them though." jungkook proffers.

it's silent for a second as jungkook combines the substances in a tiny bowl taken from the kitchenette. taehyung decides to break the silence a millisecond later; "i think i like this one." jungkook latches his gaze on the princess taehyung was pointing at: it was sleeping beauty. "she's pretty." he adds, eyeing the princess's delicate features.

"mm." jungkook agrees, "that's sleeping beauty."

"oh, i know the story of her!" taehyung claims brightly.

"yeah?" jungkook hums.

"yeah!"

"alright kim. im gonna start." jungkook informs, taking a section of taehyung's hair with his gloved hand. he raises a brush applicator provided by the box and gingerly dips it into the dye.

"bye bye brown hair." taehyung murmurs as he watches jungkook coat his hair with red hair dye, dragging the brush upwards to his roots. the brown is soon replaced with a shocking red the same shade as wet blood.

"and hello red hair." jungkook adds in unconsciously. "you're gonna look like, uh, what's her name?" jungkook racks his head for a second before answering, "the mermaid, ariel."

"who's ariel?"

"the red haired princess. she's the only one wearing a purple shell bra — see if you can find her." and immediately taehyung busies himself with trying to find the red haired disney princess hairclip, lowering his head slightly. jungkook struggles to hide his small smile when taehyung furrows his brows, eagerly looking for ariel.

"what's ariel's story?" taehyung hums after finding ariel, looking up at jungkook who's busy at work, determined to not fuck up taehyung's locks.

"umm, i don't think i remember all of the story but it goes something like this. . ." jungkook continues story telling for taehyung who listens in attentively whilst watching jungkook in the mirror tend to his hair with the dye applicator.
they're like this for fifteen minutes; a relaxed jungkook retelling other disney princess stories with a fixated taehyung constantly interrupting, asking questions about the villain or hero with apt interest. it's pretty nice; nice to have someone utterly comfortable to talk about the most randomest and useless topics with. it's been a long time for jungkook since he's bothered to converse, laugh and joke properly with someone for a lengthy period. it's pretty nice.

and during those fifteen minutes, jungkook manages to cover all of taehyung's previously dark locks with deep red dye. the strands of hair now wet and shiny under the fluorescent bathroom lights, gleaming a red colour.

jungkook pulls away from his work, checking and making sure that he hadn't missed out any sections of hair before he tugs his gloves off his clammy hands and breathes outwardly through his mouth, glad that he hadn't messed up during the process of dyeing the hair. now he just had to wait for taehyung to shower again and let the colour seep in and the excess dye wash off. he hopes his efforts'll look good afterwards.

"all done?" taehyung asks. jungkook nods and peels the bin liner from taehyung's shoulder, ordering him to sit still for a minute and then shower again soon, telling him to stay in until the water runs off him clear and not bloody red.

cleaning up the tools so taehyung could shower soon, jungkook leaves the bathroom and flops face front onto the pull out couch. dyeing taehyung's hair was stressful — he had to watch out for any splatters of dye colouring any surface of his borrowed apartment, his clothes and taehyung's skin. but he managed it well in the end and now all he wishes for is taehyung to walk out of that shower with successfully red coloured hair.

sighing contentedly, he turns on to his back and grapples for the remote control lying besides him. he presses one of the many buttons to awaken the large flat screen tv in front of him before blindly staring at whatever programme came on first.

+

a while later when the rain has stopped, gwangju has switched on their lights and the sky fades to a deep blue, taehyung emerges from the bathroom, towel drying his hair with a grin on his face.

jungkook, who's laying propped up on the pullout couch, tilts his head to look at taehyung better. "let's see." he yawns, ignoring the nature documentary displayed on the tv.

still grinning widely, taehyung pulls the towel away from his head, humming a "tada! what do you think?" taehyung runs his hands through his hair, ruffling his freshly dyed hair, "i think i like it."

jungkook blinks at the boy standing a metre away. "wow."

fucking hell, how can he pull off that shade of red? jungkook thinks as he stares at taehyung's hair. it's a little on the bright side but jungkook's sure the brightness'll fade away soon, other than that; taehyung looks insanely good with red hair. the vermillion atop his head coincides with his tanned skin perfectly — the combo almost breathtaking to jungkook who can't seem to tear his gaze away. an actual greek god, jungkook's mind orders at the sight.

"wow? good wow or bad wow? i can't tell." taehyung bites his lower lip, suddenly looking doubtful.

jungkook hurries to assure him, "good wow. definitely good wow." he nods to punctuate his words.

taehyung smiles, "im glad." he says as he makes his way to the pull out couch, sitting down and curling up against the arm of the couch with the smile stuck to his face. as taehyung silently joins in watching the nature documentary the younger was blankly staring at a minute ago, jungkook sneaks a few peeks in taehyung's direction just to admire taehyung's new asset.

jesus, he really is good looking, jungkook concludes, finally stopping the unsubtle glances and fixing his sight on the tv before him.

twenty minutes into watching the nature programme, jungkook hears a soft snore emanating from taehyung. he looks over to his side to see taehyung fast sleep, mouth parted and drooling slightly. jungkook chuckles at the sight and leans over to grab the blanket by his feet, unfolding it and draping it over taehyung's sleeping body. jungkook looks away, a half smile on his face as he returns to watching the programme about lionesses and their cubs. but his mind drifts from what's in front of him to what's besides him. taehyung.

im glad he's getting to do all the things he's always wanted to do. he's done how many today? three? that means there's two left. wow. nearly all done, jungkook muses, placing an arm behind his head to prop his head up. seeing him look so happy after fulfilling something on his bucket list makes me kinda wanna feel something like that — makes me wanna accomplish something that ive been meaning to do and feel a similar kind of way. but what, though? jungkook asks himself, half listening in to the drone of the presenter speaking on tv.

something makes its way to the front of jungkook's mind as he wracks his brain for any ideas for his own bucket list. the something that pops into his head causes jungkook to snake a hand to the back pocket of his jeans and pull the worn leather wallet out into the open. taking his other arm, he fumbles with the broken clasp, yanking it open to display the closed zips and full card holders. almost all the card holders are full with credit cards (some his and some stolen ones he'd acquired after tasks), business cards and several supermarket vouchers. but there's one compartment that looks empty. it looks empty but actually has a bit of yellowing paper folded up into a tiny square hidden underneath the leather. jungkook pulls this folded square out now, dropping his wallet on to his lap and carefully unfurling the item.

once the small square expands to its full size, jungkook smooths the creases down and studies the black ink polluting the paper's mainly unblemished skin. on the middle of the a4 piece of paper, taking up most of the space, is a quickly scrawled design of a couple of detailed flowers, flowers that are large and heavily enunciated with shadings and thin dark lines. it's a meaningless design that jungkook himself had casually drawn months ago on a lonely train ride but decided to keep it in the end, wanting to perhaps have it inked onto his body some day but never bothering to actually make his way to a damn tattoo parlour and pay for it to be done.

however, after seeing the accomplished looks on taehyung's face after crossing out a task on the list, jungkook closes his wallet and slips it back inside his pocket before taking his phone out to google nearby tattoo parlours.
he finds a tattoo parlour with good reviews and decent way away from the apartment though he might have to take the bus in but jungkook doesn't particularly mind. he's starting to feel pretty excited now at the prospect of finally getting his desired tattoo done — he's always wanted to have a tattoo, they look so cool and he felt like tattoos were so badass when he was a kid and he still feels the same after all these years.

jungkook heaves himself off the couch and shuffles around to the front door, careful to not wake taehyung up. with his phone and tattoo design in one hand, jungkook bends down by the front door to slip his socked feet into his sneakers. he grabs the jacket hanging off a hook by the door and slides his body into it, the sound of rustling taking over the place.

"jungkook?" taheyung's deep voice meets jungkook's ears, making the younger look over his shoulder at the older who sits up on the couch, blanket falling from his body. "where're you going?" he mumbles, rubbing his eyes.

"out." jungkook replies, turning away as he unlocks the front door, "go back to sleep, taehyung. ill be back soon." he murmurs out as he twists the door's handle, expecting the  half awake boy to quickly drift back to sleep.

"can i come with you?" taehyung asks, timidly, "i–i don't wanna be here by myself."

_______________________

[inhales sharply]