Taehyung slammed the door to his apartment, slipped his drenched shoes from his feet and kicked it against the wall. The living room was eerily dark, but down the hall there was light seeping from his bedroom. He huffed out a low groan, hanging his jacket onto a coat rack and letting the water droplets slip seamlessly to the floor.

He began undressing himself from the soaked garments as he padded down the hall, eventually reaching his room; and was unsurprised to see the familiar woman that was lounging on his bed. She was naked, her long straight hair falling over the comforter that covered her pale snow skin up until just below her collarbones, and she sat scrolling on her phone seemingly unamused. That is, until she turned her head to look up at Taehyung, an immediate smile curling on her lips.

"Welcome home. You're late," she lowered the device and sat up, not bothering to bring the blanket up with her, and so naturally her breasts were exposed.

"Yeah," Taehyung nodded almost dismissively while he slipped his shirt off, throwing the wet clothing over a chair. "Uh, how'd you get in here?"

The woman laughed in amusement. "I asked Yoongi to lend me his keys. Wanted to surprise you. I even left you some food on the kitchen table. Leftovers from earlier today."

"Right," Taehyung said blankly, his wet bangs drooping over his eyes. "So then, why exactly are you naked?"

"Figured maybe you'd have a long day, y'know? I see you even got caught in the storm." She pulled the blankets to one side to reveal her full nude body underneath, her ivory complexion flushed from the warmth of the comforters; straight raven hair cascading down her body in great length. Taehyung flung his head to the side and rubbed the side of his neck. He now stood in merely boxers, his tan well-toned chest on display making the woman bite down on her lip.

A low chuckle left him, and Taehyung stepped closer towards the bed. "Misun-ah.."

"Mm. Yes, Taehyung."

"Doll.." he continued, settling on the bed on his knees. "Spread for me, baby."

The woman, Misun, moved her legs apart, showing herself fully towards the man, and she looked at him with a dazed demeanor in her eyes. Taehyung placed both hands beside her head and hovered his body over hers, then leaned down so his clothed crotch rubbed against her bare one. Their faces now centimeters apart, Misun weakly met the man's ever so piercing gaze.

And with a thunderous ragged voice, Taehyung spoke lowly. "Don't be such a whore."

Her cheeks quickly flushed in embarrassment, and maybe even arousal, and watched as Taehyung curtly stood from the mattress and trailed his way towards the bathroom. She trembled slightly at the sudden coldness in the room and heard the door shut in the distance, followed by the sound of the shower being switched on.

Misun then slowly slipped from the bed and began to dress herself, quietly grabbed her things, and exited the dusky apartment.

※ ※

"That'll be ₩15,000 please," the woman behind the counter gave a friendly smile, and Jeongguk rummaged frantically through his bag.

"You dumbass.." Jimin uttered behind him, standing with his arms crossed while he watched a line slowly begin to form after them. "Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" the younger whined, "I only, uh... I only have ten thousand..."

Jimin pinched his nose and let out an annoyed sigh before he dug into his bag and effortlessly pulled five thousand Korean won from his wallet. "Here, I'll spot you. Now you owe me, bitch face."

"My angel, my life savior, my—!"

"Move it, assholes, we got somewhere to be!" An elderly voice called from the back of the line, and Jeongguk scurried to pay the cashier.

"Good god.." Jimin let out a long breath as they departed from the bookstore rather hastily. "All of this for a nerdy ass book. Why can't you spend your money on my alcohol funds or something.."

"Shut it, Jimin," Jeongguk groaned, "I'm running low on cash. I should maybe start looking for a job soon. Classes just begun, so since the workload ain't too bad right now I'm sure I can handle it."

"Oh, what's wrong? Mommy and daddy didn't send this month's allowance~?"

He whacked the blond's arm. "I'm trying to be independent. I can't keep relying on them for everything—they've got their own lives."

Jimin seemed oddly sentimental. "Awh~... Little Jeonggukie's becoming a man... A job of his own, having his first hangover... What's next? You gonna start having sex for once?"

The younger blushed furiously. "Hey!" he scolded, shoving Jimin to the other side of the street. "I'm not a virgin, you know.."

"You might as well be. The rare moments you'd actually let Seojun fuck you were awkward and lasted two minutes tops. 'Least that's what you told me."

Jeongguk stared ahead, suddenly falling silent. Jimin glanced over at him as he reached his side again. "Sorry.." the blond added, "I didn't mean to bring him up."

The boy shook his head and smiled weakly. "It's okay. Now go, head to your class. I'll be reading at the library until lunch time."

Jimin nodded, a supportive smile on his face while he patted the boy's shoulder and turned the corner. Jeongguk then decided he'd use this moment alone to look up at the sky and admire the nice sunny day. It was quite bright out, contrary to yesterday's downpour; as if it never even happened in the first place. Nature sure was funny like that. His eyes then settled across the street, and coincidentally met the gaze of a man who stood by the traffic light on the other side, looking directly at him.

He held his breath. The man looked awfully familiar.

And then he remembered.

It was the guy who was standing beside Taehyung in the school hall when he'd approached them after their English class. If he remembered correctly, Taehyung had later referred to him as 'Yoongi-hyung'.

The man's lips parted, eyes intently on him strangely as though he wanted to tell him something. Jeongguk didn't know if he should walk away or wait for him to cross the street, but his feet were frozen to the ground. The pedestrian light switched to green, and before Yoongi could take a step in his direction there was a yell from down the street; some guy, perhaps a friend, waved hello to him.

Jeongguk watched as Yoongi looked towards the guy, then back to Jeongguk, and eventually strolled over to meet up with his supposed friend who was headed the opposite direction.

With a confused bite of his lip, Jeongguk turned around and began his walk towards the school library.

※ ※

jimin

— hey beautiful 🥴

— head on to the meeting without me, hoseok got tickets to tonight's game and asked me to go with him!!

jeongguk

— what... why didn't he ask me :(

delivered ⤸

jimin

— stfu you don't even like baseball

jeongguk

— ...true

— so you're gonna miss art club's first meeting?

delivered ⤸

jimin

— who tf cares everyone there knows me anyway. I'll text the club leader and tell her I can't make it

— it's not every day jung hoseok invites you to a game!!!

jeongguk

— yeah uh huh..

— well have fun then. I'll fill you in on any details you might miss

delivered ⤸

jimin

— thank u, love u, gotta go! 🏃💨

Jeongguk rolled his eyes and closed the book perched on his lap, then looked up to scout his surroundings. The library was emptier now than when he had first stepped in. Currently he sat on the carpeted flooring, back against the wall in the corner beside the desk areas. He slowly rose to his feet and grabbed his bag, figuring he wasn't hungry enough for lunch just yet, so he decided on heading straight to the arts department for the first club meeting.

When he stepped out of the library building he was greeted by the shining sun once again, a scatter of clouds crowding the air while Jeongguk took his time on his walk, wanting to enjoy the beautiful day out. This area of the school campus had tons of greenery, plots of grass adorning the spots over the fence, with tall trees that were beginning to yellow in time for the fall season.

Jeongguk began humming a light tune, and closed his eyes briefly before he heard a sudden small mewl. He turned to look over the grass area, spotting a cat leaning down and eating a piece of bread. Beside him was someone crouched over and gently patting its head, a fluff of dark hair resembling the cat's own black fur. Jeongguk felt he could recognize those locks from a mile away.

"Mm? Good? Awh, poor baby.." Taehyung cooed at the animal, running his fingers calmly over the cat's shiny coat. "This your first meal in days, hm?"

Jeongguk smiled, watching fondly as the man continued to pet and converse with the kitten. He took a moment to eye his attire, noting how his usual leather jacket wasn't on him today; instead it was a simple white hoodie. Once again Taehyung seemed to be bare footed against the grass, his sneakers scattered somewhere near his backpack.

The boy slowly began to approach him, stepping over the small fencing between grass and concrete, and the cat suddenly perked its head, attentive to the new presence in his proximity."Is he a stray?" Jeongguk spoke up, voice a bit small. Taehyung turned to look at him, eyes narrowed due to the sun in his face.

"Ah," he piped up, standing back up straight. "Pretty boy. We meet again."

Jeongguk bowed his head shyly and looked over at him, noticing how the man's eyes seemed less intense today, somehow. Or maybe it was just his imagination, from the brightness of the sun. "Hey.."

Taehyung glanced towards the kitten. "He's a stray, yes. I met him freshman year, he comes to campus often to ask the students for food. He's kind of a celebrity around here. Am a bit offended you don't know him."

Jeongguk chuckled. "Well, what's.. Um, what's his name?"

"Hm... Mickey. Or Noir. Or Batman," he grinned. "Depends who you ask. Everyone's got different nicknames for him."

"And... what do you call him?"

"I call him Junior." He pulled off a piece of bread from his sandwich and dropped it for the cat. "As in like.. Taehyung Jr."

"You named him after yourself? Narcissist," Jeongguk snickered.

Taehyung scrunched his nose and grinned widely. "Fuck off. He just reminds me of myself sometimes."

"How so?"

Taehyung stayed quiet, looking down as Junior ate eagerly in front of them. Then Jeongguk watched him crouch down again and begin to pet him.

"It's good, right buddy?" he mumbled, "Eat up. I'll have more food for you tomorrow, yeah? Just find me. Mhm, that's right.. just look for me. I'll feed you well."

Jeongguk shifted his body weight towards one foot, watching the two in silence. After a long pause he carefully crouched beside Taehyung and reached out to pet Junior gently. The kitten continued to eat blissfully.

"I think he likes me.." he smiled tenderly, and looked up when he felt Taehyung's gaze on him.

"Jeon," his raspy voice called. "Do you have siblings?"

Jeongguk blinked at him before shaking his head, a bit thrown off at the sudden question. "No, uh.. Why do you ask?"

"M'just asking. You seem very catered to."

Jeongguk pouted his bottom lip out, unsure on what exactly the man had meant by that. "Well, I'm... I really am just an only child. You?"

"I have a little brother," Taehyung said with an innocent smile, and Jeongguk slowly smiled back, not quite used to seeing the man so bright. His brother must be important to him, he figured. Somehow the thought was cute. "Yoongi-hyung takes care of him. Helps me out a lot. He's got way more free time than I do, so he takes him to and from school."

Jeongguk rose a brow. Yoongi takes care of Taehyung's little brother? They must be super close, then. Something inside him wanted to ask him where his parents were, but since Taehyung's brother wasn't in their care he figured the topic of family couldn't be too pleasant. "Really? How old is he?" he asked instead, a cheery tone in his voice.

"He's ten. Going to be way more handsome than me when he grows up," the man gave off a crooked smile and stood up once again, so Jeongguk did too. He watched as Taehyung walked back towards his bag and picked up his DSLR camera, fitting the strap over his head so the device hung down his chest. The younger chuckled to himself. He looked almost like the night they'd met. "So Jeon. Where are you heading off to?"

"Oh, uh... The art club meeting."

He rose his brow. "You're joining the art club?"

"Well yeah, um... My friend is, so I wanted to as well."

"Mm." Taehyung grabbed his backpack, "Can I join?"

A pause. "You... wanna join, too?"

The older laughed loudly. "No, not the art club, Jeon. I'll join you for the meeting, but my heart belongs to the Photography club."

"Oh." Jeongguk glanced at the fancy camera strapped from around his neck. "Right. Well, of- of course you can tag along. I wouldn't like going alone.."

"Sweet. Let's go, yeah?"

Jeongguk smiled and nodded cutely. "Yeah. Let's go."

✱