washable markers ➝ taekook

one

~ 태형아, 일어나!

   "Taehyung-ah, get up! It's 7:30!"

   The sound of his mother calling him jolted Taehyung awake instantly. Always a light sleeper. He kicked his sheets away hurriedly, pulling his warm sweater back down over his uncovered tummy. He'd forgotten to set his alarm again. He'd be late.

   His room was chilly; he didn't want to leave his bed. But, there was no choice but to go. With a change of pants, a change of shirt, socks pulled up above his ankles, a bright necklace, and fixed hair, he was ready to depart, just as soon as he'd stuffed his face and slipped on shoes.

   He briefly stepped in front of the mirror fastened on his wall and fixed his collar, then grabbed his backpack and darted down the stairs. His mother, with her fist resting on her hip, gave him a small, mostly faked scowl. She quickly dropped it, replacing it with a smile as she inspected his outfit.

   Taehyung's parents dubbed his sense in fashion "interesting". Today he wore a bright green long-sleeve tucked into cuffed jeans; a white button down over it. A beaded necklace hung from his neck and he slipped a matching bracelet onto his wrist as his mother watched.

   "Get something to eat and go!" The woman prodded, making a shooing motion with her hands. Taehyung nodded and took an apple off the table, shoving it into his mouth and securing it between his teeth while he slipped into his shoes. He spat the apple out into his open hand once it was free, chewing on the mouthful he kept.

   "Has Dad left already?" Taehyung tilted his head as he asked, tying his shoelace.

   "Mhm. He's doing overtime today, so he'll be home late tonight and early tomorrow," His mother replied, fixing her blazer as she joined him in putting on shoes. The boy hid his face as he frowned at the answer. His father being home late today? Great. Early tomorrow? Not so good. At least today was Thursday, so there would be school again tomorrow and he wouldn't have to be home with the man.

   Taehyung's father wasn't abusive. But Taehyung could never bring himself to say he loved his father. It just wasn't true. He sighed, adjusted his backpack straps and stood up straight. "Bye, mom." He waved. She waved back.

   The bus was nearly at his house, just a few houses down. Jimin, his neighbor, stood in his own yard, kicking stones around while he waited. Taehyung grinned and ran to him, instantly holding his hands as a greeting.

   "Hi~" Jimin sing-songed, cheeks pushing up in a wide smile.

   "Hi, Minnie," Taehyung replied. Jimin took an earbud out of his ear and offered it to Taehyung. As soon as he put it in his ear was greeted with the familiar, smooth sound of soft guitar. Jimin, quite bored of simply standing and waiting, changed his grip on Taehyung's hands; one leaving to hook around his waist, and the other wrapping around his palm as he pulled him back and forth, a relaxed sort of waltz that left Taehyung giggling as he stepped in time with Jimin and the music.

   The pair were interrupted by the noisy school bus that stopped in front of them, doors slowly opening. Jimin let go of Taehyung, and they took their seats on the bus as they did every morning, next to each other in the back of the left side. The kids on the bus were loud, buzzing and blabbering constantly. Jimin and Taehyung were always sitting quietly together, often just like this, one of them sharing an earbud with the other.

   The ride to school was short, ten to fifteen minutes. Taehyung and Jimin stepped out together and strolled onto campus, lush and green with tended landscaping. Their first class was chemistry. Taehyung dropped his backpack at his feet, kicking out his chair and sitting down. The teacher, a tall, young woman with short, brown hair, gave the pair a slight wave as they entered. She lowered her gaze back to the textbook she held.

   Taehyung unzipped his backpack and slid out his notebook, a yellow book decorated with colorful stickers. He flipped it open to a blank page and fished around in his bag for a pencil case, pulled it out when he found it, and dropped a pen onto his book. The remaining students filed in. The desk in front of him was empty, even as the teacher adjusted her turtleneck, cleared her throat, and announced that class would begin.

   Taehyung wondered where its occupant was. He'd spoken to the student a few times. The kid's name was Jeongguk, a boy the same age as him with pretty, brown eyes and black hair that he tended to keep long.

    As the teacher spoke about and collected due assignments, Taehyung shook himself out of his thoughts and set his homework on his desk. He leaned over to Jimin and made a snarky comment about the difficulty of a certain worksheet assigned the previous day, at which Jimin stifled a laugh and nodded.

  The desk in front of him remained empty as the teacher received the last of the homework due and returned to her desk, sitting on the edge as she began her lesson, speaking loudly and clearly about valence electrons, a topic that instantly caused Taehyung's brain to hurt.

   "In the outermost shell of the oxygen atom, there are-" The woman's sentence was cut off by the clear sound of the classroom door opening and footsteps hurriedly shuffling inside. All eyes darted to the latecomer. Jeon Jeongguk, the owner of the empty desk.

   The boy was dressed in a large, dark shirt, but even the deep grey color couldn't hide the large, clearly soaked splotches on his front. He bowed politely.

   "Sorry I'm late, I uh- ran into someone with a lot of water," Jeongguk explained, holding out the hem of his shirt and laughing nervously. The teacher dismissed him with an amused glance and told him it was alright. He took his seat in front of Taehyung, running two hands through his hair and pulling his feet onto his seat.

   Taehyung just propped his elbows up on his desk and held his face in his hands, admiring the pretty boy from behind.

｡ﾟ❁ུ۪ °ₒ 𓂂 ˚ 𓂂 ₒ ° ₒ 𓂂 ˚˖⋆

"polaroid of youuuuuuu dancing in my roooooom"

^ been stuck in my head for.. a long time

let's just ignore the fact that i used the other spelling of jeongguk at first when i meant to use this one ahahaha