Marshmallow

Smile

It wasn't that Jungkook was scared. High school didn't scare him. Even though he was an introvert and didn't really like people, he wasn't scared. He wasn't nervous of getting bombarded with tons of homework or suffering from mean teachers or getting targeted by bullies. He wasn't scared of any of that.

There was just one thing that could make his years as a high school student either awesome or unbearable, and it was a tossup every day as to which it would be.

"Jungkookie!"

And here it was. Jungkook sighed and braced himself. The thing came bounding out of the crowd, spotted his blue shirt and red beanie, and pounced. Like, literally. They were the same height, but the thing was a little heavier and was hugging him rather tightly.

"Hyung, get off me."

The thing let go, his face totally uncaring of Jungkook's cold tone. "You're here!"

"Yep." Jungkook continued to look at his schedule, memorizing both class times and subjects before stuffing the sheet in his backpack.

"You've got a decent homeroom, I checked. First day is always so tedious. Have you talked to anybody? Of course you haven't. I'm changing that this year, hear me?"

"Mm-hm." Jungkook walked in silence next to the chatty thing. It was always like this, his friend talking and him listening, or sort of listening. It wasn't as if Taehyung ever said anything really consequential. "This is my room. I'll see you at lunch, hyung."

"Okay! Be good in class! Answer all the questions! Don't talk to any girls!" Taehyung grinned, pat him on the head once and jogged away.

Jungkook watched go, the usual mixture of fondness and annoyance settling in his stomach. Taehyung was a handful, was always talking and had weird rules, but was a good friend, so Jungkook could never really mind. He walked into the classroom and found a seat.

Some girls probably looked at him, and some were definitely whispering, but Jungkook didn't care and paid no mind. School was school. He didn't need people.

--

By lunchtime, Jungkook had been stared at by every single person in his class, and he was fairly certain most of them didn't like him. Not that being disliked bothered him. If someone didn't want to like him, he couldn't do anything about it and he definitely didn't need to waste time thinking about it.

Taehyung had always taken it personally when people said nasty things about "his Jungkookie," though "his Jungkookie" always assured him that he wasn't bothered. But his friend got bothered anyway and was annoyed when Jungkook stopped him from pestering people and demanding to know why they didn't like such a cutie. People never listened, and Jungkook only liked to spend his time on people who listened.

Taehyung, for all his chatting, was a relatively good listener, when Jungkook actually felt like talking. And then he was glad that Taehyung stuck around, especially since he knew that's how his friend also felt about him.

Jungkook ignored all the people staring at him and made his way to the courtyard. He sat beneath a tree and began to eat, knowing that Taehyung would find him. He always did. It was like he had magnet or a GPS tracker that led his friend to him. Today was no different.

"Jungkookie!" The nickname prefaced pretty much anything Taehyung ever said to him.

Looking up, Jungkook saw Taehyung approaching with his usual smile plastered to his face. He jogged towards Jungkook and plopped down on the grass beside him.

"You always pick the loneliest spots, Jungkookie." Taehyung cross his legs and pulled out his phone. "My friend's coming to eat with us, okay?" He texted something quickly and leaned back against the tree.