sleeping partners.

THURSDAYS

D11
taehyung focus
today was a thursday, and thursdays meant no lessons for jungkook. taehyung on the other hand, had his schedule jam packed full; classes to go to, homework he procrastinated during the holidays had to be finished and he had thousands of essays to type up and print.

hence the reason why taehyung now sat at a library table since early afternoon, with textbooks strewn across the small desktop and pens littering every surface of the table, taehyung reads and rereads his notes.

he sighs for the umpteenth time and looks up at the window to see that the campus had grown darker and darker. the winter sun had set early and now at 8:00pm, the skies and campus was pretty much pitch black, save for the couple of yellow streetlamps glowing along the way.

taehyung chews on his lower lip, fiddling with his turtleneck sweater as he thought about walking home in the dark. it'd only be a short walk from the library to his dorm but his knees trembled at the thought of walking in the dark alone. usually he'd just walk home but today, the ghost kept him cowering inside the library.

yes, the ghost.
this morning, an uproar went about the students - all talking about this ghost that a freshman had witnessed in the early hours of the morning. according to the freshman, the ghost had half her grey face slipping off her skull - and where her eyes would be, were hollow sockets and her bony frame glowed a luminous white.
students constantly chatted about the freshman and the ghost, their eyes widening comically at the mention of ghosts.

normally taehyung would've ignored the comments, thinking they were stupid but namjoon had shown 'proof' during maths class earlier in the afternoon. the proof being a grainy photo of the girls dormitory hallway, a patch of glowing white visible in the corner of the room. it could've been photoshopped but taehyung had shivered. what if the ghost is real??

he looks around the library to see only a couple of students remaining, none of which he knew well enough to ask to walk home with.
his eyes flit back to work of the desk and starts to tidy up, throwing his textbooks into his mess of a backpack.

he takes out his phone, thinking that if he walks quickly enough and had music filling his ears to distract him, he'd be able to walk home without being too jittery.

"alright children, make a move back to the dorm soon." the librarian calls out from behind her desk. taehyung sits there for a couple of seconds, looking out of the window, before licking his lips and searching through the contacts of his phone, pressing the call button. fuck it, lemme just call him.

"hey, are y-you busy?" taehyung asks, stuttering a little.

"uh no, im just talking with yoongi." jungkook's voice comes out of the phone unwaveringly and clear. taehyung swallows, his free hand bunching up the material of his grey turtleneck.

"tae?" jungkook prompts.

taehyung clears his throat, "can you um, - you don't have to do this if you don't want to - but can you maybe come to the library?"

please say yes. please say yes. please say yes. please don't let that ghost bitch come and get me.

"why?"

"um, y-you know that rumour? you know. . ." taehyung takes a deep breath, "the ghost sighting? of the ghost girl?"

jungkook bursts out laughing, his laugh throaty and loud in the receiver pressed against taehyung's ear.
taehyung frowns, "it's not funny!!"

"taehyung, it's fake." he laughs, "obviously those IT guys photoshopped the photo - it so obvious."

"yeah but-" taehyung drops his voice to a mumble after sighing, "can you please just come and pick me up?" he says meekly.

"yeah yeah, im coming." jungkook chuckles, hanging up. taehyung sighs in relief and pockets his phone, avoiding looking out of the window - he thought the ghost girl would be smiling lopsidedly at him if he looked up at the window so he kept his eyes downwards.

he slides his laptop into his laptop bag and slings his backpack and bag over his shoulders, gripping the straps tightly. he sits waiting in the corner of the library, trying to wait a little longer before mrs mong, the librarian kicked him out. he hears her shuffle to the female bathroom in her hideous brown kitten heels, sniffling as she does so.

the few remaining students leave one by one until taehyung is left.
taehyung's sat at a table at the back of the library, aimlessly swinging his legs back and forth and puffing his cheeks out with boredom.

"ah shit, it's cold." jungkook curses upon entering the library.
turning his head and feeling relieved, taehyung hops off the table, "you were quick."

"yoongi's dorm's close by." jungkook shrugs. taehyung jumps off the table, ready to head home to his warm dorm room.

only his clunky laptop bag manages to knock over a pamphlet holder. several pamphlets advertising alcohol/drug abuse and teen pregnancy fall to the ground, cluttering the carpet up.

taehyung groans and drops to his knees, picking the pamphlets up with a loud sigh.
a sigh sounds in the room and taehyung watches as jungkook makes his way to taehyung to help him, tutting at the elder's clumsiness.

"thanks." taehyung mutters, embarrassed.

"hurry up, my legs are freezing." jungkook grunts. taehyung looks up to see jungkook sitting on his haunches, clearly displaying his basketball shorts and legs which were unusually coloured red from the cold. not to mention the purple flips flops that he donned on his feet.

taehyung laughs, "shorts and sandals, seriously? it's winter, jungkook."

"i was sitting in my boxers and these was the first things i saw near me." jungkook says, scowling a little.

"idiot." taehyung chuckles.

"says the person who believes that the ghost is real."

"it is real! there's pictures!"

"it's fake!"

"yeah. mm. sure."

the duo are too busy bickering about the ghost to notice the old librarian shuffling by the tables, slinging her side bag across her chest and fiddling with her keys. she sniffles again, her allergies all over the place because of a student who had walked in with cat hair all over her jumper.

mrs wong doesn't notice the two boys huddled and kneeling on the floor as she quickly surveys the library one last time, and wanders over to the exits.
eager to leave and go home to her musty little flat and her glass of cheap wine, she shuts the library door hastily and with a jangle of her keys, locks the door.

jungkook looks up, eyes blinking rapidly to move his fringe from out of his eyes. "wasn't that the door locking?" he questions.