The Depths of Emotion

That Afternoon

Taehyung stood in line to get his daily lunch at school. He chose to grab the chicken patty, which is available daily. When he went to grab the patty, he felt a tingle in his inner arm, above the elbow. In that instant, he straightened his arm out to flex the muscle. His hand landed on the hot plate where the chicken patty rests, burning his palm. Timothy flinched and brought his hand back to him, but the tingle did not go away. He quickly grabbed the chicken patty and placed it on his tray.

Behind him, a student snickered. "Why the hell did you do that?" The student asked.

Taehyung narrowed his eyes and sighed heavily. The tingling feeling bothered him, but it bothered him more that it did not go away. He ignored the student and flexed his arm again to try to get rid of the tingle. After repeating this action five times, he still did not suppress the feeling. Deep in his mind, he knew what he needed to do to get rid of the tingle, but he did not want to continue his actions because of the snickering students behind him.

The end of the lunch line did not come fast enough. Taehyung focused on his arm and repeatedly told himself not to try to crack his elbow. Who knows what they say once they hear the crack, he thought to himself.

He made it to the end and punched in his lunch code quickly. Taehyung waited patiently for the agonizingly slow lunch lady to check him out. Once she gave him the okay to go, he ran to the lunch table that he sat at every day.

Sitting at the lunch table were Hoseok, Namjoon, Seokjin, Yoongi, Jimin, and Jungkook. Taehyung took his regular spot between Nathan and Simon.

Then he let his tics unleash. He continued to flex his arm repeatedly, about ten times in a row before his elbow finally cracked and his muscles felt tired.

Seokjin placed his hand on Taehyung's shoulder. Taehyung refused to look at his older friend. He felt ashamed of himself for not being able to hold his tic inside of him. His confidence fell lower and he wanted to shrug Seokjin away, but he decided not to.

"Have you been taking your meds?" Seokjin asked him. The older one asked Taehyung this question a lot recently. Taehyung's tics are the worst they have ever been and Seokjin is worried about him.

Taehyung closed his eyes. He felt sick to his stomach, but at the same time, he had a tingle in his neck. The tingle made him angry, but he had to fulfill the assignment his brain gave him, so he cracked his neck. He rolled it to the left. Then he rolled it to the right. The right side did not crack, making him angrier because that meant he had to continue rolling his neck around until he could crack the right side.

"Y-yes, I've b-been . . . argh! . . . taking all of it," he said to Seokjin. Then, air released in his neck, allowing him to hear a crack. He sighed heavily. It felt good to not have to crack his neck continuously. "It's just that time of the year. It's always bad during this time, like a seasonal allergy," Taehyung explained to Seokjin.

"Well, you're not the only one having a bad time right now," Namjoon mumbled beside him. Taehyung looked over to the tall, young man with blonde hair and pinched eyes.

"I never said that I was the only one," Taehyung said, allowing Namjoon to know that he heard him.

"You put on a charade all the time! You act as if you're the only one going through pain," Namjoon said angrily.

The rest of the table went quiet. Everyone stared at Namjoon. They did not know what to do. Seokjin was the only one who had the courage to speak.

Seokjin asked, "Is there something you'd like to talk about Namjoon?"

Namjoon looked across the table at the light brown haired, skinny, brown eyed, young man. Then, his eyes scanned the rest of the table. He took in all of the nervous expressions from his members and sighed. "It's nothing. I was just kicked out of the place I was staying at, again," Namjoon explained.

"Do you need money?" Yoongi asked boldly.

Namjoon bit the inside of his lip. He pondered the idea of telling his friends the truth. His rent for the room is over a month late, so he is being evicted. Namjoon did not want to worry the boys, though. The idea of making them worry about him bothered him.

"No, I'm good, thanks," he said.

Jimin sighed. "You and me both, brother," he said. The pink haired boy sat across the table from Namjoon and he looked upset as well. "I'm being kicked out soon, too. I can feel it."

"That's different actually being evicted," Namjoon stated.

"Yeah, I know, but it still hurts."

Everyone went quiet.

"I think I have to leave the group," Namjoon said. "I'll come tonight, but it'll be my last night. I just need to get out of this place."

Nobody spoke. They all felt shivers up their spines at the mention of him leaving. The boys all grew a bond with each other. The idea of them breaking up was not an option. Sadness overcame each of them at the thought of separating.

Seokjin spoke evenly, trying not to convey his sadness in his words. "If that's what you think is the right thing to do, then I support you," he said.

After that, they all went back to eating their food and talking about their day.