school desk | vkook

- TWELVE -

"Alright you two, spit it out." Mrs Ha, the school counsellor looks done with everything as she watches the two boys in front of her.

"What is there to say?" Jeongguk rolls his eyes. "I tried to speak to him and then he went all aggressive." He shrugs. "May I lea-"

"You can talk!" Taehyung interrupts in an annoyed tone. "I go almost two years with you practically bullying me without complaining one bit, and then when I finally decide to stand up for myself—no, for a friend, actually—you make it a big fight and blame everything on me!"

Mrs Ha studies the young boys for a second. "You know, there are many common reasons as to why teens bully. Many times it's out of insecurities, you're figuring yourself out, trying to find your identity and such."

"I'm not fucking gay," Jeongguk replies, earning a death glare from Taehyung.

"Yeah, well okay," Mrs Ha is getting frustrated, she can't figure the boy's feelings out. "Perhaps you're not getting as much attention as a person needs. You might not even think about it, but you subconsciously crave attention so you do rude things to earn it. Is that right?"

"Well, it's not really working," Taehyung argues. "I just ignore hi- oh..." he quiets down as the realisation dawns on him.

"Exactly, so he keeps on trying. Isn't that right, Jeongguk?" She smiles kindly, almost pityingly. The youngest just sits there in silence, staring at nothing in particular.

"Or maybe there is no one you can talk to, so you bottle everything up," the woman continues. "Or someone is dominating you, and doing mean things to Taehyung here gives you a feeling of control."

Jeongguk is cursing in his head. Truth is, now that someone has put it into words, he realises how accurate it is.

"Honestly, whatever is bothering you, just man up already and don't try to come to us for comfort, are you a fucking girl or what?" his friends tell him. Jeongguk supposes they're right.

"Hi, Mom!" Jeongguk says as he enters his tiny apartment.
"Hm." All her attention is directed towards the computer screen in front of her, as usual.

Jeongguk looks down and takes a sip of the beer Seokjin smuggled in. He doesn't want it, he never does. But his hyungs and all of the girls sitting around them would judge him if he didn't drink it, Jeongguk knows that. Honestly, he just wanted to drink chocolate milk like Taehyung and his friends were right now.

"Jeongguk?" Taehyung's, way too caring, voice interrupts his trail of thought. He huffs in response.

"Why did you come to speak to me today?"   Taehyung and Mrs Ha look at him expectantly and Jeongguk feels his face go red with the humiliation, but decides to be honest for once.

"I, uhm, wanted to, eh, apologise..." pfft, yeah, and how did that work out?

"What?" Taehyung's voice is unbelieving, yet soft.

The brown haired boy scratches his neck, very uncomfortable with the situation. "I wanted to say sorry. Now you know, bye." He stands up abruptly and walks out, slamming the door to the counsellor's office. Mrs Ha gives Taehyung a little shrug.

"You may leave, unless you need to speak about something of course."

"I'm fine thank you," he says politely, bowing before walking hurriedly out of the door and down the school corridor.

"Jeongguk!" he shouts. "Jeongguk, what made you change your mind?" But the younger is far ahead and doesn't hear his shout. Or at least that's what the older thinks, until english class a few hours later.

this. this made me
change my mind.
// j

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i promise the gay will rise from now on, and so will the chapter length, sorry for keeping you waiting

i almost forgot, merry christmas! it's over for me since my country celebrates on christmas eve, but hope you're all having a wonderful time, even if you don't celebrate it. love you, thank you so much for reading and being patient! ♥️♥️