school desk | vkook

- FOURTEEN -

"Who are you to talk about standing up for oneself?"

"Maybe we can learn together."

"Yeah."

They walk for about five minutes, before Jeongguk stops in front of his house. The two boys are left in awkward silence, neither knowing what to say. Where do they stand? Can they really consider themselves friends yet?

Jeongguk speaks up first, feeling like he has to do something nice for Tae. "Eh, wanna, like, come in or something?"

The older smiles at the offer, happy that Jeongguk is getting a little more comfortable already. "I'd love to, but I promised Taesol, my little sister, I'd help her with homework today."

"Oh."

"Maybe we can hang out all day tomorrow, since it's Saturday?"

Jeongguk would rather have been rejected. A whole day with Taehyung? That could not possibly go well.

"Cool." No, no, no, what is he saying!?

"It's decided then!" Taehyung smiles a huge, boxy smile. Cute. Wait what? "Here's my number, text me tomorrow morning or tonight so we can decide where and when to meet up." He takes out an inc pen from his bag and scribbles some numbers down on Jeongguk's left wrist.

"I should be going now, since I missed my stop and it's going to take pretty long to walk home..."

"Ah, sorry..." Jeongguk fiddles with his school uniform and looks down.

"It's alright! I'll just listen to some music in headphones, if I'm lucky I might be home by dinner!" He's obviously trying not to seem bothered to make the younger feel less guilty, but it's not really working.

Taehyung is about to start walking when an idea sparks in Jeongguk's mind. "Wait, hyung!" He runs to the back of the house.

Taehyung's face lights up when Jeongguk comes back, holding a red bicycle. "This should work," he announces.

"Thank you!" The older grins brightly and climbs the bike. "See you tomorrow, then!"

And with that, he pedals away. Jeongguk stands frozen for a minute, watching Taehyung's light brown hair and black uniform go further and further away until they disappear completely. He turns around and walks towards his own front door, stroking the numbers on his wrist on the way.

+

TAEHYUNGIE HYUNG

hey

so about tomorrow?

yes! i'm assuming this
is you, jeongguk? 😄

yep

great 💕 how about you
come into town and we
hang out, and then you
can get your bike on the
way home?

sure

so when?

idk, i always wake up
pretty early so you can
get here whenever you
like. maybe around 11
and then we can have
lunch together? ☺️

kk

sounds like a plan then! 👌🏻

i'll go to bed now, good
night! 👋🏼😴

but... but it's like
9pm

you do you i guess

gn

+

"You came!" Taehyung exclaims as he opens the door to a nervous, yet excited Jeongguk. "I was scared you wouldn't."

"Me too, honestly," the younger admits awkwardly.

"Alright, wait here and I'll go get my stuff." Taehyung disappears into the apartment and comes back dressed in a thin coat and a little bag containing phone, keys and wallet. "Let's go then!"

Taehyung grabs Jeongguk by the arm with much force and starts walking, making the latter feel very uncomfortable. This dude is almost holding my hand! He can't even remember the last time something like that occurred.

"So, Gguk, what do you want to do?" Taehyung asks brightly as they step out onto the street.

"Gguk?" The nickname feels foreign, coming from a person close to his age's mouth.

"I can call you that, right? Since we're friends now."

Jeongguk smiles a little. "Sure, I like it." And he does.

"Cool! So, I'll ask again. What shall we do?" Taehyung is showing off his big smile as they walk next to each other.

"I'm hungry, can we have some lunch?" The younger suggests.

"Sure thing!"

And so the two of them end up at some Chinese restaurant. Jeongguk automatically lets go of the awkwardness and shows his true colours when the meal is served. He immediately ditches the chopsticks to go get himself a fork and spoon. He starts shoving noodles into his mouth as if his life depended on it, almost moaning with every delicious bite. Taehyung watches the other in fascination.

"Woah, did you have breakfast?"

"Huh?" Jeongguk stops eating fork halfway into his mouth and blinks twice before nodding.

"How can you even...or actually just go back to what you were doing. Hell, I'll order more for us both! We're still growing."

Jeongguk shrugs and dives back into his bowl of food, making Tae chuckle and smile. Jeon Jeongguk is not all that bad, after all. Not very talkative, but sweet.

"Alright so, eating is out of the way. Now how do we spend our day?" Jeongguk wonders as they exit the restaurant, walking through a park. Taehyung thinks about it for a moment, when a brilliant idea enters his mind. He, once again, grabs Jeongguk's hand and starts running the other direction.

"I know what will be fun!"

—

see, i did post a chapter even though i thought i wouldn't! happy (belated) new year to everyone who celebrates it! hopefully i'll keep improving and get to know more of you guys in 2018 ♥️