sunset diner | jjk

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・the inner workings of his childhood・

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the hallway was filled with laughter and talking but jungkook was silent. he felt awkward as he walked with taehyung, their arms brushing every time people squeezed around them. the older had decided that they would walk together to their classes from now on, seeing as they had the same ones. the brunette was hesitant but complied, it would only be sometimes right? taehyung looked around the hallways, searching for a topic of conversation. his eyes lit up when a lightbulb went off in his head.

"hey, jungkook-ah, who are you sitting with at lunch?" he turned his head to look at the boy beside him, shoving his hands in his pockets in the process.

"my hyungs, namjoon and yoongi. they should be there already. what about you?" jungkook kept his head facing the direction they walked, but his eyes flickered over to taehyung several times.

"ah, i sit with jiminie-ah, hoseok hyung doesn't have our lunch period." the redhead sighed.

"how are you guys friends? not to be rude but, they're really popular and you're the new kid." this time he actually looked at taehyung, he was almost shocked at the revelation of park jimin and jung hoseok being friends with someone new.

"oh jungkookie, how naïve are you?" taehyung laughed at jungkook's question, taking a moment to fully respond. "we're childhood friends, i only moved here because they went here. i used to go to busan academy, but private schools have shit people in them, so i transferred." he mentally face-palmed himself after he finished his sentence, why did he tell jungkook all of that? he was never one to spill this early into a friendship. he was relieved when all the other did was nod.

"uh, well like, if you want to, you totally don't have to it's just like whatever ya know just if you wanted to-" he scratched the back of his head, throat closing up as he tried to speak. jungkook was never one to stray from his regular group of friends so this was rather difficult for him.

"spit it out jungkookie." taehyung laughed, his boxy smile revealing itself. it calmed jungkook, making him realize that this kid wasn't a threat it any way, shape, or form.

"heh, well i was gonna ask if you and jimin-hyung wanted to sit with us, you don't have to though, i'd understand if he didn't want to or something..." jungkook trailed off and looked down at his feet, avoiding the older's gaze. taehyung grabbed jungkook's wrist and pulled him towards the wall before stopping, he didn't want to get in people's way.

"i'd love to kookie. jimin won't mind at all, he's not a douche, plus i'll get to make more friends!" he smiled brightly, causing jungkook to crack a small toothy smile. he was confused, he had just met this boy today yet they we're already hitting it off. he had talked more to taehyung in one day than he had to any other student in this building all year. something about it was unsettling to him. it built up in the pit of his stomach, begging him to avoid this at all costs, tugging at his words so to not open up too much. but naïve little jungkook dismissed this feeling, after all, it could've just been nerves. he was making a new friend, it was something he rarely did, if ever. so sure, it was just nerves.

"that's good, well we should head over to the café, they're gonna start serving lunch soon and we have to get on the good line before all the snacks are gone." he took a step backwards, beginning to trail off into the ocean of students behind him. the red head took the hint and followed behind, pace quickening to match jungkook's stride.

they walked in a comfortable silence, not feeling the need to have conversation, and soon reached the café. it was a loud cluster of students, ranging from the jocks to the bookworms. they quickly hopped into a line to get their food, today was kimchi and rice, but the boys got sweets as an extra. jungkook scanned the space, searching for his friends, the blue hair signaling him of their location. with the nod of his head he gestured for taehyung to follow him.

"jungkook-ah!" namjoon greeted with a dimpled smile, jungkook grinned back and slid into the bench next to him.

"who's he?" yoongi questioned, pointing at the boy who stood awkwardly behind jungkook, wondering if he was okay to sit down.

"oh, guys this is taehyung, he's new. i said he could sit with us, that's cool right?" he motioned for taehyung to sit down and yoongi sighed exasperatedly, a nod following.

"so taehyung, what brings you to this shit hole we call a school?" the oldest raised an eyebrow, popping a grape into his mouth. taehyung only laughed, his bright boxy smile returning.

"long story, but why exactly is it a shit hole? it seems pretty nice here." he sat himself comfortably on the bench and took a spoonful of rice. "food's good too."

"don't mind yoongi-hyung, he's just got a bad case of 'stick up his ass'," namjoon chuckled while yoongi glared daggers at him, "the school's fine, it's better than most in the area actually." taehyung nodded, a giggle escaping his lips. he turned around when he heard his name being called.

"tae! hey man i've been looking for you everywhere!" they all turned to face the voice, a raven-haired, ripped jean wearing jimin.

"chim! aish sorry, i forgot to text you, jungkook invited us to sit with them!" he scratched the back of his head, laughing softly as he looked at his feet. jimin smiled and punched him lightly on the shoulder, sitting next to him.

"well, i told jackson i'd sit with him this week but i guess he can deal with one day." he spoke only to his friend, then turned to face the others, "thanks for inviting us kook. namjoon and yoongi right? we have study hall together!" jungkook replied with a 'no problem' and the others nodded, remembering jimin from their first period class. as they looked at him, they noticed that he looked like a world class playboy, but his smile dismissed all of it, he looked like a teddy bear.

the five sat, talking about their classes so far and their teachers, the classes they had next. even though they had never really spoken before now, the social hierarchy of high school separating them, they acted like a normal group of friends. taehyung liked this, he liked that he found somewhere that didn't remind him of the reason he left his old schools in the first place. it was like his safe space, but even this wasn't safe from the inner workings of his childhood.