iris . vkook

fifteen

열 다섯

Taehyung's PoV;

"Where are you taking me?" I giggled as Jeongguk eagerly dragged me down the streets, the two of us ditching art after slipping out of the back door - unnoticed by the teacher who was flirting with one of the students.

"For the little activity I had planned!" He responded, weaving through the crowds of people, his hand gripping my sleeve.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't wish that he was holding my hand rather than my sleeve.

Keep it together, Taehyung.

He pulled me into a shop, the smell of paint and clay immediately hitting me with a harsh slap.

Jeongguk smiled happily, "we're going to make pottery!"

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I pressed my fingertips into the clay cup, both of us giggling at the absurd sound that it produced.

Since we got introduced to the clay and spinning tables, Jeongguk had successfully thrown wet clay everywhere twice and cut his hand on the turntable three times. 

I don't know how he managed it.

Jeongguk had made a vase, the object tall and slender.

It had an extremely wide top though, reminding me of Jin's figure.

"It looks like Jin." He murmured, concentrated on writing something with a cocktail stick.

"That's what I was thinking!" I laughed, impressed at our alikeness.

He laughed whilst writing, drawing his lines and letters with upmost concentration, the same concentrated face appearing on his features as he did so.

The way he tucked his full bottom lip behind his white teeth.

How his hair fell onto his face, no matter how much gel he'd put in or how he'd brushed it. 

The slight squint of his left eye.

The fact that I knew all this made me look like a freak.

Why did I know that he squinted his left eye, specifically, during concentration?

When did I notice that?!

"Ta-da!" He said, moving the turntable carefully to show what he'd been writing.

Engraved into the mid of the vase, he'd wrote our names and the date, with "love forever" in fancy italics, written in English.

It's a good job that Namjoon was practically fluent in English, otherwise I would've had no idea what it said and I'm not certain that Jeongguk would've known either.

"That's so cute." I marvelled, cooing over the work.

"Indeed. It's a very lovely vase. If you would like, I can glaze and paint it for you." The man who ran the shop said, a friendly person who appeared to be in their late-forties, streaks of grey and silver swimming through black hair like shoals of fish.

"That'd be amazing." Jeongguk said.

The man smiled, wrinkles forming beside his eyes as he took it to his bench.

We went to a sink to rid our hands of the drying clay as the man put it in the furnace.

"I'm having so much fun." I squealed in delight, "this is probably the best birthday ever."

"Really?" Jeongguk said, eyes happily surprised, "that makes me feel so warm inside."

I smiled widely at him as we went back to our seats, Jeongguk sitting opposite me.

I looked down at my phone to see Jimin calling through FaceTime.

"Jimin wants to FaceTime, do you want to answer?" I asked.

"Sure. I haven't seen the midget in a while." Jeongguk nodded, standing up and walking behind me.

"Taehyung!" Jimin called happily, "oh! Jeongguk!"

"Hi." Jeongguk smiled.

"Jeongguk?!" Taemin yelled, immediately ripping the phone from Jimin's grasp and running around as he talked to Jeongguk, Jimin running after the childish man in the background.

"Taemin!" Jeongguk laughed.

"I've missed you so much, man. Where are you guys?" Taemin asked, "wait. Are you on a date? Adorable."

I blushed, why did Taemin have to make it awkward.

"We're making pottery." Jeongguk answered, shoving a piece of melon in his mouth, "they provide free food. And sure, call it a date if you want. How's dance going?"

"Eh, it's alright. Boring." Taemin said, Jimin giving up - evident by the way the short man laid on the ground, "you should've come."

"Didn't want to spend a week in Geochang."

"It was compulsory."

"Tragic." Jeongguk shrugged, "can't be that compulsory if I'm not there."

"They're going to go mad at you when we come back, you best brace yourself."

"It'll be fine." Jeongguk said.

The man walked back over, the vase and cup in his hands.

"Yo, we've gotta go. We'll phone you later." Jeongguk waved bye to everyone, his chin still on my shoulder.

Taemin said bye, Jimin yelling something from the floor, before he hung up.

"Okay. I've baked it and painted it white for you. Do you want any finishing touches?" He asked kindly, setting down the pieces of pottery, to which Jeongguk marvelled at as he ran his fingers down the vase.

"Our handprint!" I said excitedly.

Jeongguk nodded eagerly, agreeing with my suggestion.

"Very well." The man said, bowing and leaving us to it.

We dipped our hands in the paint, laughing at the squelch and Jeongguk making a sexual joke about it.

Jeongguk dipped his hands in black paint, whereas I dipped mine in lilac.

I stamped my right hand onto the structure and Jeongguk stamped his left, so they overlapped.

Almost as if we were holding hands.

The man came back over to take it to be glazed, Jeongguk turning to me.

"High five!" He announced, bringing his coated hand up.

I slapped his hand happily, both of us giggling at the paint that flew everywhere and onto our faces and clothing.

His eyes were squeezed shut as he smiled widely, pretty laughs coming from his mouth as our hands remained entwined, flecks of paint decorating his face like arty freckles.

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I placed the vase down onto Jeongguk's fireplace, standing up with a soft grunt.

Jeongguk placed my cup onto his window ledge, some carnations placed in the white container.

"I need to get changed, do you want to change into something different?" He asked, beckoning me to follow him upstairs.

I did so, following him into his bedroom, where I stared at all of his artwork.

He padded into the bathroom, saying that he'd lost something but he couldn't remember what.

"Okay, this is super cheeky, but do you mind if I have a shower at yours? It's just that I want to brush up before we go out and I had no hot water this morning." I babbled.

"Of course you can. Use whatever you want." He said as he came back into the room, dismissing whatever he'd lost as he passed me a towel.