Young Men

August 24: in the cafeteria

Once was seven kids. Their names were Jin, Namjoon, Yoongi, Hoseok, Jimin, Taehyung, and the strongest one, Jungkook. When they went to school together, they always pretended to be superheros!

The first day they met didn't go so well...

It was the first day of school and Jungkook wanted to stay home, but sadly ended up leaving in a school bus.

"Yoongi! Wake up! You're drooling all over my new dress!" A girl, sitting next to a small sleeping boy, exclaimed.

Jungkook sat behind the two, stiff and wide-eyed, not saying a word. He thought about how weird the kid sitting on his left was. The kid, who was drawing on his shoes, turned to Jungkook.

"Do you want to be friends? My name is Taehyung and I'm starting the first grade today. Who are you?" He looked at his ruined new shoes with doodles of stick figures on them. "Oh, and they want to be friends too. That's Potato, Kiwi, and Peanut."

Jungkook scooted away the slightest bit, because that's all he could until he would hit the side of the bus. "U-Um.. I'm Jungkook.. I'm starting Kindergarten today."

"I like you, Jungkook. We'll be the best of friends." Taehyung put his marker away, wiping the smudges of black ink onto his overalls afterwards.

Way in the back of the bus was a tiny but charming boy, surrounded by girls from Jungkooks age and a few years older. If someone took one look at him they'd think that he would turn out to be a play boy, the only reason being is, that some girl is always under his arm.

"Jimin, will you be my boyfriend? I'm not allowed, but I won't tell my mommy."

"Sorry, babe, but I like more mature woman."

Taehyung shook his head down at his shoes, "That's Jimin, he's also starting first grade. We used to be friends...but we don't like each other anymore." He clicked his tongue, "who says mommy anymore? We're too old for that."

Jungkook sucked his cheeks in. He called his mother mommy. He shut his eyes tightly and wished to be back home, eating cookies and jellies while watching cartoons. But he can't, he's too old for that.

The bus stopped, making his eyes pop open. A bricked, well-aged school stood in front of him. It looked like it was going to gobble him up whole, which was not entirely wrong.

"Alright kids, this is your stop. Have a great day and I'll be here when it's time to go back home."

As kids left the bus, going into the horrifying building, Jungkook could feel his knees turn into mush when he got up from his seat. Slowly but surely, Iron man backpack clutched in his hands instead of on his back, he made it safely off the bus.

He walked up to the school, the one he'll be going to for the rest of his... however long. It seemed to happily devour the children who entered, keeping Jungkook from going inside. What others might've saw was just a plain elementary school, but to him, a monster, waiting to make his young life miserable.

"You okay?"

Jungkook looked up to see a hand right in his face, making him flinch. Then, the boy realized who's hand it was: Taehyung's inky palm.

"Looks scary right? Don't worry, by the time you get to my grade it gets less and less scary." Taehyung takes his own hand back and skips into the school, yelling, "If anyone picks on you, just tell them that you know a first grader!"

Jungkook gulped then took a deep breath. Everything was going to be alright. He wobbled inside, being directed where to go with the teachers' help. The first thing he noticed was how the school smelled. It wasn't bad. He could get used to the smell of new crayons and pencil shavings and disinfectant wipes.

Passing through the gigantic hallway to the cafeteria, he saw things that said, 'students of the month', 'our field trips', 'school parties', and other events such as those on the wall. Though they had pretty decorative borders, the areas labeled with exciting titles were vacant. Jungkook finally made it into the cafeteria, echoes of laughter and sobs filled the place entirely.

Tables were aligned side by side, marked with which grade and teacher a student belonged to. Jungkook had a female teacher that went by Mrs. Domnus, who taught Kindergarten along with two others. He looked at each of the tables, using the best of his reading skills to find his grade.

Something, more like someone, caught his eye. The person wore faded jean overalls with black smudges on them. Jungkook could only guess who this was; it was most likely to be his new friend, Taehyung. So instead of looking for his classroom's table, the small kindergartener wobbled over to the first grader section.

As he walked, he noticed a group of girls trying to cheer up another girl with her head down. One of them, wearing a pink dress with yellow pigtails, turned around and caught the boy staring at them. She held up a fist, scaring Jungkook away to his friend's table.

Still clutching his backpack, he went up to Taehyung, who was busy helping another boy stick crayons up his nose, and tapped his back since he couldn't reach his shoulder. This made Taehyung surprised, which led him to jump and drop his crayons.

"HEY! WHO-" He turned around and saw Jungkook with his big, innocent eyes. Instantly, he forgot all about the crayons. Taehyung felt his heart flutter for some reason, and he didn't know why. "Oh. Jungkook... What's up?"

Jungkook shyed away from answering the other's question, hiding his face with the Iron Man backpack. "D-Do you know where my table is?"

With this, Taehyung couldn't keep himself back, his adorableness was just too much.

"Kookie, you're too cute!" He squealed, placing his inky hands on both sides the younger's face and squished his cheeks together.

The shy kindergartener backed away to where he was out of reach. His hair was now disheveled and cheeks were red. "I just want to know. I-I'm lost..."

Taehyung laughs and points to the table vertically across from him, where other bug-eyed kids sit. "Kindergarteners sit over there. I'll see you later!"

Nodding, Jungkook walked away, this time feeling a little more confident. He could hear a boy whisper behind him.

"You called him Kookie, do you like him?"

"He's just cute okay? Be quite, playboy."