Shadow Dancing | K.TH

Premonitions and Blushes

"This one is a requirement, hyung." Namjoon says, flipping through the notebook that he probably wrote down every assignment ever. "We can't miss it."

Yoongi gives a sad sigh as he stretches and rolls lazily off the couch. He'd been so still for the past six hours that I'd suspected that he'd been glued to the furniture.

"Okay then." Jin says as he abandons the plate he was carefully washing. "Let's go, everybody— which of course excludes Tzuyu and V. You two look after yourselves and Jimin— it won't be a problem, correct?"

"Yes, hyung." V replies as he empties a bottle of pills onto his palm, not even hesitating as he pours all of them down his throat. The sight makes my heart feel like it's going to shatter— I'd been so immature earlier. He was going through a terrible time as well, and I had just made a tiny thing into such a big deal.

"Only two per day, V!" Hoseok calls lightly as he pulls on his jacket. Just before he leaves, he leans towards me so that V couldn't hear what he was saying.

"If he has an attack, give him two. Three if he reaches seizures— it may happen."

A chill travels up my spine as I take his precautions to heart. Just the thought of him writhing on the floor in pain brings tears stinging in my eyes, and I hurriedly push the picture away.

What were the chances it would happen today?

"Don't mess up the house!" Jin warns as he pushes a whining Jungkook out the door. "If you do, then you two are doing the dishes for a month!"

"Yes, mom." V mutters under his breath as the door shuts behind them. It's louder than I think, and I half expect Jin to come dashing back inside and smack sense into V's head.

But he doesn't, and the door stays shut.

An air of awkwardness begins to rouse up between us— and I feel dismayed that the silence is still not something of comfort. Shouldn't we be used to each other by now?

"I'll go check on Jimin." I say quietly as I put down the glass I'd been sipping from. When I glance at him to see if he had showed any reaction, I'm not surprised by the lack of emotion he displays at my announcement.

He just needed time.

When I arrive in front of the infirmary door, I tilt my head at the slight crack. Had it been open when I'd last come out of it? I had made sure to close the door— but maybe I was just hallucinating.

But when I come in, I really do hope I'm hallucinating.

The bed is empty, devoid of Jimin or any kind of life. Invisible fingers close around my throat as my heartbeat skyrockets into space, sending painful flickering up and down my figure.

"V!" I yell, voice cracking with numbness and terror. "V—"

"What's wrong?" His eyes flash to the empty bed, the rumpled blankets as his hand closes protectively around my upper arm. I feel his body tremble with surprise when he realizes that Jimin was missing.

But then he relaxes, the darkening in his eyes growing brighter with amusement.

"Jimin, it's not nice to play with children like that."

Huh?

When I whip around in confusion, I see a smiling Jimin step out from behind the door. I hadn't noticed him at all— and a rush of relief nearly makes my legs collapse underneath my weight.

"You idiot!" I yell instinctively as his grin deepens. Even though his face is still pale from blood loss and his eyes have shadows underneath them, he was awake and in front of me. He even had enough energy to pull a childish prank.

"Hello, Tzuyu." Then he shakes his head at V, who has a happy glow to his skin. "Gosh, V. I really thought that I'd tricked you as well. But of course not— you notice everything, don't you?"

"Amateur trick, Chim." I hear a smile in V's words as he speaks, his eyes curved into a rare smile. "You should've left the door flattened, at least."

"Gosh, Jimin!" I squeal, my cheeks flushed with embarrassment and joy at the same time. "Apologize— you have no idea how scared I was."

"Sorry." He smiles the smile that I didn't think I'd ever see again, and my heart does a happy somersault in my chest. Happy just wasn't enough a word to describe how I was feeling at the moment— I felt like flying. Everything had turned out amazing— just like V had told me.

Then Jimin's eye flickers towards V's lingering hand on my shoulder. Puzzlement soon turns into pure smugness as his grin dips down another level of devilish.

"Did anything interesting happen while I was out?"

V seems to realize that he had been too obvious— and also that he had been too late. Jimin's eyes scrunch into dark lines as he notices his best friend's unnatural behavior, clearly inferring what had gone on next himself.

"Something has happened."

"Nothing important," I quickly defend when I notice that V had turned an ashen shade. Everyone knew Jimin was quiet and soft spoken in general, but once the boy set his sights on something— he would not let go.

And V knew that the best.

"Nothing, huh?"

"Go back to resting, Jimin." V says coolly, but I can hear a faint note of anxiety tugging his tone slightly higher than usual. And the growing blush on the back of his neck seems to confirm everything for the ash-haired boy.

Goodness, V was cute when he was nervous.

"You're blushing, Tae. That might be your first ever— and since Tzuyu looks like she wants to swallow you alive, I'll just assume that you guys have done something out of both of your comfort zones?"

"Not this again." V mutters in exasperation as he storms out the door, his back arched with either annoyance or embarrassment. Probably a mix of both.

"No worries, Tzuyu." Jimin pats my shoulder comfortingly with a weird, wide smile on his face. "He does that when he gets shy— you'll probably find him in his room throwing things around and having a fight with the wall."

My eyebrows rise when I hear Jimin's description about V's way of letting out his humiliation. That was strangely peculiar— but somehow so cute that it made my heart melt like chocolate in my chest.

I had so many things to learn about him still.

"Where are the others?" When he asks, I give him a look of surprise. I'd been certain that he'd ask for the details— like everyone else after they'd learned about mine and V's relationship. It usually didn't end well— and honestly could get very annoying when they were literally smirking every single second. I'd almost ended up punching a particularly devilish expression off Yoongi's face.

"Don't worry," Jimin repeats as he runs his fingers through his hair. "I won't pry any further— earlier was just mainly to get V to show the reaction that he did."

He winks at me as he smiles. "It's not every day that I get to see V blushing like a teenage girl, you know. Or have him flee the room like that— and nearly trip on the way out. He normally prefers to have the last word."

This was one of the reasons I liked about Jimin.

He gave people space when they needed it.

"Thanks, Jimin. Really," I emphasize, relieved that I hadn't had to deal with this all over again. I'd already been through it enough times to make my head explode— having to do it even once more might just set me off.

Jimin gives me another easygoing grin before pushing open the door for me. "Anything for my favorite girl. Now let's go find him before he trashes his room and Jin makes us do the dishes."

How did he know?