CANDID. ᵏᵗʰ

CHAPTER 03; 𝙁 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝙁𝙍𝙄𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙎𝙃𝙄𝙋

a wave of relief washed over taehyung. if you said no, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. he asked, "you first?"

"when were you born?"

"december thirtieth, ninety-five."

you laughed and clapped once, quietly as to not disturb the other passengers. your windswept hair had come out of its style and now hung in loose strands in front of your eyes, but you made no move to push it away. it would only get messier, you reasoned. "aw, looks like i'm your hyung! as always, youngest go first."

"what? when were you born?"

you told him your birth date and he stuck his lower lip out in a pout, leaning back and crossing his arms. "no fair. you're barely a year older."

"i think you're missing something in there. 'you're barely a year older, hyung,'" you teased. underneath your teasing, though, laid relief—too many in your friend group were older than you and they liked to exploit it.

taehyung rolled his eyes but it held no malice. when he spoke, he, too, had a joking lilt to his words. "so you're going to be that guy? am i going to be the butt of all your jokes now just because you're older?"

you laughed and shook your head. "do you want to play i-spy or not, taehyung?"

"i'm not going to call you hyung, you know." this entire exchange was odd, to say the least. the two of you met not fifteen minutes ago, and yet, between you, there was good-natured banter as if you'd known each other for far longer. you seemed very relaxed about his cheeky disrespect, too, and only leant back in the seat with a hum.

"okay, kid. you first—i'll guess."

he ignored the nickname and took his time looking around the train compartment. it was reasonably quiet aside from a group of young girls directly across from them and three older women near the entrance, one of whom was talking louder than she needed for her facetime call.

"i spy with my little eye..." he began, straightening his posture to look over people's heads. you suppressed a chuckle—he looks a bit like a meerkat, so focussed. he stared off in a different direction of where his 'something' was. it was really behind you, a few seats back, so he craned his neck ninety degrees to his left and said, "something beginning with 'h'."

it was a trick he pulled when he was young. it would undoubtedly fool his friends, and they'd both grumble and awe about it afterwards, saying what a great actor taehyung was. little taehyung would puff his chest out proudly at his new, unofficial title of 'best actor ever'.

"'h'?" you wondered, glancing around. you weren't as gullible as taehyung's childhood friends were, but it was worth a shot. "h...andle," you guessed, drawing out the 'h' sound as you tried to find something to fit it.

taehyung shook his head, the beginnings of a smile starting to pull at his lips.

"a... hand. a hand of cards."

just behind taehyung, an old man placed down a card with a smug smile that made him look much younger. the two others, around the same age, muttered in defeat.

"nope," taehyung replied cheerfully. his smile broadened as you looked around, continually passing over the area of taehyung's chosen item.

"uh, okay." you narrowed your eyes at him, contemplating, as he raised his hands innocently. "harry potter?"

he made a sound like an incorrect buzzer on a game show. "no, not someone's book."

you brushed your hair out of your eyes—finally—as you thought. those three things were the only things you could see in front of you that started with 'h', and like every game of i-spy you struggled with, illogical words starting with that letter filled your head.