Purple Is Just A Color|| vkook

10~ "Sweet like you"

Purple POV

“Two weeks ago, I made friends with Kim Taehyung.”
That sentence is still so new to me that I can‘t believe it and it feels even weirder when I say it out loud in the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror.
Not that it‘s a big deal… but still...
Even though the occasion was admittedly very painful as I remember with a sigh, I am glad about the outcome of the night in the hospital wing.
We had officially buried the old relationship that consisted of nothing but mocking and side comments that tended to get a little more evil than needed and break out into heated arguments and had replaced it with a friendship that was something I never knew I needed.
These two weeks of November have been nothing like the time before and especially not like any other school year in general.
Since our schedules are suspiciously similar, we walk to many classes together and I will never give up trying to stop him from smoking those stupid cigarettes, we started doing homework together and meet up in the library.
We are making stupid faces at each other across the Great Hall at the meals.
And all of that… the conversations, the jokes and the constant teasing… they all come naturally.
It never gets awkward between us and I feel like I can breathe more deeply in his presence.
I also never noticed before how funny he actually is, but now it is not rare that I have to fight for my breath, clutching my stomach while he just sits across from me with that unique boxy grin of his.
The two of us, already not attention-deprived because of our origin, now are the main gossip topic of Hogwarts even though the other students are eagerly trying to hide it, but I can hear them whisper about us behind our back as we walk through the hallways without a single care.
And honestly, I stopped giving a shit on the campus talk years ago because they are never satisfied with picking you apart with words anyways.
I worked hard to be where I am and deserve the respect that many people have for me as I am an excellent student and a prefect.
And Taehyung is a whole other story anyways.
With the grand but nonchalant entrance he made on the first day of school, nobody dares to joke about him, his ice cold stare and the constant scowl on his lips silencing evil tongues before they even speak up and by now I am very fascinated by his attitude and what is behind it.
The more time I spend with him, the more glimpses I get at the Tae that is carefully hidden behind the perfect facade.
I am lost in those thoughts as I get ready on this November 17th that is warm compared to the days before, the Hogsmeade day of this month falling on a very windy but sunny Saturday.
I pull my hair back in a low ponytail, managing to tame my long strawberry blonde hair with my trusty purple hair tie.
I check my appearance one last time, smiling satisfied at my choice of outfit being dark blue and ripped skinny jeans and a white turtleneck, a black necklace that my brother Jungkook had gifted me around my neck.
I walk out of our room, grabbing my blue coat on the way out and now I am finally on my way down the many stairs to meet Tae in the Great Hall, overly on time for the day we are planning to spend together in the cute little wizard’s village.
To my surprise, Tae is already waiting for me and greets me with a big grin as he pushes himself off the wall he had been lazily leaning on.
I walk towards him and secretly look him up and down as he, once again, looks ridiculously handsome.
He is clad in tight black jeans and a grey hoodie the neckline of which reveals the very same necklace he was wearing on September 1st.
To block out the cold air outside, he is wearing a jean jacket that is complimenting his still tan skin.
“Ahh, princess” - he never stopped calling me that-  “you are finally here, what took you so long?” he mocks.
I hit his arm, pouting and trying to suppress a grin.
“I am early, dumbass, when did you get up?”
He shrugs his shoulders and walks towards the queue in front of the door.
“Normal time, I just don’t have to take all those stairs from the ridiculously high Ravenclaw tower to get here. My legs would be tired as fuck.”
I look down to his legs and immediately doubt that statement as I can see the muscles shifting under the fabric of his pants.
Nevertheless, I meet his grey eyes and pull one eyebrow up with a smirk.
“Then work out, would you. Maybe you need it.” I tease and pinch his side, knowing well that there is not fat to be worked off.
“Yah, you would like that huh? So you can stare at me again next time we coincidentally meet each other in that amazing bathroom.”
I gasp and vigorously shake my head.
“First of all, I was never staring at your deformed body”, he scoffs at that, “and second, there is not going to be a next time, you are not breaking any rules again and use that bathroom, it is reserved for prefects. You know, those who deserve such relaxation for their hard work.”
Even though my voice was completely serious, Tae starts chuckling.
“Sure princess, but then why don’t you use all your energy and concentrate on growing a little more?”
He looks down to me and pats my head, rogue glistening in his eyes because he knows very well how much I hate my admittedly pathetic height of 5“2’ and a HALF!
I take a deep breath to throw an offended response at him as he swoops me in his arms and carries me down the main stairs and I screech, one arm wrapped tightly around his neck and my other hand clutching the fabric of his hoodie in its fist.
“Tae!!”, I hiss, “what are you doing?”
He looks at me, grinning widely and his face close to mine and I take a short moment of admiring his flawless features before going back to scowling at him.
“Helping you to new heights, seen as you never have a look at the world from this high up, so why not carry you, princess?”
I roll my eyes and ignore all the hissed whispers and stares directed to the two of us, who surely look weird like this, because he does too and I give up with a sigh as he doesn’t set me down when we reach the bottom of the staircase and he carries on walking towards the gate with me in his arms.
“Tsk, let’s see when your spaghetti arms give up Tae!”
He laughs and throws his head back while doing so, leaving me nothing else to look at but his bobbing adam’s apple and windpipe that is prominent under his smooth skin.
“I don’t think I'll struggle with the 20 pounds on your tiny body.”
He sways me from side to side, almost as if he was soothing a baby, to guess my weight and I roll my eyes once again.
“Stop rolling your pretty eyes or they are gonna get stuck in your stoic little head!”
I stare at him in surprise, I hadn’t expected such a sudden compliment.
“You… think that my eyes are pretty?” I ask and I can swear I can see a red tint sneak on his cheeks before he grins and shakes his head.
“Totally. Like a puddle with mud in it after a nasty storm.”
I hit his arm, hard, and try to smack his chin with my head but he drops me closer to the ground and I cling onto him even more.
“Ay! Don’t drop me! And I can’t help it, not everybody can have eyes that look like that stupid ‘Hope diamond’ with sapphire sprinkles on it!”
We stare at each other in surprise and shock about this very detailed description and I curse myself for not thinking before opening my mouth but after a few seconds we both break out in laughter and he smoothly places me back on the safe ground and we keep walking, now leaving the grounds and heading for Hogsmeade.
As soon as we reach the village, I pull my friend over to the huge bookstore that I love very dearly.
“Come on, they get a new delivery every month and it’s already so late in November!”
Tae laughs under his breath and willingly follows me into the impressive building that towers over many others.
I breathe in deeply as we step through the doors, taking in the relaxing scent of old books and the musky notes coming from the wooden shelves.
I greet the young woman behind the counter as she knows me well from my frequent visits but I don’t miss the way she looks at Tae by my side who is curiously looking around the ground floor, not even noticing the stares he is receiving.
“Where to first, princess?” he asks and walks deeper into the maze of tall shelves and I follow him with a grin.
“I don’t know, what do you like to read the most?”
He mumbles a response, biting down on his lip and avoiding my gaze as if he is embarrassed about his answer.
“Huh? What was that?”
He clears his throat and ruffles through his hair nervously, a blush tinting his cheeks for sure this time.
“Uhm… those historical novels… romantic novels? Pride and Prejudice really was… fascinating. I liked it a lot.”
I grin widely and hug him loosely before taking his slim wrist and pulling him towards the spiral staircase that is leading to the first floor.
“Amazing choice Tae, I see you have taste now that we have established that you can actually read” I joke to soothe him back into a light mood, seen as he has immediately pulled up his protective walls that I am trying to slip behind when he mentioned the genre he is interested in.
I discovered that he has the habit of pushing me away and going back to his harsh attitude as soon as he more or less accidentally shows a vulnerable side of his fascinating personality.
But I genuinely love that he likes reading and we can have actual conversations about genres, authors and writing styles that I want to have more often, he has been very hesitant in revealing his taste in arts like literature and music as of now.
I skip up the stairs and confidently head towards the section with books from other centuries and just start talking to break the silence.
“I don’t know what you are specifically looking for but I personally loved ‘My Fake Rake’ by Eva Leigh because I have feministic tendencies, especially for the time we are talking about in those novels and I like Lady Grace’s determination. She has a plan that she follows and accidentally falls in love, of course she does in a romantic novel, but I love her.
If you want something less realistic and more fairytale-ish, there is ‘the Beast of Beswick’, an ancient version of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ mixed with the bravery of … Katniss Everdeen? It was a little bit too cliché but it’s worth a try if you are in the mood for that.
But my personal absolute favorite right now is ‘Butterfly Swords’ by Jeannie Lin. It is desperate, feisty and absolutely lovely. 
The, at the time, rare occasion of a young woman actually deciding for herself in ancient China. She is ignoring standard gender roles but still keeps an innocent image and fastly gains the trust of her protégé who falls for exactly that even though they are both not allowed to let their guard down. I love her courageous and brave character and he is just so cliché” I sigh and turn to Tae with a happy smile on my lips and am surprised as he stands there, hands in his pockets and gaze fixed on me and a soft smile on his lips, his eyes glistening happily even in the dim light.
I laugh softly and shrug my shoulders, slightly embarrassed about my sudden passionate outburst.
“I… yeah. I guess I am hooked huh?”
Tae’s grin widens and he nods, blonde hair bobbing up and down and he steps closer to me, engulfs me in a tight hug, so I wrap my arms around him, enjoying the sudden closure and I can hear him whisper into my ear while holding me tightly and lifting me off my feet for a moment.
“Thank you princess.”
It’s simple but I understand very well what he means, seen as I supported his opinion without thinking about it and I showed genuine interest in it and that seems to mean a lot more to him than I had guessed so far.
He holds me for a few more seconds and then lets go, his hand softly touching my neck.
“Then show me where those books are will you? Maybe we even find a new one you can read, Ms. I-know-all-the-books-in-the-world.”