Color of My Pain

28| Secret Mission

After Hoseok drove away, Yoongi felt the loss of proximity as a growing hollowness in his chest. He shuffled inside and took a shower, toweling dry his hair with a dark towel so he wouldn't stain the towels if the color leaked out. In all honesty, he didn't know if he was supposed to wash it so soon after dying it, but he wanted to feel clean. Also he was pretty sure the blond wouldn't do so much damage as Hoseok's bright red.

He missed Hoseok.

It felt lonely without him and he waited up poring over his school books and notes until Hoseok texted that he'd arrived home and would be going to sleep. Yoongi bid him goodnight and they exchanged their quiet I love you's before they both settled into their all too cold and all too empty beds.

When Yoongi navigated the school halls the next day, he got lots of looks from random people. At first, he thought the looks baseless and confusing, until he remembered he'd dyed his hair and now people would think he was some kind of punk. TaeKook was making their usual chaos in the halls as Taehyung held Jeongguk on his back and the younger kicked his legs out in exaggerated motions.

Relieved to see them, Yoongi waved, trying to catch their attention because he desperately wanted to feel less alone under the weight of the stares he was getting. Taehyung noticed the small wave and frowned, staring intensely at this random blond who was waving at him for whatever reason.

Yoongi ducked his head down and moved through the people between them until he was standing directly in their way.

"Hey, Tae, hi Gguk." He sighed.

Jeongguk didn't bother looking up from Taehyung's shoulder. "Missed you Saturday. Good time?"

Yoongi smiled, "I missed you too, I had a really good time.

"Your hair." Tae licked his lips, almost scowling. "You definitely should've died it sooner. It really suits you. Everyone and their soulmate is eyeing you right now."

Yoongi looked around sharply, not everyone was staring him down, but there were those who were. Jeongguk looked up, blinking sleepily to observe his new hair.

"Looks like your some kind of punk. Or like, an evil king."

"Is that a bad thing?" He tugged at the hairs on his neck self consciously, but the pair assured him it was a good look for him.

This weekend had felt like a dream, and then something further out of touch with reality. It added questions and questions to his list of confusions. As the school day progressed and he thought on it more, he felt stronger and stronger urges to go to his dad demanding answers. It was lunchtime when he finally made his decision, nerves churning blue in his stomach. The key that had been second nature to use felt heavy in his palm. His dad's car was not in the driveway, and he felt as though he were breaking and entering. It was probably considered that.

He snuck inside, "Dad?"

No voice or footfalls answered his call. He stepped further inside, heart pounding too loudly in his ears, his blood rushing through his neck and back. He toed off his shoes, slipping up the steps carefully, avoiding the creaky steps out of pure habit. His dad's office door was pulled shut, but Yoongi pushed it open, the door scraping loudly on the hardwood. Yoongi flinched at the noise.

The air in the office was stale, dust hanging thick over the desk and bookshelves. His eyes grazed the bookshelves. He didn't even know what he was looking for. He eyed the desk curiously, moving around to the window side to inspect the drawers. He tugged on them experimentally, the old hinges creaking loudly and sticking almost impossibly in their tracks. One of the drawers had a lock, Yoongi scraped his nail over the rusty keyhole and tugged at the handle hopefully.

It opened.

Inside were a few old envelopes, paperclipped photos, and what looked like a yearbook. He picked them up and shoved all of it into his backpack, shutting the drawer carefully and closing the study door. He stuck his feet into his shoes and ran back across the street and into school, still leaving himself enough time to get to his next class right as the bell rang.

He was still breathing hard and his heartbeat was slowly returning to normal, no one had seen him and there was no one to question him.

"Try being a little earlier to your classes Mr. Min, we won't have your classmates waiting for you." His teacher snipped, probably a little rude due to his hair change.

For some reason, hair dyeing equaled delinquency in this education system. He nodded, too relieved at his success to roll his eyes as he took his seat. "Yes sir."

Unbeknownst to Yoongi, Jooheon was driving down the road when he'd made his dash across to the school. He frowned at the unlocked front door, remembering having locked it on his way out. The blond kid who'd ran across the street passed through his mind, but with nothing damaged or out of place and Yoongi having moved almost across town, he could only think he'd been seeing things.