𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒 | 𝐊- 𝐏𝐎𝐏

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗍𝗒 𝗈𝗇𝖾

You hated the first day of school. No matter how many times you went through the motions, it never ever got any easier. And this day was no exception, which your stomach had made very clear with its flip-flopping.

The hordes of new and old students flooding the halls, shouting and calling out for their friends made you claustrophobic. The inevitable struggle of locating your new classrooms frayed your nerves and the fear of being trapped in a space full of strangers was nearly paralyzing. Yes, you were paranoid and easily scared – social anxiety is a monster bitch, and school is its worst enemy.

Lucky for you, you had your brothers and best friend to keep you from drowning in your own fear, something you knew a lot of people don't have. Seokjin was usually your largest supporter and the one who keet you the calmest, but since he was so much older and now in university, Jeongguk tried to do his best to take over his job while at school. Taehyung also kept an eye on you, but he had to be there early this morning, leaving you and Jeongguk to walk to campus on your own.

Through text, Taehyung told you he had been called in early to speak with the chairman of the school – his family was one of the school’s top providers and often had him running information and forms between both sides. He had also sent a message with roughly thirty-six exclamation points that said the two of you were in the same class … and that Sangmi was in it too.

You felt horrible that you couldn’t be excited for his relationship when he was so ecstatic himself, but who would be happy about spending time with your first love and the girl he's dating?

“Did you talk to Taehyung-hyung yesterday, Noona?” Jeongguk asked as the two of you crossed the street near the school.

You'd forgotten to confront Taehyung about the alcohol – you'd wanted to make sure he hadn’t drunk with the others, but you had been distracted by the way his lips moved when he talked. Okay, it may have dawned on you that you were in waaaaaay too deep …

“Ah, no,” you said awkwardly. “I forgot.”

Jeongguk rolled his eyes, absentmindedly fingering at the cuffs of his uniform shirt. Over the break, your little brother had grown almost exponentially, and now his uniform hardly fit his taller frame. It was so cute.

“Of course, you did,” he sighed. “You and he are birds of a feather.”

You frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, you’re just as much of an air-head as Tae,” he smirked down at you, proud of himself. You responded by jamming your elbow into his side, knocking him a few feet over with a cry of pain.

There were many words to describe your little brother, but your favorite was “Brat”. Even if he was your dongsaeng, he seemed to thrive on teasing you, Taehyung and Seokjin to no end. And no amount of scolding could fix his attitude. You'd always just accept it and learned how to fight back, which you were proud to say you now do quite well.

You held your breath when you finally entered the school campus. The courtyard was completely stuffed full of students, the crowd pulsing back and forth as the teenagers tried to find the doors and run to greet their friends. They looked like a school of confused fish who couldn't figure out in which direction their tightly-packed horde should swim.

Just by looking at the students, you felt your heart constricting in your chest, your lungs starting to ache from the breath you couldn’t force yourself to let out.

“You okay, Noona?” Jeongguk asked quietly while squeezing your hand. You nodded slowly, squeezing back. You knew Jeongguk had his own anxieties, so he noticed your signs easier than others did, and he always knew when you were lying. He frowned and placed a warm hand on the back of your neck, rubbing gently. It was the same motion Seokjin always did and it was certainly working its magic now.