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darkjimxn · 3 months

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Chapter 3: Stalker [M]

Summary: “A manwhore and a junkie… it’s a match made in heaven.”

Pairing: Park Jimin x Reader

Genre: High School au, angst

Word Count: 7.4k

Warnings: 18+, substance use disorder/drug addiction, PTSD, child abuse, sexual content (not explicit), additional warnings might be added as story progresses.

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, my motivation has just been so bad because of uni. And now with exams coming up, I can't really promise anything, but after my exams are over I'll definitely be more active!

“God, I want you to absolutely wreck me.”

The bedroom suddenly quieted, its dim lighting beginning to wrap around the walls and furniture of the room to form an uncomfortably suffocating atmosphere. Or maybe Jimin was just projecting his own deteriorating feelings onto the innocent space. He was well aware that his mind shouldn’t have latched onto the words of the innocent woman he currently had pinned to his bed, shouldn’t have started picturing her wishes in his head, yet he couldn’t stop it. He’s never been able to stop it. But that didn’t stop him from trying every time.

The more he envisioned the actions, the more he could feel those familiar ghostly hands crawl up his spine. His mind grasped at something, anything else to focus on.

In his desperation, his unsteady gaze dropped to the girl beneath him. She was the epitome of conventionally attractive, with long, light brown hair sprawled around his mattress and dainty facial features. Modelling agencies would probably die for this girl if she gave them a chance.

But at the moment she was just a distraction. Or at least she had been, until she had opened her mouth.

The logical part of him tried to remind himself that her words were just that: words. She was just a horny girl expressing her preferences. It made sense, considering what they were about to do. And if anything, Jimin appreciated it when women told him what they wanted. It made his life a lot easier.

But those particular wishes churned uneasily in his stomach as he felt the hands continue to travel up his spine, finding a cosy spot on his neck. His heartbeat, which had been racing for an entirely different reason, now thumped painfully in his chest as it quickened in pace.

This can’t be happening right now, he thought with a mixture of frustration and desperation.

Jimin pushed the impending, but familiar, feeling aside, choosing instead to focus on Emily.

That had clearly been a mistake.

“Like, tie me down. Choke me. Use me like a freaking slut. I swear I haven’t been railed in weeks,” she continued while running her fingers through his hair, completely oblivious to Jimin’s deteriorating state.

The feelings he had shoved aside pounded against his poorly constructed dam, fueled by the implications of Emily’s words. He could feel the ghostly hands press harder against his neck, labouring his breathing in the process. It was a telltale sign of the panic that had become so familiar to him. He knew now that there was no escaping this episode, no matter how hard he tried to steady his breathing and calm his nerves.

What he needed to do was get out of here.

“Those are a lot of demands to cover in one morning,” he said with a forced chuckle, hoping his voice wasn’t as shaky as he felt, “give me a minute, I’ll be right back.”

Before Emily could protest, Jimin slipped off the bed and half stumbled into his bathroom, just barely managing to lock the door.

And just like that, the dam broke.

Jimin collapsed onto the tiled floor, desperately trying to get some air into his lungs as memories started to flood his mind. They flashed before him like a montage, nightmare after nightmare stealing his ability to breath. At first, he was back in his childhood home, watching his father push his mother down a flight of stairs while screaming at her like a madman. Jimin could feel his heart racing in his chest as he wondered if she was dead.

But before he could run to her, his memories moved onto the day his father found out his wife had left. Jimin hadn’t even registered the fact that he’d never see his mother again before his father was on him, shouting at him while his hands enclosed around his neck harder.

Then he was in his old bedroom, watching the bat in his hands crash into his father’s head as he heard a feminine scream. There was blood everywhere, in the room, on his hands. He tried to wipe it off frantically as it burned his skin, but it didn’t matter. The more he wiped off, the more it spread up his arms.

All he could do was sit helplessly on the floor of the bathroom, head between his knees, as he shook uncontrollably and gasped for air. But the air wouldn’t come. It was like the ghostly hands had finally succeeded in crushing his windpipe and he could no longer fill his lungs.

Jimin lurched forward suddenly, feeling his heart hammer painfully in his chest. He swore this time was different.

He swore this time he was going to die.

His hand slapped desperately against the counter before it made contact with smooth metal. Relieved, his fingers wrapped around it, pulling it upwards until he could hear the faint sounds of water rushing out of the faucet. He tried to aim his attention to the sound of the water spewing out of the tap, listening intently to the way it sputtered out of the circular piece of metal. Then he focused on the water splashing against the smooth marble sink, running against it momentarily before it was swallowed up by the drain. He could hear the water crash against the pipes under his sink as they whisked the water away.

It took him what felt like hours to really focus on the sound, letting it sooth him as much as it could. Jimin imagined his memories and panic seeping down the drain alongside it, the black plastic pipes guiding them far away from himself and his house. His breathing started getting a little easier with every passing moment as the memories of his father began to seep back into the locked portion of his mind.

With small pockets of air now able to enter his lungs, Jimin managed to bring his hand down to the floor. He dragged two of his fingers against it in circles, focusing on the cold of the tile seeping into his fingertips and the rough line of grout between them. He inhaled as his finger met one half of the circle, stalling there for a moment, before exhaling as he completed the round.

When Jimin finally felt himself calm, only the remnants of a few mild tremors left, he let his back drop against the glass side of his walk-in shower with a sigh. A lingering soreness was spreading throughout his chest as he felt his sweat-soaked shirt stick to his back. Although he was more than familiar with episodes like these, he couldn’t help but wonder why this one had been so particularly bad.

Either way, the “attack” had left him exhausted, to the point that Jimin almost considered skipping school today. It was especially tempting, considering how much Taehyung had been bothering him recently about the therapy and whether it was working. Jimin had to remind him that he had only gone to one session, though he didn’t mention just how much he had hated it.

But Jimin knew that there were a few concepts he needed to clarify in his first class, so ditching school was out of the question.

Not to mention, Jimin’s second period had gotten a lot more interesting when the school had decided to transfer him to a different class because of a few scheduling issues. Particularly your presence had intrigued him, because he was so confused as to how he’d never noticed you before. Sure, Jimin had only been attending this school for the past two years, but he still found it hard to believe that the two of you had never crossed paths. He’d have definitely remembered if that were the case. You were, without a doubt, the most attractive woman he’d ever met, there was no way he would have overlooked a face like that.

Jimin stretched forward, just barely managing to close the faucet without having to get up from his position on the floor. You were fun to tease, and definitely something during sex. Jimin didn’t think he’d ever enjoyed sex as much as he had with you.

His gaze dropped as he remembered the bottle that had been clutched in your hand that night at Taehyung’s house. It had been a shock to him that you were using, even though technically he was well aware he didn’t know you at all. He wondered if your addiction stopped at Adderall, or did you do more than just that? He hoped you didn’t, for your sake.

Jimin had wanted to say something about it when he had dropped you off, encourage you to choose a different path for yourself. But he couldn’t seem to find the right words. He had used them all up when his father was still alive, none of which were successful of course. So instead he had walked away, guilt nibbling away at him with every step.

“Jimin?”

Jimin’s head snapped towards the door as Emily’s muffled voice passed through it. He had practically forgotten that she was still there, too wrapped up in his panic and then his thoughts to remember that she’d probably been waiting for him to come back to his bed. He knew he couldn’t do it. She clearly wanted things that he just couldn’t give her. The prospect of having to explain some lousy excuse to her suddenly made him exhausted all over again.

But thankfully Emily spoke up again before he could reply, “look, my first class starts soon and I can’t miss it. I guess we’ll have to do this another time.”

He could hear the disappointment in her tone before he listened to the sound of her footsteps as she walked out of his bedroom, followed by the sound of his front door shutting quickly. When he was sure she was gone, he stood from his spot and made his way to his bedroom, picking up his phone to confirm the time. Emily wasn’t wrong, his first class was starting soon. He would have to get going as well.

Jimin walked back to his bathroom, standing in front of the mirror above the sink. His gaze scanned the damp, rust-coloured hair sticking to his forehead, and then the beads of sweat travelling down his neck. He grimaced. First, he needed a shower.

Jiwoo was in a mood.

You had begun to suspect as much at the end of your first class, when she had kicked your bag while stomping out of the classroom. Although Jiwoo was always pulling stunts like that, she’d usually accompany it with an irritating taunt or mocking expression. But it wasn’t until right before second period, when she had purposely bumped into the open pencil case on your desk to scatter it all over the floor, when you became certain.

Jiwoo was in a mood.

You watched her drop into her seat near the front of the class with an angry huff, uncharacteristically not even bothering to spare you a fake “oops.” Normal Jiwoo was far from a saint, but god did annoyed Jiwoo unlock a different type of rage in you. Her irritation made you wonder how her parents’ divorce was going. Probably not great, if her mood today was anything to go on.

With an annoyed sigh, you slipped off your chair and lowered yourself to the floor to focus on collecting your things, trying to calm your raging heartbeat and shaking hands in the process. You weren’t sure whether it was because of Jiwoo or the Ritalin. This was your third day on Ritalin even though you had vowed to never take the stuff again. You didn’t really have much of a choice. There was still no news on Yoongi, which meant you were still out of Adderall. And although Ritalin made you crazy with nerves, it still somehow managed to help you focus on your schoolwork. Not to mention you’d much rather be a jittery mess than the dead zombie that your Adderall crash had reduced you to.

Unfortunately, until you could get your hands on some Adderall, Ritalin was your only option.

You shoved the last of your supplies into your pencil case, brows furrowing when you noticed that you were missing your eraser. But one scan of the floor showed no sign of the white rubber.

You checked under your desk and then your chair, wondering where it could have disappeared to.

It wasn’t until a pair of black dress shoes and grey dress pants appeared in your line of sight when you realised where your eraser had gone.

“Looking for something?” Jimin asked in a teasing tone, holding out your white eraser between the tips of his index and middle fingers.

Your gaze reluctantly travelled up to his smug face, the feeling of annoyance a natural response to his presence at this point.

“Stealing my car wasn’t enough? Now you want my eraser too?”

Jimin’s head tilted for a moment before he rested a hand on your desk and leaned forward so that his next words could only be heard by you.

“Why would I want anything more when I’ve already got you on your knees for me, kitten?”

You rolled your eyes, ignoring the tempting view of his sharp jawline, before grabbing your pencil case and pushing yourself off of the ground. Leave it to Jimin to turn every instance into an opportunity to flirt.

“Weren’t you the one that said I had to ask for sex the next time I wanted it? What happened to that?” You asked with a low voice before taking back your eraser.

“I never said I couldn’t be tempting.”

Then, to your surprise, Jimin dropped into the empty desk beside yours instead of his usual seat behind you. It took you a second to register the sudden change, and then another to eye him weirdly.

But before you could ask him what he was doing, Mr. Kim walked into the classroom just as the bell rang. The students rushed to their seats to bring out their textbooks, some of the girls swooning over the alleged new shirt he was wearing. You took your seat quickly, sending Jimin a glare in the process.

Taehyung hurried into the room just after Mr. Kim, slipping unnoticeably past him before dropping into his usual seat. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment when he noticed Jimin wasn’t sitting next to him, and then they furrowed even further when he realised where he was actually sitting.

“Come on man, what happened to bros before hoes?” He muttered under his breath. You almost laughed at his sulky expression.

Mr. Kim began writing the lesson on the whiteboard, “please turn to page 245.”

You turned to the page alongside the rest of the class as Jimin did the same, distantly noticing your leg bouncing up and down unconsciously.

Mr. Kim turned back to the class, beginning the lesson by explaining the concepts on the page he had instructed everyone to turn to. He was one of the better teachers, so you were easily able to understand the seemingly complex concepts.

That was until Jimin started annoying you, just like he had been doing in class for the past few days. It was always small things, like sneakily drawing random doodles in your notebook when you weren’t looking or stealing your pencil every so often. It took everything in you not to throw your eraser at his face. Instead, you dragged your notebook and supplies to the other side of your desk with a huff.

That just made him laugh, one he had to muffle with his hands so Mr. Kim didn’t call him out.

The class went on like this, a mixture of evading Jimin’s antics while simultaneously trying to understand the lesson being taught by Mr. Kim. You honestly had to applaud the guy for being able to escape Mr. Kim’s gaze for so long. He was notoriously known for being an observant teacher, and because of that you were sure he knew a lot more student secrets than he let on.

However, Jimin’s antics had to come to an abrupt end when Mr. Kim placed his whiteboard marker down and faced the class, seemingly finished with teaching the lesson. He called up two students, handing them both stacks of papers to hand out to the rest of the class.

“Your next assignment will consist of a presentation closely resembling a seminar, where each group will be expected to accurately teach the class on an assigned topic,” he explained, characteristically professional and thoughtful with his words, “since the goal of this assignment will be to facilitate understanding, I will be expecting the incorporation of some creative elements in order to keep the presentation engaging in addition to being informative.”

One of the students that had been handing out the mini booklets finally reached you and Jimin, handing the two of you one each before moving onto Taehyung.

“The booklets in front of you go over the details pertaining to this assignment. Therefore, I expect you all to read through them thoroughly to avoid losing marks over small mistakes.”

Mr. Kim suddenly smiled, “although, with this being your senior year I doubt you all require such a reminder anyway.”

You watched Jiwoo’s hand shoot into the air as you tried to keep Jimin’s hands off your booklet. Mr. Kim nodded towards her before she spoke, “will we get to choose our own groups?”

“No, I will be assigning the groups, as well as the topics,” he replied, earning him a number of whines and groans. But Mr. Kim merely chuckled, amused, but not willing to change his mind.

He then turned to the first row of students, grouping them in pairs based on their seating. You groaned inwardly when you realised the pattern he was going by and who, in that case, would end up being your partner.

“Jimin and Y/N,” Mr. Kim grouped, but then paused when he noticed Taehyung sitting without the deskmate, “and Taehyung.”

“Mr. Kim,” Jiwoo said once again, but this time you rolled your eyes knowing what she was going to bring up, “isn’t it unfair that one group has three students? That will lessen their workload compared to everyone else!”

You noticed Jiwoo send you a mocking smile for a moment, clearly trying to incite you.

Witch.

“You may rest assured, Ms. Kim. I will ensure everything is as fair as possible,” he reassured with a small smile. But Jiwoo just slid down in her seat, annoyed that her plan to make your life harder had pretty much failed.

You wished she turned around so you could send her your fakest smile. On one hand was Jiwoo, the most annoying witch in existence, and then on another hand was Jimin, the most annoying jerk in existence.

What has your life come to?

When the bell finally rang and Mr. Kim dismissed the class, you crumpled one of your rough pieces of paper and threw it at Jimin’s face with a glare.

It wasn’t much, but boy did it make you feel better.

“What was that for?” He asked, failing miserably at stifling a laugh.

“You know what.”

Ignoring Jimin’s amused glance, you packed your bag as your classmates began to chat with each other and started making their way to the cafeteria. You wouldn’t be heading there, though, since you usually spent your breaks in the library studying. It just felt better to get all your work out of the way so you could go home and just sleep for hours.

You walked out of the classroom, thankful that you could finally get away from the annoying thing known as Park Jimin, and then began walking to the library. The hallways were full of students relaxing and playing around with each other, making you think of Namjoon. He was away on some trip for a maths competition. Or maybe it was for a science competition? Either way, he was off doing his nerd stuff, so you couldn’t invite him to hang out after you finished studying.

You made it to the library’s front desk, sending a smile to the main librarian who returned it sweetly.

“Hello, have the study room schedules been made yet?” You asked.

She answered your question with a nod and, after giving her your name, she began searching the computer for your schedule.

Since the demand for the very limited number of study rooms in the library was so high, the school had decided to come up with a schedule system for the students that wished to use them, because a first come, first serve approach would be much too “barbaric” for a private school of course. Each student was given a schedule for which study room they were assigned to and when they could use it.

“Hi, can I get my study schedule please?” A voice asked, “my name is Park Jimin.”

Your gaze snapped to your side, finding Jimin standing right next to you.

Seriously?

“So you’ve resorted to stalking me now?” You asked, causing Jimin to turn to you with a surprised expression.

When his gaze fell on you, he grinned.

“How come I’m the stalker? You could very well be the one stalking me,” he said.

Before you could reply, the librarian walked back to her desk and handed you and Jimin your printed schedules. The two of you thanked her before walking over to the library’s elevator while looking them over.

Thankfully, you were scheduled for a study room on Wednesdays during break, so you didn’t have to find somewhere else to study at the moment.

You eyed Jimin when he followed you into the elevator, watching as he pressed the button to the floor you were also going to. The two of you seemed to be finding yourselves in each other’s presence a lot lately. It made you groan inwardly, knowing that the semester had only just begun.

It was like having a second Jiwoo since you and her were usually thrown together a lot due to your familial ties, but at least Jimin didn’t kick your bag or slap your pencil case to the ground. That earned him at least a few more points in your book.

The book’s name? “The Most Annoying People in Kim Y/N’s Life,” of course.

The elevator door dinged as it revealed the hallway of the second floor. Jimin walked out of it first, unfortunately taking a right into the hallway, which was the same way you were going.

You followed him reluctantly.

“Who’s following who now, kitten?” He said with a smirk, an eyebrow raised at you.

You simply huffed, “shut up.”

You didn’t bother to come up with a better comeback. All you had to do was make it to your study room, then you could finally get rid of him. This day had been filled with way too much Jimin, and you were actually looking forward to doing homework in a nice and quiet room over having to deal with his annoying butt.

Jimin continued through the hallway until he stopped in front of the door to the farthest study room from the elevator. The action made your eyes widen.

“No,” you denied immediately, stomping over to him before grabbing his schedule from his hand, “no way. There’s no way.”

Your mouth fell open as you took in his schedule, almost exactly identical to your own. The only day in which your and Jimin’s schedules didn’t align was Monday. Only one out of the five days of school in a week would you be free of him. No way. There was no way this was possible. Of all the insane things…

While you were distracted, a confused Jimin took your own schedule from your hands, looking over it curiously. It only took him a second to figure out what your issue was, but when he did, he couldn’t help himself.

Jimin burst into a fit of laughter.

“Stop laughing, this isn’t funny,” you whined, smacking the paper against his head. That only made him laugh harder as he fell to the floor with a hand clutching his stomach.

“Guess we’re stuck with each other now,” Jimin managed through his laughter.

You rolled your eyes, choosing instead to walk past him into the room. Fine, if you were going to be stuck with him, then you were just going to have to ignore his presence completely. It was the only ray of hope in your seemingly continuous misery.

You dropped into a seat at the large table, spreading your work out as you opened your laptop and began typing furiously against the innocent keys.

After a few minutes Jimin walked into the room, closing it behind him before he thankfully dropped into a chair away from yours and brought out his own work. You risked a glance upwards, catching a smirk on his lips that made your blood boil.

Your eyes stayed glued to your screen after that.

You expected him to annoy you the same way he had during your second period class by stealing your pencils or throwing a paper plane at you, but instead he remained focused on his work for a full half an hour straight. That came as a surprise to you because you honestly hadn’t been expecting him to be very studious. Maybe it was because he had annoyed you during class. Or maybe it was because you had unintentionally believed in the stereotype against guys that slept around. Either way, it was surprising when you managed to get through half an hour worth of work without any disturbances.

After half an hour, though, Jimin sighed, leaning back in his chair as he stretched his arms behind him. He’d taken off his blazer, so you could see the defined lines of his muscles stretch under his dress shirt. Your straying gaze quickly shot back to your screen, but not before Jimin had noticed your curious eyes. He smirked.

You were able to work for a few more minutes before Jimin suddenly leaned forward, eyeing you curiously.

“So,” he said, causing you to turn your head towards him questionably, “how did your dad end up reacting?”

You furrowed your eyebrows, “what?”

“After the party, when you came home after midnight. I’m surprised he wasn’t already standing on the porch with a shotgun ready.”

You snorted, unable to imagine your dad doing that, “my dad’s not like that.”

“Oh, so he was cool with it and everything?” He asked.

You shifted in your seat, “no… I mean, I don’t know. He wasn’t home that night.”

Jimin nodded, “business trip?”

“Kind of. He’s a truck driver,” you explained, a little weirded out by the suddenly normal conversation but still appreciating the unexpected break from your work, “he’s usually only home on weekends. Otherwise he’s out driving across the country.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “so he leaves you alone during the entire week? And sometimes he doesn’t even come back on the weekends?”

You shrugged, finding it odd how surprised Jimin looked, “yeah? I’m not a kid, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Jimin’s gaze dropped to the table in front of him, seemingly deep in thought. But you noticed a slight scowl in his features.

Weird.

You shifted to face Jimin, a question coming to mind, “but why are you only asking about my dad?”

Jimin didn’t look up from the table, “I heard what that girl said about your mom last Friday… I just kind of assumed…”

The room quieted into what felt like an awkward silence. You had the feeling that something you said had cut the surprisingly normal conversation short, but there was nothing you said that could have offended him so you didn’t really understand why that was.

You turned back to your work, brushing against the touchpad to light up your laptop’s screen once again. After sending one final curious glance at Jimin, you went back to your work.

But Jimin was clearly lost in thought.

The first thing Jimin noticed when he walked into the room was Lauren, who was sitting on one of the beige sofas situated next to the glass coffee table. She had been looking down at the binder she had shown him in their last session, reading over something intently before the sound of the door opening had her looking upwards and then smiling.

“Hello Jimin,” she greeted, to which he gave her a curt nod.

Thankfully, Lauren had already situated herself on the sofa facing away from the door, allowing Jimin to sit on the one that gave him a view of both the entrance and the window at the same time. Even in his sour mood, he was able to appreciate the gesture.

He knew Lauren was studying him, taking in his sudden attitude, but to his surprise she didn’t call him out on it. Instead, she closed the binder and placed it beside her on the sofa, bringing a much thinner notebook onto her lap in its place.

“Did you complete the Impact Statement worksheet I assigned in the last session?” She asked, to which Jimin nodded.

He had avoided starting it until the last minute, something he knew Lauren wouldn’t approve of considering she had given him that big speech about avoidance and how it wasn’t helping him. He just couldn’t help it, he’d spent years trying to rid his mind of that night’s memories. Anything that reminded him of it was discarded, any person that reminded him of it was avoided. Even the house had been sold the second it was passed down to him. So doing this Impact Statement? Something that would not only remind him about it, but make him think about it to a deeper extent… it had been hard.

“Could you read your Impact Statement out loud?”

Jimin’s eyebrows pulled together at the random request, confused as to why that was necessary. He wasn’t in kindergarten anymore, where they would make his class take turns reading various children’s books to each other.

He shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the request. But he couldn’t make a fuss about it. He needed to give this therapy thing a genuine try, especially considering the enormous attack he had this morning.

Jimin brought out the statement from his school bag, unfolding it slowly. He cleared his throat before finally following along the hastily written words.

“This traumatic experience happened because I was stupid and did something horrible. I knew that my father wasn’t himself, I knew that he was under the influence, and yet I still ended up murdering him, my own father, like some kind of psychopath. Saying that that makes me a horrible person feels like an understatement, because being a killer is one thing, but being able to kill your family? That must make me even worse than a murderer. I feel like I don’t deserve anything good because of it. If anything, the world should bring me my karma and just end it already. I think that sometimes… that because of what I did, someone is just silently watching me and waiting for the right moment to get back at me. I feel like I’m never safe, like I constantly have to be on guard whenever I’m out. I feel like people should think the same about me too, they shouldn’t trust me either. My past is evidence enough that I might just lose it and hurt someone. I would hate to do that to Taehyung especially, the only person that’s genuinely been there for me. But anyways, the gist of it is that I’m not a good person. I make bad decisions. I feel unsafe all the time, especially when I’m around other men. Sometimes when I’m out I can imagine every grown man that looks my way hates me the same way my dad did, and that they’d go after me the first chance they got. I don’t want to get close to people because I feel like if I build any kind of genuine relationship, I’ll end up hurting them. That’s why I don’t think Taehyung should have a friend like me, that he deserves better. I don’t know how to make things better. I don’t think I’ll ever be normal again.”

The room fell quiet as Jimin set the paper down on the coffee table, wanting it away from him immediately. He was relieved that he was finally done with this assignment, though he hadn’t noticed how much he had ended up writing despite the limited amount of time he had to complete the worksheet.

“What did it feel like to write and then read the Impact Statement aloud?” Lauren asked, an expression of complete neutrality. He couldn’t help but feel grateful that she wasn’t disgusted by him.

Or at least she wasn’t showing it.

“It was hard,” Jimin admitted, gaze travelling everywhere but her, “honestly I didn’t start the worksheet until just an hour before I came here.”

Lauren surprisingly nodded, “the good thing is that you completed it nonetheless. It is difficult work, Jimin, and you were able to get through it. That takes a lot of strength.”

“But I should remind you that avoidance only helps in maintaining PTSD symptoms, right?”

Jimin nodded.

“How do you feel after reading the Impact Statement?” She asked.

“A little less anxious,” Jimin replied, though it was more the fact that he was relieved it was over than anything else. Whether his improved feelings were because the Impact Statement had actually helped or because of the relief he felt from it being over, there was no doubt that he felt better now compared to the anxiety he had been feeling when walking into this room.

“If doing the assignment in this way made you a little less anxious, then I wonder what it would have been like to have completed the assignment earlier in the week?” Lauren wondered out loud, but she didn’t dwell on it for long. She was clearly keen on changing the topic.

“Now, earlier it seemed that you might have been upset about something. Could you explain to me why that was?”

“It’s nothing,” Jimin said, shaking his head as he leaned back against the sofa. But he could feel his blood begin to boil once again, his thoughts from earlier apparently the flame. His anger simmered to the surface and, before he knew it, he was blurting everything out.

“It’s just… I was talking to this classmate of mine earlier today, just a normal conversation, and she told me something about her dad that kind of pissed me off.”

Lauren tilted her head, “can you tell me what she told you that made you so angry?”

Your words from earlier filled his mind once again, bringing the anger along with them. He had been furious throughout the rest of the school day, and all throughout the ride here, with your words and their implications repeating over and over in his head.

Jimin suddenly stood up and walked over to the window, his anger making him want to move around.

“The thing is, she’s actually this girl I hooked up with at a party last Friday,” he started to explain, not realising that he had begun pacing around, “I’d ended up taking her home that night because she didn’t really seem like she could get there on her own, so I just casually asked her about how her dad had reacted to her getting home so late. She started telling me about how her dad hadn’t been home that night because he’s a truck driver. In fact, she said that he usually wasn’t home at all throughout the week, and sometimes he didn’t even come back on the weekends that he’s supposed to.”

Jimin spun around towards Lauren, who had shifted so that she was still facing him, “can you believe that? What kind of father would leave their kid alone for weeks at a time? And does he even know what his own daughter has been doing in his absence? She uses, you know. I bet he has no clue.”

“But of course he doesn’t,” Jimin scoffed, “just one of the millions of examples of a grown man being absolutely useless and incompetent as a father.”

He turned to look outside once again, trying to focus on anything that could calm down his racing heart.

“Do you feel that way about your own father?” He heard Lauren ask from behind him.

“Obviously. He beat my mom, and then he beat me. That didn’t exactly make him father slash husband of the year. Nothing could justify his actions,” Jimin reasoned.

“Do you feel that your actions that night also can’t be justified?”

He paused, the question catching him off guard. Slowly, Jimin faced Lauren once again, “well yes, I’m not different from him. If anything I’m worse. He beat people. I murdered him.”

Lauren’s gaze bored into him in an almost unnerving way before she spoke, “‘murder.’ That’s a strong word.”

“It’s appropriate in this context.”

“From what you’ve told me, it seems like you killed your father after he had begun to hurt your girlfriend-”

“Ex,” Jimin said, his gaze not meeting hers, “ex girlfriend.”

“Ex girlfriend,” Lauren corrected, “your actions occurred in a very specific place and time, and under certain circumstances.”

“Yeah, but he still died. And I’m the one that killed him.”

“Yes, he died, and it seems, at least in part, because of your actions. Does that make you a murderer?”

“Yes,” Jimin answered straight away, not comprehending what was so hard to understand, “I took a bat to his head, and then he died. That’s murder. And that’s worse than anything he had ever done to me.”

“Really? You think it’s worse?” Lauren asked, her voice suddenly quieter. For the first time since these sessions started, Jimin thought he might have caught a little sadness in her expression. But the moment he caught it the expression disappeared, tucked back under that blanket of neutrality that he had become so used to. Distantly, he wondered if he had imagined it or not.

“On one hand, people were hurt. On the other hand, someone was killed. Obviously both situations aren’t good since people were hurt either way. But I killed him, he didn’t kill anyone.”

“It is true that the outcomes are different,” Lauren agreed, “but it’s the context that I wonder about.”

Jimin’s brows furrowed, “what do you mean?”

“Do you think what the intention was in those situations matters, regardless of the outcome?”

“No,” Jimin replied firmly, pulling back on the frustration in his tone,“in one case someone was killed. In another, no one was killed.”

Lauren paused for a moment, seemingly studying him with her characteristically neutral expression. When nothing was said for a few seconds, she clasped her fingers together before resting them over her lap professionally, “while it is true that your father died, and that your actions played a role in it, I think we might slightly disagree on the definition of the term ‘murder.’ It is apparent that his death has been a very difficult thing for you to accept, and that you are trying to make sense of that. From what you’ve told me, the sense that you appear to have made of his death is that you are a ‘murderer.’ I believe this is a good example of one of the stuck points that seem to have prevented you from recovering from this traumatic event. We’ll definitely be spending more time together on understanding your part in his death.”

Lauren then began to explain something about how important it was to be able to identify and label his emotions and thoughts, but Jimin’s thoughts were too stuck on her earlier words to pay any attention. He wondered about how intentions might or might not matter in the context of whether a death is considered a murder or not. When a person participates in an action that ends up with another person dead, he was pretty sure that classified the situation as a murder. He couldn’t really understand where the nuances existed in a situation like this.

But then again, Lauren’s suggestion hadn’t been too crazy of a thought either. If a person didn’t intend to kill the other, then would it still be considered a murder?

Had he intended to kill his father that night? Jimin wanted to say no and deny such a thing, because he really hadn’t wanted to do that. But he had taken a wooden baseball bat straight to his father’s skull, what other outcome had Jimin been expecting? Maybe intention did matter in general, but in Jimin’s case he concluded it made no difference.

“How do you feel about the death of your father?” Lauren asked randomly, catching Jimin’s straying attention. He had no clue what the context behind the question was since his thoughts had been elsewhere while she had been explaining it, which had caught him off guard.

“Um,” Jimin paused, having to think about it for a moment, “I know he did horrible things to me, like I’m aware his actions were wrong, but… a part of me felt a little saddened by his death. Maybe not because of losing him as a person, but losing him meant that I had lost the last of my family. It does make me feel sad when I think about it.”

Lauren nodded encouragingly, “and that is a completely natural reaction to have when you feel that you’ve lost something. It’s good to feel that sadness and let it run its course.”

Jimin let a breathy chuckle escape his lips, though there was no humour behind it, “feeling sad isn’t exactly something I enjoy- actually I prefer to avoid feeling anything at all. It’s just easier that way.”

Lauren crossed her leg over the other, continuing to focus on Jimin as she brought her clasped hand over her lap once again, “have you ever allowed yourself to feel sad?”

He shook his head, explaining that he’s always preferred avoiding anything and everything that had to do with intense feelings like that. Even the frustration he had shown earlier was a generally rare occurrence.

“Then if you’ve never allowed yourself to feel your emotions, how do you know that it would be easier not to feel them?”

Jimin was silent, processing the logic behind her words once again. He was starting to realise that therapy was a lot more logical than what he had initially thought.

“From what you’ve told me, avoiding your feelings hasn’t helped you very much so far. Maybe allowing yourself to feel the natural feelings associated with the traumatic event may help you recover from what happened?”

“Maybe…” He relented, knowing that her reasoning made sense to him.

But Jimin still couldn’t help but feel anxious at the thought of feeling his emotions. He didn’t even know if he’d ever truly felt them before. With a father that had been beating him for as long as he could remember, it really had just become easier to numb himself to the pain. He was scared of revisiting that pain, he realised. The pain that he’d been trying to run away from his whole life.

Lauren opened her binder to bring out a few sheets that were similar to the Impact Statement worksheet she had given him in their last session, except they clearly had a different purpose. She called them “A-B-C” Sheets, which again reminded Jimin of kindergarten, and explained how to go about completing them properly. She also explained how they were meant to help him begin to identify the things he was telling himself and his subsequent emotions before they had exchanged pleasantries and Jimin had walked out of the room.

Unlike the last session, where he had rushed through the door at light speed, Jimin took his time walking through the hallways and out of the building. This time his mind was filled with questions of murder and intention. He thought about feeling his feelings, and how long it had been since he had lost the ability to do so. He thought about you and your dad. He thought about everything.

There was just so much to think about.

So much to think about indeed.

41 notes · View notes

taesclub · 11 months

Text

The Wild Child, Act I ✦ BTS

✦ BTS x Fem! Oc's

━━━━━ ( SYNOPSIS. ) She is suddenly forced to attend the all-girls boarding school, St. Victoria's. Determined to break free, she tries to escape. Her only problem? To do so she must go through the neighboring boarding school and its notorious group, the Bangtan boys. Among them, one member captivates her the most, blurring the line between rebellion and romance.

genre. boarding school au, angst, fluff, smut

word count. 4,586

warnings. only curses for now

-ˋˏ masterlist ✦ next ˎˊ-

ACT I.

━━━━━━━━━ ✦

Claire, a tall girl with an eighty's aura and a shag haircut, sits in the passenger seat of her father's car, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. The car hums with tension as they drive down the road, the passing scenery reflecting the girl's inner turmoil. She was about to meet her doom.

She gazes out the window, her expression a mix of anger and frustration. The weight of her resentment hangs heavy in the air.

“I can't believe you're making me go to some stupid all-girls boarding school, Dad. This is so unfair!” she grimaces. This had been her constant complaint ever since receiving the news, but somehow, like a broken record, she still held onto those words, praying it would be enough to make her dad rethink his decision. It wasn’t.

Her father, Mr. Deschamps, a middle-aged man with tired eyes due to his rushed businessman life, glances at her with a mixture of concern and regret. “Claire, we've talked about this. It's a better opportunity for you. You'll have a chance to focus on your studies and discover new interests.” he insists softly.

Claire scoffs, her frustration boiling over.

Her voice sounds angry as she replies, “Better opportunity?! What about my life here? My friends? You're ripping me away from everything I know!”

Her father's grip tightens on the steering wheel, his tone laced with remorse.

“Claire, honey, I didn't make this decision lightly. It's for your future. You'll make new friends, and have new experiences. Please try to understand.”

Claire's gaze remains fixed on the passing scenery, her umbrage simmering beneath her rebellious exterior. “You simply don't get it, Dad,” she says resentfully as the view keeps changing dramatically into a more rural area. “You don't know what it's like to be uprooted from everything familiar, to start over in some stuffy boarding school.”

Her father's voice softens, laced with a tinge of sadness. “I know it's hard, honey,” he admits sincerely. “But sometimes, we must make sacrifices for the greater good. Trust me, I only want what's best for you.”

Claire's anger doesn’t wane, even though she is tempted to soothe at her dad’s words. “Change can be scary, but it also opens doors to new opportunities.” he continues, tenderly. “You're strong, Claire. You'll adapt, and who knows, you might find something incredible out here.”

Her gaze shifts from the passing greenery outside to her father's warm and understanding eyes. She takes a deep breath, slowly releasing the pent-up frustration. There was no point discussing this with him, he would never back up on his word. And the truth was, ever since he got together with that Malibu Barbie wannabe called Blanche, this was destinate to happen. She had waited for the rug to be pulled from under her feet as her distrust in life itself was a rooted injustice carved deep in her heart, but now that it happened, she tried desperately to hold onto a shimmer of hope.

And how tricky it was to expect, to wait for someone else to take the reins of one’s life... No one would come and save her, that was clear. So why not save herself?

“Sure thing, Dad.” Claire mumbles resigned. At least for now.

A bittersweet silence fills the car as they continue their journey, both aware that this new chapter holds challenges and possibilities that neither can fully anticipate. The beginning of a plan to escape the boarding school, however, started to thread like a lightning bolt in the girl’s mind.

She would make sure no one would see it coming. And one thing was certain, Claire Deschamps would never settle into a life in the middle of nowhere, nor a life she hadn’t chosen herself.

━━━━━━━━━ ✦

Claire steps out of her father's car, her jeans bomber jacket with wide shoulders and lots of sewn trinkets contrasting greatly with the more conservative uniforms of the other students passing by. Their plaid skirts had at least two full hands more fabric compared to the black leather one she used.

She takes a deep breath, bracing herself for what lies ahead. Mr. Deschamps opens the trunk, retrieving her suitcase and opening space for two employees to try and lift the big chest full of stickers that also belonged to Claire.

“Here you go, honey.” He hands the lush green suitcase to her. “I hope you find… Some great things here.”

She takes it, grudgingly. “Don’t be so disappointed when I don’t.”

Her father shows a sympathetic smile on his face as he pauses to take in what she had just said. “I understand, Claire.” He opts to say. “Take care of yourself. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

Claire nods, unable to hide her lingering resentment. Her father gives her a last reassuring smile before driving away.

As she sees the Rolls-Royce disappearing on the dirty road, the Headmistress Winters, a stern and composed woman in her fifties whom she had already seen printed on the flyer advertising the school, approaches Claire with an air of authority. The disapproving expression that she wears only exacerbates Claire’s dislike for her furthermore.

“You must be Miss Deschamps, our newest student,” the woman says, inspecting her closer. “I trust you had a pleasant journey?”

To that, Claire rolls her eyes discreetly, her guard already up. “Oh, joy,” she mutters under her breath.

Putting on a polite facade, the Headmistress takes a step further, “As you know, I am Headmistress Winters. Your father and I talked on the phone. Welcome to St. Victoria’s Academy. Here we expect our students to uphold the highest standards of discipline and academic excellence.” She waves her hand in a high class and fluid motion, introducing the grand structure of the school behind her.

There is a moment of silence as Claire fights the urge to scoff, her skepticism apparent.

“Sounds like a real party,” she mutters dryly under her breath.

Headmistress Winters's eyes narrow not catching what the girl has to say, however, judging by the lack of excitement on Claire’s part and her many years of experience when it came to building character, she maintains her composed demeanor. She knows a troublemaker when she sees one.

With thinly veiled annoyance she adds firmly, “Respect and compliance are expected from all students, Claire. You'll find that St. Victoria’s Academy offers numerous opportunities for personal development and camaraderie. I suggest you keep an open mind.”

Claire's expression remains guarded, her disdain for the headmistress palpable the more words fell from her mouth. Her tone is pure cynicism as she answers. “Sure, Mrs. Winters. I'll keep an open mind while I'm here.”

Begrudgingly, she follows the older woman through the school's grand entrance, the imposing architecture and hushed conversations heightening her unease.

The Hall of Entrance in the all-girls boarding school exudes an air of elegance and tradition. Polished marble floors stretch out beneath the students' feet, reflecting the soft glow of the chandeliers that hang overhead. Tall, arched windows line the walls, allowing sunlight to filter in and cast a warm, inviting glow on the surroundings.

As Claire steps into the hall after the Headmistress, she is greeted by a flurry of activity. Girls in crisp uniforms pass by more eagerly than the ones she saw outside, their eyes darting to and fro, their hushed whispers carrying snippets of gossip. The hall becomes a stage for both fellowship and rivalry, as cliques form and dissolve with each passing moment.

The sound of clicking heels and rustling skirts mingles with the gentle murmur of conversation, creating a symphony of feminine energy. Some girls walk with confidence, their heads held high, while others seem more reserved, their eyes darting nervously as they try to find their place within the social hierarchy.

Portraits of past headmistresses and notable alumnae adorn the walls, their stern gazes reminding the students of the institution's legacy and the high expectations placed upon them. Some peak Claire’s attention. One of the spaces in particular, the one dedicated to the sports league, shows boys’ teams and trophies they earned against them, but she can’t find the right moment to ask what it is about as Mrs. Winters walks like a thunderstorm.

The aroma of freshly polished wood and the faint hint of perfume linger in the air making her curiosity calmly dissipate, creating an atmosphere that is both refined and pansy.

A grand staircase, its banisters intricately carved, leads to the upper levels of the school. It serves as a focal point, drawing the eyes of the girls as they ascend and descend, their interactions playing out on the stage of the hall.

Claire becomes acutely aware of the watchful eyes as she makes her way through the bustling crowd, trailing the steps of Mrs. Winters. Some girls shoot her curious glances, sizing her up and speculating about the newcomer. Whispers trail in her wake, snippets of conversation filled with intrigue and speculation.

Mrs. Winters then suddenly turns to face her once more, revealing behind her shoulder line a girl who matches Claire’s height, with bangs and a cascade of hazel hair. The girl’s warm and open expression contrasts greatly with Claire’s defensive demeanor.

Noticing Claire’s disinterest, Mrs. Winters starts, “Let me introduce you to your new roommate, Claire. She’ll help you settle in.”

Extending her hand politely and rather excitedly, the girl before her greets, “Hi! I'm Ella. It’s really nice to meet you!”

Claire reluctantly shakes Ella's hand, her guard still up. Frustrated by the already lack of choice on her end she mumbles, “Yeah, hi.”

Headmistress Winters nods curtly, signaling the end of their interaction. “Miss Dubois, why don’t you show Claire to your dormitory and explain how things work around here? I was in the middle of a rather urgent matter when she arrived...”

Without missing a beat, Ella promptly nods, understanding the task at hand. “Sure thing, Headmistress. Follow me, roomie!”

The newfound nickname makes Claire hiss internally like a cornered cat, but she plays the part, thankful to finally get herself rid of the Headmistress's presence.

Before the two of them can walk further away, Mrs. Winters dismissively points again, “Very well, off you go. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules and expectations of this institution, Miss Deschamps.”

Claire raises an eyebrow, her rebellious spirit flickering to life. “I'll keep that in mind, Headmistress,” she replies defiantly, turning her back to the woman.

Leaving the bustling hall and the scrutinizing eyes of the older woman, Claire turns to Ella, a sense of complicity forming between them as she notices how much more relaxed her new guide seems to be.

Smiling, Ella reassures her. “I promise this is not all as daunting as it seems.” Claire takes a deep breath, her apprehension giving way to a glimmer of hope. She follows Ella, ready to navigate the challenges of this new environment, determined to find her place amidst the rules and expectations she so vehemently resents. Who knows?, she thinks, maybe her new roommate can give her an escape route without even noticing. She could be escaping St. Victoria’s much earlier than she had predicted.

━━━━━━━━━ ✦

Claire wasn’t convinced if Ella had what it takes to be her newfound ally. The headmistress seemed to trust her enough which made her either valuable to the plan or a stone in her shoe. Although Claire was pending more to the former since the girl seemed very friendly as they kept a light conversation and she led the way through the bustling hallways. More often than not, the veteran would gush about her own friends as she vibrantly pointed to Claire how their day-to-day was, and for moments, more than to seek intel to architect her plan, the brunette found herself momentarily forgetting about her purpose as she got infected by Ella’s contagious energy.

Their footsteps echo softly as they step onto the serene patio, where blooming flowers and neatly trimmed hedges create a serene oasis within the school grounds. The sound of laughter and animated conversations drifts through the air as girls gather in small groups, enjoying moments of respite and fellowship.

Claire’s eyes scan the scenery, and they get caught in the ruckus three girls are making right by the center fountain of the patio. The one standing in the middle, a blonde with a high ballerina bun, dances excitedly as she flashes a knitted scarf to her peers. “You think JK will like it?” Her voice travels through the open space as she points specifically to the initials engraved in it.

Noticing Claire’s mind is far away from whatever she is saying, Ella leans closer, whispering, “That’s Vivienne for you,” she chuckles as Claire’s glance shifts quickly back, “Everyone calls her Vivi and you’ll soon hate her too, trust me.”

To that statement, Claire’s eyes return inquiring to Ella’s, her nose scrunching in doubt.

“You see, she delusionally believes she and some trouble boy are meant to be. We’re all tired to hear about it, or witness moments like this.” Ella points with her head to the blonde once more. “There she goes, making him a scarf he won’t probably use. Tell me about waste of time!”

Claire mildly snorts entertained, looking at the scene as well. “Poor girl.”

“Oh, believe me!” Ella exhales, walking away and her roommate follows, “That one is nothing of the sort. Imagine Regina George in real life. That’s her, right there.”

In a lack of response from the brunette, Ella gestures towards a row of benches shaded by a grand oak tree. ”Anyways, this is our patio, Claire. It's the perfect spot to relax and soak up some sunshine during breaks. And see over there? That's the canteen.”

The delicious aroma of freshly cooked meals fills the air as soon as they step closer to the precinct. Girls line up at the serving counter, chatting and exchanging stories as they eagerly await their turn. The room is alive with vibrant colors, with posters and artwork adorning the walls, adding a touch of creativity to the space.

“We refuel here, obviously.” Ella glances excited to see Claire’s reaction. “The food is surprisingly good, and there's always a variety of options to choose from… Well. When the boys don’t join, that is. They can be savages.” she chuckles nonchalantly.

Suddenly Claire’s eyes perk with curiosity. Every bit of information she had gathered about the school before arriving said this was an all-girls academy, but then again, there were existent photos of boys displayed in the hall. Not to say Vivienne’s parade a second ago. Do they have a day off?, she muses, Could this be an opportunity? “What do you mean boys? Isn’t this an all-girls school?” she voices her thoughts as Ella takes the lead again, taking her on another stroll.

The energetic roommate greets some girls that pass by them with a sympathetic smile before returning her focus to the newcomer beside her.

“Well, yeah. The Alarie boarding school for boys is right across the river, and we often have classes together. You know, lack of teachers in the far countryside.” she shrugs.

Before she can inquire further, Ella is already distracted, smiling at the passersby.

“With Jimin? Again?! God, what’s her secret!” They hear a girl gasp to a friend as they crossways.

Oh. I see..., Claire’s thoughts put the pieces together. She quickly looks at the hazel-haired girl making her company.

By the raise of eyebrows that she gives her and the flicker of frolic that flashes in her eyes, Ella is quick to warn, “It’s strictly forbidden to hang out with them boys, Claire. No smogging. No funny hands.”

“But she just-” Claire refuted pointing behind her shoulders to the girl that passed by sharing her indignation a bit too loudly.

Ella gave her a warning yet laid-back glance, “Alright, people go on with it in secret but as you can see, nothing is really a secret around here. And then when you least expect it, bam! You’re in trouble!”

“Are they at least hot? Or I don’t know... Worth the trouble?”

Ella thinks for a second and then shrugs with a naivety Claire knows to be fake, “How would I know?”

“If you say so!” Claire pretends to salute dramatically, a bickering well read by the other as to the current square state the Academy insisted on following rules. And so, Ella pulls her to a quick jog entertained, and a bit tempted to show her new roommate she also knew how to break a few of them. Even if the rules she was breaking weren’t as grand as Claire deemed them to be. The students passing by confirmed the thought as they judged their behavior, and Claire laughed even louder at their tedious conformism. The rule about not running in the hallways was true indeed.

As they arrive at their shared dormitory, their footsteps grow softer as they enter the hushed ambiance of the living quarters. The dormitory is a cozy space adorned with tasteful decorations, featuring two neatly made beds, desks adorned with books and personal touches, and small corkboards for photos and reminders.

Ella jumps to sit on her own bed, bouncing on the mattress as she does so. “And here we are,” she gestures. “Our humble abode. It may not be the biggest, but it's home.”

Claire looks around the room, a hint of curiosity dancing in her eyes as she imagines the memories that will unfold within these walls, even if for brief moments. Ella seems a nice girl, but she won’t be around to discover much more about her. She needs to escape this. Her real friends await in the big city.

“Yeah, it's not bad…”

Ella grins with the comment, her warmth shining through.

“We'll make it cozy, you’ll see,” she says encouragingly. “Plus, you still have to meet my girls! They are rooming right in front of us. It’s great to share stuff and to keep gossip in day!” She laughs at her own behavior.

As Claire sets her suitcase down and begins to unpack, a bit aloof to her roommate’s words, a newfound sense of optimism fills the room. To Ella is the beginning of a new friendship, even if her roommate was a hard one to crack. But she was patient, everyone had their personal time after all. To Claire, it is a journey through a path she had never charted before, but her father was right about one thing---she is strong. And she will prevail.

“We’ll meet them in a few!” Ella continues, snapping Claire out of her thoughts, “They went to pick up your uniforms for you.”

Claire eyes her with gratitude, showing for the first time a smile, even if timid, and her roommate mimicked the action. Only hers was as big as her enthusiasm for finally having a friend to share her bedroom with.

Still sitting by her bed, Ella watches as Claire takes only her toiletries out of her green suitcase, as well as a portrait of her and what the girl gathered to be her mom. The tall wild child discards the pouch with her cosmetics by the bed, as she walks toward the bedside table, closely placed to the window, adjusting the portrait on top of it. Her clothes, still inside the suitcase, didn’t seem important and were left forgotten still inside it, untouched. Or so Ella thought so.

“Your mom is beautiful,” she comments gently, looking at how Claire’s eyes seem to hover with longing at the picture.

The brunette opens a small smile, thanking her roommate almost in a whisper, eyes still glued to the image of her mom. How she missed her.

And then suddenly a loud pang interrupts the moment, making her jump and Ella scream. Startled by the sudden impact of a ball against her bedroom window, she had fallen back onto her bed, her heart racing. She swiftly rises and storms towards the window again, fueled by annoyance and ready to unleash her frustration on the culprit responsible.

Seething with anger, Claire flings open the window of her dorm room on the second floor, ready to give the culprit a piece of her mind. Ella knees on her bed to look at the indicted herself. “Shit.” She manages to say.

Claire’s words, however, catch in her throat as she locks eyes with a boy she has never seen before, and taking by Ella’s reaction beside her, it was clear that wasn’t her case, her roommate knew him.

His mischievous grin and charismatic presence immediately captivate her, and a flicker of curiosity replaces her initial anger. Still, she stands her ground and through gritted teeth, she lashes, “What's your problem?!”

Both girls watch as he brings casually one of his hands to shield his eyes from the sun, his smile gleaming with amusement.

“Oh, I apologize, princess,” he says charmingly. “You weren’t supposed to-” he trails off, “Well, I wasn’t looking to make an impression on you but now…” he considers, his smile doubling the size.

Claire tries to maintain her composure, but there's an undeniable pull towards the Alarie’s boy that she can't ignore.

“Impression?” She scoffs slightly flustered, “If it’s at being stupid, you've certainly succeeded. Who are you anyway?”

The boy takes a step closer toward the shade of the tall building to see her better, a playful glint in his eyes as he keeps looking up chuckling at her response.

With a smirk, he replies. “You didn’t hear of me? I'm Jungkook,” he says as if it explains a lot, with a smugness that makes Claire crazy to punch out of his face. “I go to the Alarie’s, right next door.”

“JK!” another boy shouts from a distance, and Claire’s eyes travel to the field to meet the face of Jungkook’s peer. A group of boys is joyfully hanging out there, waiting for him.

As her eyes turn back to him, standing beneath her window, with a raised eyebrow, Jungkook says with yet another chuckle, “You never told me your name.”

She sneers, “And I won’t.”

Despite her refusal, Claire can't help but feel a certain curiosity pull toward Jungkook. His confidence and charm leave her intrigued, even if she tries to deny it or finds it too brazen.

Jungkook sends another intrigued look her way, a hint of mischief in his voice.

“Don't worry, princess. I’ll find it soon enough.” that answer only makes her blood boil further. “Besides, life's too short to be boring, don't you think? I like the mystery.” He shrugs with a smile, picking the rugby ball that was fallen by his feet, and starting to walk back. He turns once again to see her reaction, raising his voice as he adds, “And tell your rat roommate that the next one is meant for her!” He lifts the ball in his hand as if he raised a toast.

“I'm not fucking interested in your idea of excitement, Jungkook. Save your charm for someone else!” She shouts defiantly but he only laughs in response, now fully turning his back and jogging swiftly toward his friends.

She can't help but watch his back and carefree stance, even if Ella’s presence is made heard by her side. Under rushed and muted curses, the girl gets up from the bed, initiating an anxious breakdown as she paced back and forth inside their bedroom.

Claire’s gaze finally moves away from the window to fall upon her roommate’s state. “Not that it’s any of my business, but... You wanna talk about it?” she asks, gaining no response apart from a full stop on the pacing and Ella’s hands coming to a desperate grip on her own locks.

“Ella!” Claire calls her, closing the distance between them, “Hey, what’s going on?” The change of attitude of the girl was so brusque from her previous joyful self that it got her worried.

She gently touched her shoulder, and Ella’s eyes finally found her own. “I’m totally, completely, fucked.” She confesses finally.

“What happened? Is it about this Jungkook guy?”

The hazel-haired girl gives her a nod and Claire’s eyebrows knit together. She manages to inhale, ready to question further but they are interrupted by the cheerful tinkle of shoes and greetings.

“We got it!” It’s what she hears as she looks at the door to their room that had been left open. Two girls enter the space, both shorter than Ella and her. They look excited, probably having fun on the way there.

“Hi! You must be the new girl,” The shortest one says, giving her a cordial smile. She has her long honey-blonde hair held back by a bow. “I’m Lola, this is Avery...”

“And this is your uniforms!” While Lola has a royal aura to her, somewhat restrained and charismatic, Avery seems more upfront and girly. Her hair is like coal and so glossy that it shines hues of dark blue in the light.

Taking the folded clothes from her hands with a smile of her own, Claire introduces herself. “Thank you, I’m Claire. And you really didn’t have to do it-”

“It’s totally fine, we wanted to!” Lola insists bubbly, waving off, and the brunette smiles thankful.

The blonde walks her way toward Ella’s bed, familiar enough to sit on it as she grabs a pillow to hug as she did so.

“Girls. He knows.” To Claire’s relief, Ella finally enters the conversation. “I hate myself!” She adds, grunting.

She notices how the other two react fervently to the comment as she places the pile of uniforms on top of her bed, ceasing to be the focus of their attention. They look at Ella with staring eyes, clearly on topic but still indignant about the rest of the information that still doesn’t come.

“What do you mean he knows?!” Avery is the first to question. “How would he know? There were no boys in class that day...”

To which Lola quickly made a comment with a nudge at her waist, “I told you there was! Louis, remember?”

At the same time, Ella explained. “Now Jungkook sent a stupid ball flying up the window on purpose. After my head of course!”

While Claire looked from one to another trying to unveil the situation, both Avery and Lola unleashed a series of wroth exclamations, to what Ella took part in instead of actually providing a clearer explanation.

“I’m sorry.” Claire interrupted. “But can someone situate me here? What does this Jungkook know? And why is it a big deal? I’m lost.” She had a notion she was being brazen as she wasn’t close to the three friends before her, but not a couple minutes before she had witnessed a boy sending a warning in the shape of a rugby ball to her roommate. If this was to continue while she stayed there, she needed to know at least the basics.

Avery and Lola look from her to Ella apprehensively waiting. So this is mildly important, she thinks. And then the latter sighs.

“I wasn’t completely honest with you about the boys’ part...”

To that statement, Claire slowly realizes that there may be more to this school than meets the eye, and consequently, more that she needs to unravel to make her flight seem a mystery. Glancing out of the window, Alerie’s boarding school for boys is starting to feel like a needed pit stop, as it stands tall between St. Victoria’s building and her much-wanted freedom.

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bluenpjm · 1 year

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horus academy 5 — bts x oc

@singguks × @socksjinie × @bluenpjm

summary: in a school where greek methods rules, not everything is as clear as it appears to be. heart, mind, soul, and body. those are the teams of the horus academy and boarding school. but deep within the long corridors, lies dark secrets. the so-called loving families formed in the shapes of teams begin to tear when an anonymous source unravels their deepest secrets.

genre: high school au | mystery au | social au | angst | fluff

pairing: OT7 × OC’s

rating: M

word count: 15.2k

warnings: foul language, friends fighting, getting stalked, lies and threats, bullying. really, a lot of fights and harsh words.

chapters. 04, 05, 06 ✹ masterlist

Three days had passed since the games and the rumor still hadn’t died down.

People would stare and bluntly gossip whenever Jimin or even the rest of the group passed by in the halls. And the worst of it, for the group itself, was that the realization of it was indeed shocking. It was one thing being the talk of the hour because of teenage behavior regarding breaking into the boys' dorm rooms… Another was actually sleeping with a teacher while being a minor.

At first, Jimin had the brilliant idea of wanting to skip biology class on Tuesday morning, which everyone was against. It was decided that he would not only go to class as a normal and not guilty student would, but he was to behave and cut all communication with his lover for a little while. Just until the rumor died down and he could come to his senses and end the rendezvous himself.

Kaya, the one sharing biology class with him, kept a hawk’s watch on his moves. And Jimin was actually doing his best. She could easily buy the facade he was putting up. The one inciting fire to the rumor was Miss Bellum herself, who couldn’t help but look at the boy from time to time. And if Kaya was noticing it, the gossiping leeches were too.

As soon as the bell rang, Kaya shoved her notebooks into her purse and pulled Jimin by the arm, dragging him out of the class. His backpack was still half opened and he had to carry the biology textbook in his hand.

She turned the first corner she came into, and went down a few steps of the stairs, coming to a stop in its middle. Jimin looked at her completely lost, glancing at his sides to see if people were passing by or judging the moment as weird as he was.

“Wha–” he tried but she interrupted him in pure frustration.

“I can’t believe you told her!” she burst, still trying to be as quiet as possible so no one could hear. And before he had a chance to come up with a lie or an excuse to stall, Kaya continued. “Don’t even try and pretend you didn’t. She looked at you the whole time as if the world was ending and you were some abandoned dog!”

Jimin glanced back at the corridor before answering, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched all the time. “I had to, ok?” a tired sigh left his lips, and Kaya held her tongue so she could let him speak. Before continuing his reasoning, he put the textbook in his backpack, all while the girl looked anxiously at him. “She texted me on Sunday–Just to check on me after the fight with Archie! Relax!”

“How. Will. I. Relax, Park Jimin!” she slapped his arms outraged while he tried to evade it.

He searched for words but nothing seemed good enough so he opted to hug her instead. Kaya was as much on edge as he was. This wasn’t just a vendetta against him, this was a deliberate attack on the whole group. “Listen, I promised you guys I wouldn’t be in touch with her anymore and I’m not. But she deserved to know what was happening, so I told her, ok? Just so that if anything happened–If any student said something, she wouldn’t be caught unprepared. It was the least I could do.”

Kaya nodded in understanding. She could at least breathe more at ease, and she held Jimin for a few seconds more, wishing that she could wake up from this nightmare named You.

Before their moment of peace could last a little longer, Jimin’s phone buzzed in his front pocket, taking an arrow straight at both his and Kaya’s heart. Not again, he feared.

They broke away from the embrace. She anchored herself on the wall behind her, crossing her arms to form a shield against whatever was coming their way. Jimin, in turn, reached for the device while mustering the courage he still had.

Kaya saw his eyes reading the message but she couldn’t decipher his face. From where she was standing, and the way his eyebrows slightly furrowed, it didn’t look good. She gulped. “So?”

“It’s Tae.” he said apprehensively, taking a quick look at her face.

The air escaped her lips and he saw her entire body relax. Recomposing herself she questioned, “You still haven’t talked about it?” to which he shook his head. “Well… Good luck with that.”

With a not-so-cheerful pat on his shoulder, Kaya was quick to leave her friend on the empty flight of stairs to resume her schedule.

The sun shined bright in the sky, and although Elena was lying down on their usual table bench outside, she couldn’t seem to enjoy the warm beaming on her skin peacefully.

Yoongi, Jin, and Jungkook sat by the table with her, while they waited for the twins to grab something from the cafeteria for their lunch. And although two of them were contributing to her quiet beauty nap, Jin couldn’t help but throw in assumptions of who could possibly be You.

“Listen, I wouldn’t doubt that Archie was psycho enough to just come at us,” Elena could hear him say, “I’m just saying it isn’t his style at all to come at someone through social media.” and although none of them responded to it, she could tell that both Yoongi and Jungkook were thinking about his reasoning because so was she. Jin had a point. And so he continued rambling, “He’s too… Aggressive to be just like–Oh I know your secret ha ha ha! I feel like he would at least brag about it while taking a punch at our beautiful faces.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi agreed. “The problem here is that we know nothing about this You person to even try and assume who it is…”

A defeated silence followed. It was enough for Elena to open her eyes, only to have to turn her face on the bench so as to not be blinded by the light. She couldn’t see the boys, since they were all sitting on the other side of the table, but she could watch how some students passed by. Even from far away, they would glance at them with judgemental eyes. She inhaled impatiently.

“What’s taking them so long, by the way?” Jin was the kind of person that lived in the moment. And at this moment at least, food was more important. Elena’s stomach would agree, but her head was seething with possibilities. And so she sat up, making the three boys before her pay attention.

She inquired, “What if we got to know something about You?” they looked at her pondering. “Even the smallest detail would help, right?”

“And how we’d manage that?” Jungkook finally spoke up, while the older two were already pondering for themselves.

All they did until now was wait around and be there whenever You decided to use them as punching bags. Elena was fed up with it. There had to be some way to strike back. Plus, in her head, if this You person was working alone, they would have the advantage. They were a whole group.

“Why don’t we counter-strike on social media? Since it’s this loser's playground and all. I figure that if we manage to have everyone’s support and throw this shade at them like they’ve been obviously throwing at us, You will lose it.” she said, crossing her legs on the bench. The thing was not to add more to the fire but she felt the need to make this You person realize they knew how to stand tall as a group. Elena could picture herself receiving all this negative attention alone, and if that were the case she didn’t think she would like it very much or even be that secure to repeat the process all over again.

Jin sighed. He recognized that she was right but at the same time, it would be a bold move. “What would we even say? Again, we don’t know who this person is… So we don’t know how to push their buttons.”

“How about we start at the ‘You’re behind a screen because you don’t have the balls to come say it to my face’ part?”

As Jungkook tried to hold his laughter and Yoongi pensively looked down with his arms crossed, Jin was obliged to answer Elena’s thoughts. “That seems well articulated to me.” he nodded in agreement.

“Well, good, let’s watch how this rat squirms after I turn some sides then,” She added, making a go for her mobile that had been forgotten on top of the stone table. The girl managed to unlock the device and tap on the app to start writing before Yoongi made himself heard again.

He started by saying, “I don’t think this is a good idea, Elena.” which made her stop what she was doing to look at him. “You’re going to provoke them, and then what?”

How she exhaled and gesticulated with her free hand made him know she was fed up to the point of quitting too much explanation. Jin for the first time got quiet, and Jungkook’s eyes were once again doing that thing when he got apprehensive; they would double the size. “I get it. I know what you mean by wanting to know their next move. You’re going to try and fit them into a team and track them down that way. Maybe even scare them enough to not come after us again. But it’s an unsure move. What if it gets worse? I don’t know…” Yoongi tried to reason with her before something else blew right in their faces.

“I mean. It can’t get worse than this!” she looked around and so did Yoongi. People kept gossiping and scrutinizing their every move. “We need to take action. You know that.”

And before anyone could say anything else, she finished writing it and pressed send.

There was some comfort in Elena’s post, even if no one said much more about it. She treated the situation as if all of the things they were exposed for doing were nothing but mere rumors, and there was a big relief on that. Almost as if they could resume what they have known before as normal school life.

“If you two took a bit more to arrive here I swear I would pass out of hunger.” Jin pointed out as soon as he saw Taehyung and Freya approach them, each holding two silver trays full of food.

The boys were quick to organize the table and pick their plates to start eating, failing to notice how Freya’s glance was locked with Elena’s. Taehyung almost managed to sit in the middle of the two, if it weren’t for his twin shoving him to the side.

As soon as she passed her legs through and managed to sit, she whispered in Elena’s ear, “Care to fill me in on what that post was about?”

“I’m just relieved I said something back” she confided, “We really needed a win around here.”

“You did good,” Freya agreed cheerfully. They looked at each other and realizing what she had just said, she tried to fix it, “Not you as in You but like. You.” she pointed out and Elena couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh forget it! You know what I meant.”

Out of the whole group, everyone met up during lunch, as per usual. Everyone but Namjoon and Jimin. The former had to skip it because of the captain’s duties. Psykhe’s leader had to stay longer in a monthly meeting about their team’s expenses and such.

Jimin, however, was being avoidant. Taehyung knew him well enough to know that.

He knew that as soon as he texted him saying they needed to talk, the first thing Jimin would do was this—avoid him at all costs. So excusing himself politely from the table, Taehyung went back to the cafeteria and picked some chicken wings with sauce as a peace offering, making his way to the boys’ dorms.

It was actually the perfect time for some privacy, as the majority of people were hanging on the patio for lunch and Jimin’s roommate, Hoseok, was also out.

He had to knock two times before the door was answered. Jimin opened it sporting nothing but a towel around his waist. He didn’t say much, just made way so Taehyung could come into the room.

The tallest stopped by the beds, feeling a little out of place because of his best friend’s unbothered eyes and sudden irresolvable stance. He hesitated with the box of chicken wings still in his hands. Jimin kept moving around in false pretense, entering the bathroom and then coming out of it seconds later with a smaller towel in hand, using it to boyishly dry his drenched locks.

Deciding to approach carefully, Taehyung said, “Brought you some lunch,” he slightly lifted his hand showing the white squared box that transpired a mouth-watering smell. “The canteen was about to close, so…”

Jimin gave him a small smile in return, still busy with his chore. “Thanks.”

“Alright.”

The food was placed at the closest writing table. Taehyung had to press his lips to contain his inner fuming. He turned around to face his best friend with a wave of anger he was finding quite difficult to contain.

His hands found his hips as he managed to say, “So you’re the one that gets to be mad at me? Not the other way around? I see.”

“Oh please, quit the sarcasm” Jimin spits quite impatiently himself.

“Sure. Just as soon as you cut the bullshit.” Taehyung said almost immediately demanding from his best friend what they haven’t gotten ever since the secret had been out. The courage to face the truth.

Jimin had a very different reaction from what Taehyung had envisioned for what was to come. He saw how his best friend rolled his eyes before answering, and Jimin’s voice sounded tired as he said, “Not you too.” he exhaled.

Taehyung looked at him with daggers in his eyes. His eyebrows twitched questioning, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Excuse me?!” was all that he managed to blurt out.

“Go on. Spit it. I know you also have something to say.”

Still taken aback by Jimin’s reaction he scoffs. “Are you being serious?” His stance is as cold as the resentment he was feeling. His chest was about to explode due to the unfairness of the situation. The words fell short no matter what he thought of saying, and so he muted himself. The chocolate locks boy just stood there looking at his friend, feeling just as hurt.

Impatient, Jimin ran his hand through his hair. “That was why you came here with the wings! Or do you think I’m stupid?” he said, panting in anger. His normally cheerful eyes were big and glossy. “We’ve been avoiding this talk long enough so just say whatever it is that you have to say.” his chest kept rising and falling in the heat of the moment.

The boy before him had to take a second to answer. He stopped biting his tongue and all that fell from his mouth was the beginning of sarcastic laughter. Taehyung shook his head, scanning the room before meeting Jimin’s eyes again. “Yes.” He began, and the room turned to ice. “You do seem stupid after saying that.” he paused but Jimin wasn’t able to answer. A knot began forming in his throat. “And were we avoiding it?” Taehyung corrected with a pert yet sad smile, “Or were you? Because I didn’t see you coming to me to talk about it.”

Without much thinking, Jimin scoffed. “Stupid?” His words were laced with anger but his features told a different tale. “What else are you holding? C’mon, let it all out.”

There was a pause. And a strike of realization from both ends.

Taehyung exhaled. His eyebrows were knit together as his words began more paused and controlled than before. “I’m holding the fact that my best friend seems more eager to blame me than to actually understand what I really came here to do.” By the time his angry eyes meet Jimin’s, the latter feels drowned by his own guilt. “I’m not everyone else, you know…” Taehyung’s voice sounds hurtful. “I thought you knew that.”

Jimin only understands his best friend had left the room as the sound of the door being hammered echoes. The anger consumes him and in a bashful split second, he grabs the first thing that comes into hand. Hoseok’s lamp is thrown at the wall.

The din followed by scattered glass on the floor made him conscious of the mess he had just made. And that any mess could turn messier than what was thought possible.

One by one the group started to disperse. The lunch break was a very needed one, but everything good in life came to an end.

Yoongi was mindlessly scrolling his timeline in search of new song recommendations when he realized his friends had already moved on with their affairs. As he got up and grabbed his things he spotted Freya from afar. The girl was sitting by a big oak tree, basking in its welcoming shade.

He had to get closer to note she had her eyes peacefully closed. There was a slight breeze that blew softly on her locks. From where he was standing, it looked like she was in a painting.

“Not that is any of my business,” he said, plumping himself down right next to her. “But as your current fake boyfriend, I should say… Your brother sucks!” he joked, making her open a cheerful smile.

With her eyes still closed, she asked, “What did he do this time?”

“Well… He’s been hinting that he wanted to talk to me for a while now, you know–About us. But we still haven’t had the chance… All this You stuff and all.” Freya opens her eyes as she hears Yoongi sigh. “And now ever since Jimin’s thing came out he’s been all stressed.”

The girl took a glance at him. Yoongi kept his eyes on the horizon, and if she knew him well enough, his head was spinning trying to find a practical solution to this mess. Even if his semblance was calm and composed. “And he’s been taking it out on you,” Freya states.

“And he’s been taking it out on me, yeah.”

Even though the boy beside her laughed about it, she knew it was bothering him deep down. She noticed how Taehyung was sharp and borderline surly to Yoongi during lunch. Her brother could be a bit too transparent about his feelings, never knowing how to suppress them. And she had a perfect notion she was a bit too much the same.

“If it serves any consolation to you, he criticized my footwear of choice today,” she opts to say, keeping a light mood by clinking the heels of her recently acquired cowboy boots. Yoongi can’t help but laugh. Freya, as well as her brother, had always liked using questionable things when it came to fashion. And the thought of the twins having a discussion about the item can’t seem to leave his head. It felt so ridiculous that it immediately brought a smile to his face.

Freya laughed along, pleased to hear his own loud one.

Yoongi steals a glance at her as he leans his head on the trunk of the tree behind them. It’s been a while since they had been this peaceful, and he would hate to end the moment but at the same time, he felt the need to check on her. “And how have you been? On a more serious note.”

“Same old same”

“Freya.” He presses still looking at her profile. The girl sighs reluctantly and Yoongi can see the joy fading from her distant eyes.

She turns her head so she can face him and give him the answers upon his request, as she sees no way out of it, but as soon as she opens her mouth she gets interrupted. “Hey!” her eyes leave Yoongi’s face and land on Jungkook’s. “Sorry…” The boy says as Yoongi’s gaze on him feels like a rebuke. As if he had interrupted a conversation that wasn’t made for his ears. “I–Mhmm… I hope I’m not interru–”

“Hi!” Freya exclaimed with a sunny smile returned to her lips. “No, no! Sit!”

Jungkook smiled along, doing as instructed, sitting in front of the pair. He rested his backpack by his knee as he sat cross-legged. “The bell rang and I have a free period right now, so…” Freya bit a smile as he fumbled with his shoelace still convinced he had to explain himself. “Everyone went their way and then as I came back from the canteen I saw you guys here–”

“Oh fuck!” Yoongi grunts getting up. He swiftly bats the dirt from his trousers and grabs his own backpack under the gaze of the other two.

Freya chuckles in realization, “You’re late again aren’t you?”

The boy flashes her a guilty gummy smile before confessing, “Pretty much! Mrs. Hough is going to kill me… Again!” He doesn’t take any more time before starting to run downhill with a lack of youthful spirit considering his age. “And we’re not finished!” Yoongi adds with a wink as he looks back at Freya, and Jungkook can’t help but wonder. The two looked nothing like a couple. Or maybe it was just his lack of experience in the matter talking.

“So.” His eyes leave Yoongi’s back as he hears Freya say. When he looks at her he can’t help but gulp.

“So…” Jungkook repeats her words. It had been a while since they last stood alone in each other’s presence, that specific day in the Wolf’s den dawning in his conscience, even so, guilt pairing in his heart or not, he had always felt intimidated by her stare. From the beggining. And sometimes he was convinced that if he got himself locked in her eyes long enough she would be able to read him like a book. Unravel all that there is to him. Nervously he adds, “You come here often?”

Freya’s immediate reaction is to laugh. A burst of genuine laughter. There was something to his dorkiness that made her feel very comfortable. “Honestly? This is the first time I spend this free period here,” She decides to open up to his roleplay game. “I’m trying to find my new best place.”

“And what does it take to be your new best place?”

It seemed only natural to her to keep being true while looking at him. No need to even think before answering. “I’d say privacy is the first thing.” But to his insecure ears that sounded like a sign that he had crossed a line with her. “Ouch!” he lets out, finally breaking eye contact to look at the grass rubbing at his shoes instead.

Realizing he misunderstood what she had said, she comes forward nudging his shoulder playfully. “Not you though!” He analyses her features again, a tad expectant. “You can exist with me.” Her voice sounds velvety and he feels the smile tugging on the corner of his mouth once more.

With a faint of pink coloring his scarred cheek he asks, “And what’s the second requirement?” to which she answers promptly, “Mmm, I’d say a great view!”

“And then?” Jungkook asks without realizing it, almost in a whisper. She had his full attention, and his brain couldn’t stop trying to match the nooks and crannies he had already seen around the school to fit her description.

To her, much like to everyone else, the raven-haired boy before her couldn’t help but exude mysteriousness. A black translucent cloth covered him at all times from everyone’s curiosity. And it wasn’t shyness or just introspection. Freya had Yoongi to thank for being able to spot the difference. But sometimes, when the world outside seemed quiet enough–when there were just the two of them, she felt like she could glimpse the boy beneath such covers. In a trance, she mumbles just as quietly as he did before, “That’s it for now…”. They keep quiet for a moment, just enjoying each other’s features. If someone passed by them, they could easily mistake the moment for a stare competition, and the two competitors would miss the presence of the bystander just as easily.

A sudden beep causes Freya to inhale sharply and Jungkook to jolt. Both of them exchange embarrassed chuckles as the girl takes her phone out to see what had snapped them to the real world. Jungkook eyes her expectant.

She shrugs, tucking the device into her backpack once again. “It’s Yoongi.”

“So the teacher didn’t kill him this time, huh”

Freya leaned on the tree with a cheeky smile. She crossed her arms saying, “Not this time, no” as she watched how he fixed his backpack on the ground so he could rest his head comfortably on it.

More silence follows. Jungkook keeps his eyes trailed to the scenery displayed to his right. He watches mindlessly as some students cross the greenery toward the main building. From time to time, when the wind hits his face, he feels compelled to close his eyes for seconds before opening them again. Freya doesn’t look at the view as he does. She couldn’t care less about those people passing by. Instead, she keeps her eyes trailed to his nape, and she watches how the hair there is starting to get big enough so it curves softly. She spots the scar on his left cheek and thinks of how it came to be, and how it seems so fitting that it was there.

Jungkook fumbles with his lip piercing, still looking at the crowd below them. They all look so small from there. So distant. “Maybe I could help you find it,” he says as he turns his head to look at her.

He notices how her eyes were already on him. How that summer blush spread across the line of her cheeks and nose as if she had been the whole day under a scorching sun at the beach. “I would like that.”

He nods and the crinkles of his eyes start to appear. “Today after classes?”

“Deal.”

The rest of the free period is spent in comfortable silence. Both of them exist in each other’s presence, in wonder, basking in the sunlight. Enjoying the peacefulness of the breeze, and ignoring their surroundings. Caught not wanting that moment to end, but also anxiously waiting for the next encounter.

Kaya decided to accompany her brother and Namjoon to the library post lunch after receiving a notification from the system saying the literature teacher would be canceling classes that day.

The boys were supposedly in their sociology class, but the extensive course was normally divided into two hours—one for research and the other for debating. So while they came up with a grounded speech, the girl fumbled through books, settling to catch up on the subjects she would have for the rest of the day.

She was running her fingers through the numbers carved on the massive wood bookcase, eyes searching for the physics copy she needed, when she was laced by her hips and pulled to a dark corner.

“What are you doing?!” she whispered, desperately glancing around so as to not be caught.

Her captor didn’t pay much mind and kept kissing her neck. By now he was more than used to her apprehensive behavior. “My brother is right there!” she hissed again. On the tips of her toes, she tried with all her might to disentangle from the arms she loved so much. She just couldn’t be caught, and this was way too risky for her liking.

“He’s focused on the task at hand,” The boy said, laid back. “I doubt he’ll get up before cracking that book first. You know how he is.”

He pulled her closer, diving in for a kiss, sure that he had eased her mind just enough. To his misfortune, his lips were met with her hand. He tried again, playing it cool, but Kaya turned her head as she shoved him back. “Namjoon, please.”

He inhaled, as he rubbed his temples frustrated.

Namjoon had never been a pushy guy. And he had always taken Kaya’s concerns into consideration. That was why they had been dating secretly in the first place. Because to him, they would have already come clean to everyone—including Hoseok—a long time ago.

“Just tell me what you want Kaya,” he says plainly and she is taken aback.

“What do you mean?”

He sighs as the girl in front of him seems more preoccupied with checking around if anyone is listening to their conversation. More and more he felt tired of this. There was already too much on the table for them to be worried about.

Namjoon leans on the bookcase behind him, crossing his arms. “It’s been a while now since we last were together,” he says carefully and her eyes search for his. “Ever since Freya took the blame in our place, to be specific.”

“Ok…” she opts to say, as the words dissipate in her brain.

“No. It’s not ok.” he huffs annoyed. Kaya knows him too well, and the moment he clenches his jaw in a pout, swinging it back and forth, she realizes he’s been piling this up for too long. “You’re my girlfriend. Yet I can’t see you in public or in private. I can’t kiss you or touch you–We can’t even talk like this without you looking around as if you’re up to something you shouldn’t be up to!” he whispers hushedly, calling her out.

Kaya’s eyes are suddenly teary and the boy before her starts to get blurry. “But what can we do, it’s–”

“We could just be together.” his eyebrows knit almost pleading. He is certain that he loves her. And he is certain that she loves him too. What hurts the most is that it doesn’t seem enough. Not for him, or her.

Kaya starts shaking her head, eyes trailing on the wooden floor. She can’t deal with this right now. Not when her brother is mere meters away from finding the truth.

“Let’s not do this now.”

“Then when, Kaya?!” Namjoon can’t keep his cool anymore and she quickly covers his mouth to shush him. She looks apologetic at him, realizing how on edge she was being. He softly takes her hand out of the way. “I know these past couple of days have left us all walking on eggshells,” his voice sounds temperate again, the tone only loud enough for her to hear. “But I also think we can’t stop living our lives because of it.”

She closed her eyes with a sigh. Kaya knew Namjoon was more than right. She just needed her scale to pend to the other side instead. Right now, she still has a lot to lose. “I know, it’s just–”

The sound of a book dropping way closer to them than they thought possible, made both of their heads snap toward it, alarmed. Kaya’s breathing increased considerably and she froze on the spot. Namjoon looked around, and not seeing anyone in sight, he went toward the next row of bookcases.

There was a single book left on the ground, scrambled from the falling. He looked at the cover as he picked it up, but the title didn’t say much to him. Before returning it to its place, he looked around once more. Kaya came from behind, quite apprehensive. Looking at her eyes, he followed her frightful gaze. On the other end of the long corridor of books, sat at a table for four there was Momo, Mark, and Tzuyu. The latter, unlike her Sarx companions, wasn’t writing or reading. She had her eyes craved on Namjoon.

The Psykhe’s captain decided not to look too much, or read too much into the situation. He had to avoid looking suspicious. Recomposing himself, he put the book on the shelf once again and turned his back to Tzuyu’s prying eyes.

“Let’s go back–”

“She’s still looking,” Kaya whispered with concern. And before he could say anything else, she made rushed decisions for the both of them, “We’re stopping this for now. We can talk later.”

As she turned the corner leaving him no space for refutation, Namjoon couldn’t figure out if they were stopping the conversation or their relationship altogether. He had to swallow his frustration as he was well aware his back was still being stared at.

And who knew who else was paying close attention too…

Summer still lingered in the air as the students from class 104 dozed off to the sound of Mr. Perry’s soothing voice and the ceiling fans. Philosophy felt like a drag whenever the class was theoretical instead of practical.

Elena sat in the last row of desks, sharing one of them with an absent-minded Jungkook. She took notes from time to time just to keep herself busy and although throughout the first part of the class, she thought the boy beside her was doing the same, it became pretty clear that was not the case as she peeked to the side and saw a view from what she pegged being the Psykhe’s tower drawn on his notebook.

She whispered so only he could hear, “That looks amazing”, and he took his while perfecting the twinkling stars on his pitch-black sky before answering with a brief chuckle, “I try”.

The class continued irrespective of Elena’s admiration and Jungkook’s pencil lining. The room was a stage for a lazy symphony composed by Mr. Perry’s throat being cleared here and then and some bored sighs at the end. The time of the class helped the preposition to be lulled instead of trying to create a ruckus with chitchatting.

But then a notification sound reverberated alongside the teacher’s voice. Some heads, from owners that still had some stamina left, turned to the guilty one holding the phone. Elena’s included. The student apologized sheepishly doting a sheer of red on his face while turning off the device as if it had been a coincidental mistake. Mr. Perry was about to restart his explanation with an unbothered stance when the girl sat by Belle’s side, right at the front row seats, exclaimed reproachfully with her phone at hand.

Some students exchanged glances, and others paused what they were doing to look at her expectantly. “What is it, Vanessa?” someone asked from the back. The teacher tried to pay no mind going instead to write on the imponent board behind him.

Suddenly both Vanessa and Belle turn around and stare in Elena’s direction with pitiful eyes. The girl is taken aback by the gesture but tries to deflect them by looking back with a shrug.

“Holy shit…” one of the boys let out while scrolling his phone. Elena looks at him apprehensively, and Jungkook finally lifts his head peaking above the shoulder of his table mate to grasp the situation. While the constant noise of chalk being dragged on the board serves as background, the class starts to get restless. Phones are being pulled out of pockets to kill the famish curiosity pairing in the air. Elbows jerk and eyes turn inquiring toward her.

Elena panics and suddenly she knows. It’s You… Again.

She doesn’t take the time to check. Jolting out of her seat she grabs her purse and rushes toward the door, exiting it with a minor bang.

“Elena, wait up!” Jungkook has to sprint to catch up to the girl, ignoring the teacher’s warnings. The strap of his backpack hangs loosely from his right shoulder. “What happened?”

She faces him with teary eyes, lips in a pout, as she manages to say through a sob, “I’m fucked.”

The boy frowns. Not knowing what had caused her to be in such a state makes Jungkook panic a little. He had been a victim of Elena’s emotional side more than once but he was never alone to calm her down. “Let’s just take a deep breath.” He sounds more shaken than confident in the solution he was able to find.

The girl dismisses his words as she keeps on cursing under her breath, phone up to her ear. Jungkook keeps on hearing the faint recording of the call being directed to the voicemail.

“Should we go outside? Catch some fresh air?” Jungkook attempts again, this time even more uncertain.

The girl doesn’t give him an answer, instead hastening her pace towards the courtyard. Her focus is still on her device and through the corner of his eye, Jungkook can make out the messages app open as she types feverishly into a group called The Runaways. Jungkook recognized the photos of the other two members of the group–Freya and Kaya.

Taehyung had been the kind soul to explain the name to Jungkook once he heard Jin referring to the girls like that. His facial expression must have shown how confused he was by the nickname and so his peculiar roommate explained that the trio had tried to escape from Horus Academy one night during their first year there and got caught–of course. Kaya was a mess because of the two weeks of detention and Hoseok even added that she had palpitations from having to visit the dean’s office so soon after her arrival at the school.

The group was close, regardless of all of them being so different. And to Jungkook that was something that was sometimes revealed to be difficult to comprehend. They were good people, that he was sure. Despite all their quirks and inevitable penchant for secrets. No wonder he had fit so well.

“Was it You?” Jungkook finally dares to speak. They had already reached the courtyard and Elena had sat down at one of the picnic-style tables scattered around the place, her feet tapping on the bench rhythmically. The girl nods in response and Jungkook’s curiosity gets the best of him, “What did they say?”

Sighing, Elena shows the phone to the boy and the way he frowns as his eyes scan the text on the screen makes her realize that she’s in for a hell of a couple of days.

“Is–is it true?” Jungkook asks hesitantly. The second the words come out of his mouth he regrets it. His stomach is in a twirl and he would rather not know the truth.

“Of course, it is. Whoever that psycho is, they are deep into our lives and know all about our darkest secrets.” Elena speaks angrily. Jungkook’s question doesn’t bother her. He has been with the group for a while now and she trusts him. He has been loyal to them despite all the attacks they have been under since day one. Had she been in his shoes, she doesn’t know if she would stick with such a problematic crew. She always wondered why he stuck with them in the first place, and she had gotten close to asking him about it a few times, but Kaya cut it off after all her attempts, advising her to ‘not be rude and ask’.

“Yoongi was right–” Jungkook flops down next to Elena, finding a seat on the picnic table. His tone isn’t accusatory, like a parent reprimanding a child, but mostly hopeless. “We shouldn’t be poking the bear,” he looks her in the eye, seriously. “it’s going to poke back.”

Scoffing, Elena gets back up on her feet, hands finding a firm grip on her hips. “Of course, we should! We all got secrets, Kook, I know–” She glares at the boy, huffing as yet another tear rolls down her cheek, “We want them buried but I’m not going to sit here and let it hold such power over my life.”

“But–”

“This person is insane. What if they start blackmailing us? Pinning us against each other?” Jungkook shifts in his seat but the action passes unseen by the revolted girl. “Are you going to sit by and watch the house burn down?”

Eyes stuck to the floor, Jungkook finds comfort in analyzing his fingers. Elena’s words are marked on his brain as if she kept on asking the question over and over again. Pressing his lips together, he doesn’t manage to look her in the eye as he reaches the final verdict, “I–I don’t know Elena.”

“I know Yoongi was right. But fuck this.” Elena’s focus is back on her phone. “Jesus Christ why is no one picking up their phones!”

Relieved by the change of subject, Jungkook tries to uncover more of the newest secret You had revealed, “Are you trying to call your mom?”

“Heavens no. If she got word that we were being harassed she’d come down to the school and take me out of it. I would never see you guys again.” Elena laughs drily. “What about yours?”

Jungkook tilts his head, confused by the question. “What?”

“What would your parents do if they knew you were strapped to a tree for an entire night?” Jungkook hadn’t been a target of You yet–at least not directly–and so far, the Sarx folks were the most fitting candidates for the shoes of psycho.

Jungkook’s eyes are big as Elena sits down on the bench next to him. In an attempt to diverge from her stare, he takes out his notebook from his backpack. “You know–the same.”

Glancing at the girl lets him know she was analyzing his not-so-confident answer. “Do you want to see more?” Jungkook is quick to ask as he lands on the page he had earlier been drawing on. The Kardia girl’s eyes light up as her lips turn into a smile, pleased to have a distraction, “Yes, please.”

Word around Horus always traveled fast. But nothing could quite compare to bad news. With cell phones prohibited in class, it was astonishing how people had already begun whispering in the hallways about the latest rumor of the all-star group attending the boarding school.

The first period of the afternoon had barely ended when the courtyard where Elena and Jungkook were, began to fill quickly. The raven-haired boy was quick to find a distraction for the girl that made herself heedless of the preying eyes in an almost impeccable way.

“Damn…” The hand that rested on Elena’s shoulder had been what startled her but Jungkook was only aware of Jin’s presence when he made his voice heard. The Dianoia member was facing the opposite direction of the other two, back leaning against the table as he took a sip from his soda can.

Jungkook swiftly shifts on his seat, his legs standing on each side of the bench. He can now see Elena and Jin perfectly.

“Not that I thought you a straight record, but when you pulled a Regina George today on that psycho, I at least thought you were secret safe,” The expression on the oldest face says how incredulous yet disconcerted he is with the situation. He was in a complete mix of feelings.

“Excuse me?!” Jungkook notices how Elena’s eyebrows furrow and how her once relaxed demeanor is quick to leave her body.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say I told you so!” Jin reassures, lips wet from the last sip he took from his soda. He scootches closer toward Elena, casually crossing his legs while he still stands. “That will be Yoongi.”

“Oh, fuck off Jin.” The girl in turn stands up from the bench, now leaving an empty spot between the two boys. Her phone is quickly retrieved from her pocket and placed on her ear once more.

“You kinda did, though,” Jungkook whispers to Jin, lips pressed. “You kind of said it.”

Jin widens his eyes, distant, not really focusing anywhere. He then takes a last sip from the can in his hands, before spurring in Jungkook’s direction unable to suppress a nervous laughter.

“Who are you trying to reach?” The doe-eyed boy opts to ask Elena instead. She had been nervously pacing back and forth. Her thumb rests between her lips the whole time as she nibbles on its skin. “Maybe I can help?” He offers again.

The proposal sounds weak despite his best intentions, and as a consequence, he ends up being ignored by the other two.

In the distance, as he looks over to distract himself from the situation, Jungkook can make out a duo that skids through the increasing crowd. Taehyung and Jimin spurt toward their table, the latter’s hand already in the air, signaling his presence to the group.

“Hey, you okay?” Taehyung reaches the girl first, hands finding her shoulders as he looks her down, almost as if examining her physically. “Is it real?” He questions as his hands slide toward her neck and his thumbs gently force her chin up so he can scan her eyes.

“Of course it’s real.” The Kardia boy spats, passing by on his way to the vacant spot between Jungkook and Jin before Elena had a chance to answer. Taehyung sent a death stare to his back, biting on his tongue so as to not make the situation worse. The tension between the two best friends was so palpable even their algebra teacher had noticed that the pair was odd—as they used to spend the class playing games in each other’s notebooks or talking, now they avoided eye contact. It was impossible to deny that there was some unresolved business between the two.

“Jimin–” Elena is taken off by the sudden attack of her best friend but before she can continue, Taehyung cuts her off, unable to look past Jimin’s pretentious eyes as he sat down and stared back.

“Just because you tend to make shitty decisions it doesn’t mean everyone else follows the example so stop being–”.

“It’s not that ludicrous. It happened to me, too.” Jimin shrugs and Jin scoffs at the sudden outburst, somewhat entertained.

“Ludicrous? Huh,” He laughs. “Aren’t you a committed student...” Taehyung is quick to bark back.

Jimin’s eyes are filled with fire, but he decides that ignoring his best friend is a better response. "Why would you even do that?" He directs his words at Elena instead. "What dumb thought crossed your mind that made you think that it would be a good idea to go after You after what happened to me?"

"Dumb thought?! Was I supposed to just sit and watch this shit show?!" Hands anchored on her hips, Elena's focus is no longer on her phone.

Jimin laughs incredulously as he shakes his head and looks at the crowd. People kept staring at them, waiting for more drama to unfold. "Are you happy now that everyone is giving you the side eye?"

"You certainly seem to be." Elena pokes at his chest, index finger waving in accusation.

"Me?! I didn't even know you were going to do this. Let alone that you had this secret.” Jimin looks at her with accusatory eyes, and differently from Jin, Jungkook can’t help but think he should do something to stop the arguing. “Good job at being a best friend, by the way! If every best friend kept a secret like you we would all stand equally as strangers!”

“You-!” Elena lifted her finger once more but was gently pulled back by the boy behind her. Taehyung couldn’t care less if people were beginning to stop their own conversations to eavesdrop on theirs.

"Like you told me about yours?! Or any of us, for a matter of fact?" He is quick to jump back into the discussion.

"This isn't about me." Jimin stands his ground, clearly upset.

“Do you know where Namjoon is?” Jin shifts on his seat, his arm resting on the table as he supports his head in the palm of his hand, eyeing Jungkook directly. He seems too comfortable with the ruckus happening not even two feet from them. The youngest doesn’t even get a chance to answer before Jin continues in a tired voice, “We need Namjoon to make them hold hands again.”

“Hold… hands?” Jungkook furrows his eyebrows. The concern he once felt completely dissipates, leaving space for confusion instead.

“I’ll tell you later.” Jin nods his head, reassuringly. “It’s just that Namjoon made them hold hands another time. When they fought, you know.”

“Oh, God!” Elena raises her voice, gaining the attention of the two whisperers and the other two bickerers. “Where is Kaya!”

“She shouldn’t take too long,” An out-of-breath Namjoon takes a seat where Jimin has previously sat by the picnic table. “I lost her and Hoseok in the crowd.”

“We have a dumpling situation again,” Jin comments, pointing at the two boys standing. “Make them hold hands, for the love of God, I can’t hear them anymore!” He complains nonchalantly. “Lucky me I don’t have a mirror otherwise I’d see for myself I aged ten years while I sat here listening to this crap.” The Psykhe’s leader can't help the chuckle that escapes his lips as Jin rambles as fast as a bullet. "First things first, what happened?" He exhales as he asks the group, now recomposed.

"Elena bossed up and went after the psycho and now the psycho went after her, but much more effectively." Jimin explains, and the girl in question glares at him.

Jungkook can’t help but rub his eyes frustrated. His right leg embraced a frenetic rhythm afraid the bickering would restart. “Not again…” He mumbles to himself.

Namjoon nods silently, glancing around to assert the gravity of the rumors. In his peripheral vision, he sees Elena ignoring Jimin, preferring to show attention to her cell phone instead. Taehyung looked at him expectantly but he was just as lost. He just couldn’t show it to his peers. Perhaps by being a leader he had picked up the habit, but something in his being told him it had to do with all those eyes prying at them instead. "It does nothing for us to be going at each other's throats…" Namjoon reasons with them, his voice low enough so only his friends could hear. He preferred to wait for the rest of the group to arrive before discussing their situation. He also prayed Yoongi or Hoseok would bring with them some sort of solution. Or at least help to calm the other’s down.

"Freya, where the hell are you?" Elena asks, visibly relieved when her call goes through. The boys all look at her awaiting the answer to her question. As she huffs and looks at some point past the courtyard, listening to what Freya was saying, she feels the urge to interrupt with a plea. “Run faster then,” she says, “I can see her already and she is ready to kill me. I just know, alright? Just run… Ha-! Well, because you don’t sound like running to me!”

The second Elena clicked on the red button to end the call, she realized Kaya had shortened the distance between them way too fast. Faster than she imagined, even if she was well aware her roommate was fuming. Hoseok stopped right behind his sister, panting from trying to helplessly keep up with her pace.

Namjoon got up from his seat instinctively, worried that neither Taehyung nor Jimin, who were standing by, could do something to stop the wrath of his girlfriend. “I just can’t believe you!” Kaya exclaimed. “Wasn’t it enough seeing Freya, Yoongi, and Jimin being targeted?! Why would you do something so reckless, Lena? For heaven's sake!”

Elena sighs, fingers massaging her temples as she turns her back on her roommate. “Not you, too.” she says, and both Jimin and Taehyung are struck by déjà vu.

“No, no, no! Don’t turn your back on me.” Kaya speaks through gritted teeth. “Don’t you even think that you will get away with this.”

The shortest one doesn’t hide her arched eyebrow as she turns around. “Last time I checked you weren’t my mom, Kaya,” she says decisively. It takes a good minute for her roommate to process her spiteful answer, and a longer one for the silence that broke amongst their peers who watched the exchange like statues.

“Just stop.” Hoseok cuts sharp as a knife. “It’s not the time to fight about who’s at fault here.” He glares at the both of them and as Elena mentions to speak up he continues, “I don’t care. I just want to know who the hell is behind this. Who could have this kind of information–All the freaking time!”

Namjoon feels the need to intervene as he looks around and all of them, besides Hoseok who had a desperate demeanor to his face, had their eyes trailed to the floor, hopeless. In a space between the harsh revelation of both secrets, they had gathered no information about their stalker or even a thread of where to start looking. They were completely in the dark. “Let’s wait for Freya and Yoongi–Who are just much part of this as Kaya has said. And then we can all sit together and make a timeline of events. We’re gonna find something–“ The leader tries.

For brief seconds Jungkook remembers how to breathe again, certain that this time Namjoon’s approach had worked out. It was visible how everyone collected themselves, pondering his words. He was right, after all, there was no point in arguing without everyone present. They would be just circling back and forth, wasting the little time they seemed to have. Even Jungkook, who was never the most patient one, could understand that.

Students begin passing by them quicker, seeing there was seemingly no secret conversation to overhear. To them, the all-star group looked like showcase dolls being exhibited in the courtyard.

“What did I say?” their heads move together as they hear Yoongi’s familiar voice. He circled the table with his arms crossed, making Jin scooch closer to Jungkook so he can sit on the bench as well. “I told you exactly how this would go down, didn’t I?” he says, looking disappointed but not at all surprised at Elena.

And it is enough, just like a snowflake is to trigger an avalanche.

“I will say it slow enough for you all to grasp it–Fuck. You.” Elena bursts. “It’s my secret.” she points to her chest with a wave of moved anger. “My choice.”

“Elena–”

The strawberry blonde one couldn’t find in herself the patience to listen to any of them anymore. The shock of the situation finally untied her naturally proactive self. “No!” she exclaims back. “I won’t shut up about it! Whoever this creep is, they deserve someone barking back.”

“HEY, hey!” Freya comes like a tornado. It’s clear that the girl had been running to get there as the sunglasses that are almost always securing her hair back is crooked to the left. Her locks are tousled. “Finally!” Namjoon gasps.

Freya places a hand on Elena’s shoulder as she comes closer, and it works like magic. The shortest one’s uproar quickly ceased. “Before we mess this up,” her voice is steady despite her rush, and commanding enough to make them all pay attention. “Let’s move this circus to a more private tent, alright.” Her over-expressive eyes pointed at the crowd beginning to surround them again. Some cell phones were being aimed like guns at them, ready to shoot and record the perfect evidence.

Kaya, different from the rest of the group who tried to discreetly look around, was too possessed to notice anything but what was happening between them. “Heavens! Stop trying to make us forget what this is all about!”

“I’m not the one that stops things from happening, Kaya. You got me confused.” Freya adverts. “Just get out of your head for a second and look around.” her eyebrows do the work this time as they shoot up. And for the Dianoian girl’s terror, she was the center of attention.

"Freya is right," Yoongi speaks tiredly. Not that he was bothered by the ridiculously noticeable glares of the other students. He had been used to being the freak everyone stared, pointed, and laughed at. But this You person had really started to get on his nerves by assuming they could get rid of them as easily as possible.

"Do you remember the spot of the last trial of the games?" Namjoon is already pulling the strap of his bag over his head as he speaks. He walks around the table, arm swinging around Hoseok's shoulder as he pushes him out of his ecstatic state and forces his feet to levitate from the ground. "Let's meet there in 10. All of us."

Namjoon leaves with Hoseok. Being the captain of Psykhe had thought him a thing or two as the whole group—even the ones that were from different houses—respected his words.

A stare-down happens between the two roommates, now not-so-seemingly best friends, and Freya stays right in the middle of them. The boys on the table don't dare to move. Until Elena lets out a dry chuckle, eyes rolling as she makes her way to the table to fetch her bag. "Will be seeing you all in… 8 minutes." Her sarcastic smile is directed at Yoongi, who sighs in response as he too gets up to go and try to get rid of the people who could possibly trail them.

"You better go somewhere else." Taehyung coldly speaks to Jimin before skipping after the Kardia girl that was about to quickly get lost in the crowd.

"What did I do?!" Jimin whines as he's about to be left alone by the table as Kaya storms by herself, and Jin seems to make his way to enter the main building again. "Jin–wait for me!"

Satisfied that everyone listened to Namjoon, making the rest of the students confused as to who they should follow, Freya pulls Jungkook by the hand toward the stadium. She wasn’t a fan of crowds. Passing by all those that were surrounding the courtyard—even if Horus Academy didn’t have that many students to begin with—felt like a nightmare. The grand stadium seemed the right choice as the structure was placed on the other side, they just had to cut through a grass path and some isolated trees.

Not a soul seemed to follow the two. Jungkook made sure to look back every time he heard a different noise that wasn’t his own feet clashing with the dirt ground or Freya’s. And as some distance was already put between them and the unpleasant moment they had just experienced, Jungkook cleared his throat. For the first time, he was bothered by Freya’s silence amidst this chaos. “This, uhm… It wasn’t what I had in mind when we said we’d be meeting each other after classes…”

The girl doesn’t slow her pacing, and neither does he, as they are still locking hands. “That’s because technically we’re still in classes. So this ain’t it.” She shrugs with a rapid smile.

Jungkook chuckles and keeps his eyes on the back of her head. She wasn’t being her carefree self, he could notice. He wondered while she lead him astray from the path to the stadium and down a small ravine through the woods if she seemed distant only due to her best friend being targeted. Again, her relationship with Yoongi crossed his mind. It seemed odd that he was the one holding hands with her and not her boyfriend.

He wondered if he was crossing a line. “Why isn’t Yoongi here?” he decided to give it a shot.

“What do you mean?” The girl seems more preoccupied to point to him where he can’t step in order not to fall than not falling herself. He holds her hand tighter as she slips once before replying, “It’s just that he went alone. And you’re here–with me.”

Freya’s eyes travel from the ground to his face and she halts her steps. They are right at the base of the ravine and the only thing they can hear is the whisper of the trees dancing in the wind. Jungkook nibbles on his lips as she eyes him without an answer. Suddenly his questioning seems rubbish to himself, his actions quite inappropriate and selfish, and the girl in front of him a dream within a dream.

She opens her mouth to reply with a prepared lie, but nothing comes out of it. Not even an excuse for him not knowing well the paths around school, or looking seemingly lost back at the courtyard. Would it be so bad to tell him the truth?, she thinks to herself. His fingers laced on hers seems the answer and the fire that ignites her bold decision. “Yoongi and I, we–”

Beep.

Their phones going off at the same time is enough to cut her sentence short. Their hands fall from each other as they grab the devices instead.

Jungkook’s eyes leave the screen first to check on the girl in front of him. She zooms in and out of the picture posted to check its veracity. As she glances up to see him, Freya is nothing but decided. Hints of anger flash in her irises. “We’re almost there. Are you up for a sprint?” she asks and he nods promptly. “Be careful with branches. They’re bitches for ankles–trust me.”

They run, succeeding in avoiding smaller rocks and the tree branches the girl advised him about. Both had been here before for the games, but this felt more urgent. More secretive. And by the nature of You’s recent posting, much more treacherous.

"I can't believe you." It’s the first thing they hear as they arrive panting. Everyone is already there, which confirms to Jungkook they had been the ones taking the longer route. Yoongi drops his bag on the floor. He's fuming. "I can't fucking believe you, Elena."

"Oh, and here he goes again." Elena mimics his actions, bag, and jacket dropping right by her feet as she places her hands on her hips. "Here comes Yoongi, on his high horse."

The boy in question chuckles. He rubs his forehead as he sighs, looking up at the treetops swinging, trying to choose wisely his next words. He didn’t want to start a fight, far from that. He knew their real enemy was clearly You, and whatever he did, he for sure wasn’t going to be compliant by serving exactly what that deranged wanted—them all fighting each other. "Just–What are you trying to do? I want to understand because it seems simple to me that this person isn’t one to be messed with" They now stand close to each other and both Taehyung and Jungkook feel the need to take a step forward.

"I told you–I'm not going to stand down." Elena simply shrugs. "We've been friends for how long now, Yoongi? …Is it really too much to ask you to back me up on this?"

It’s clear to them all how Yoongi ponders as he looks her in the eyes. "You're being selfish." Kaya spits. "You're just thinking about what you want."

Elena turns to her roommate with a scoff, "And you're not?"

"How am I selfish?!"

The look Elena gives her says enough to have both Namjoon and Freya on their toes. "Kaya…" The boy threads lightly. He has to stop himself, the craving of holding his girlfriend's hand driving him mad.

Jimin however is the one that moves, but away. He shakes his head as he goes to sit on a stem, looking defeated as he leans his forehead on his arms. Hoseok catches a glance at his roommate’s lack of spirit, deciding to intervene for him. "El, please. We've just been to hell and back with Jimin." He says harshly, as he leans against a tree with arms crossed. It was a rare sight to see Hoseok like that, and if the circumstances were other, the discussion would have ended with his word. But not everyone standing in that glade wanted to be picked at, and some had less to lose.

"She's not wrong…" Freya points out, unafraid to be looked upon by Hoseok’s hard judgment.

"Thank you!" Elena throws her hands up in the air, exasperated. Freya glares at her, clearly not finished with her point. Before some of them can revolt, she adds, "Lena is being reckless and she does need to calm down, but she did prove something."

"Oh, c'mon Freya, don't encourage this." Yoongi complains and Jin feels the need to add, “People, this isn’t Law and Order for you to be proving stuff!”

Freya unlike the others wasn’t carrying a backpack, but she did take her glasses off her head, dropping them on top of a pile of things that rested next to a tree trunk. Her hair fell in the process to frame her face. “Listen–” she began, hands coming to her sides to put them all at ease. "You posted real proof. They had the evidence ready to go. Just like that." She snaps her fingers to add to her case, “This seems somewhat already thought through, no? Or at least it has to be someone that is able to get this kind of thing–Documents and shit.”

Hoseok looked at Namjoon to confirm if he had to be worried or not, depending if the leader had bought the argument. The engines on his head worked speedily. "And that only makes everything worse," Jungkook says, breaking his silence.

"How so?" Namjoon is intrigued by the sudden intervention, and he is not the only one. Taehyung stares intently at their group’s novice expectant to finally hear his reasoning. Even Jimin looks up.

"For starters this person is insane,” Jungkook states blankly. He wasn’t used to reasoning things out loud, but all eyes were on him, pushing him to speak further. “They have already proved this to us… With Freya, Jimin… Yoongi’s thing that day at the games as well… And now this Elena thing–And honestly, it's bothering me how normally you're all treating this situation–"

"Normally?"

There is some confusion pairing in the air, some eyes trailed to the floor reflexive over the last weeks. But the novice tries to avoid those so as to not lose himself in his own argument. "How are you not afraid, El?" Jungkook's eyes widen as he looks at her instead. She doesn’t answer as her point of view differed tremendously, and he tilts his head unable to comprehend the coolness they exuded faced with such things. "I don't know about you guys but I never had something like this happening to me. I was tied to a tree by a bunch of psychos–who still study here by the way, and Tzuyu is even Freya’s roommate–And you guys keep on getting threats…? They found out about Jimin being with a teacher and–no offense, man–but the logic of this person is to share it online to intimidate us and here we are, making secret reunions in the middle of the woods."

Jin is the one to cut the silence by laughing nervously, "When you put it that way…" he adds, “No wonder we are being targeted.”

Jungkook’s eyes are still unable to search for anyone else’s as he adds. "I just think we shouldn't worry about figuring out who this person is or what they want. I think we just need to know how to get them the fuck away from us." His voice sounds defeated as his focus shifts to a rock poking on the ground. He leans his body forward and kicks it.

"One thing very much so implies the other, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news." Elena points out, and as soon as she does Taehyung gives her a reproachful look. She mouths him a questioning ‘what?’ in silence, as he shakes his head.

Freya doesn’t listen to the comment, however, as her feet work just as intently as her head by drawing patterns on the grass as she paces around. "It can't just be anyone…” she says, deep in thought, more to herself than the others. “It's someone smart, clearly… And they have a motive."

"Stop it, you two!” Kaya’s outburst makes her brother jolt surprised, leaning further away onto the tree to shore himself. “For heaven's sake, just stop!" she begs, frustrated. Jin is quicker than Namjoon to side-hug her, and the Psykhe’s leader inhales relieved as he sees Kaya burying her face onto Jin’s shoulder, returning the hug. “This is getting out of line.” Hoseok comments fed up. “Look at what they’re doing to us!” he gestures emphasizing their defeated postures.

"You're the ones allowing it." Elena shoots, crossing her arms.

Kaya turns into Jin’s embrace in a flash upon hearing her words. "What is your problem, Elena?!" she mentions to walk toward her roommate but Jin wraps one arm over her shoulder line, pinning her in place. Still, she points an accusatory finger at the Kardia girl. "You're going to end up putting everyone in the front line with how you’re handling this."

"It was one thing to play the rumor card at lunch but now…" Yoongi commented resigned as he closed his eyes. He too crossed his arms, and to the ones watching, he looked like basking in the sunlight that poured through the clearing as his face was tilted up. He opens his eyes and looks at the shortest girl before adding, "You just proved that everything they post is real. You showed that they are a credible source. You know that, right?"

"So what?” Taehyung questions. “Just because they have proof of Elena's doesn't mean the rest is true." he shrugs in discontent. "And besides, she hasn't implicated anyone but herself."

There is a sense of veracity in what he says, or better, how he says it, and the group goes calmer as they let his words sink in. Jimin is the only one that shows unconformity as he stands up with a scold plastered on his face. "Funny how when it's her, it doesn't matter, but then when it was my secret or Freya’s it was that big of a deal.”

Taehyung dismisses his remark with a simple side eye, and a scoff is heard before Elena adopts a sarcastic smile to her features "Are you seriously comparing being in a fucking deranged relationship to getting in an accident?"

“Okay let’s–” Namjoon tries.

"It wasn't just an accident. You were driving drunk, Elena." Kaya insists, untangling herself from Jin’s arm and retrieving her phone to showcase You’s report. "And according to this, I'm pretty sure your next stop was a stomach wash at the hospital."

"Are you serious?!" the hurt in Elena’s voice is able to be sensed a mile away.

"Am I wrong?"

The group has a second of stillness as no one can think of a better thing to say, or even how to proceed from there on. Freya looks from one girl to another, fearing they were stranding too far for a possible rescue. She can tell how frustrated and fearful Kaya is being, but she can also see how profound the embarrassment in Elena’s eyes is as she shifts her stares through the group. “You know what?” the strawberry blonde adds, “Fuck you, Kaya.”

"Am. I. Wrong?" Kaya keeps pushing with a clouded mind and the tallest of the three finally shouts a reprehensive ‘Hey!’ so as to break their flare.

With drained faces, they all seemed a little out of orbit. The group has had its fair share of disagreements before, that picnic table in the courtyard of Horus knew how many spiteful arguments Taehyung and Jimin shared. The halls of the school were tainted with bickering. But it never felt like they were standing with a cliff between them before. And the fall, Namjoon feared if he didn’t stop it, would be too decisive.

"That's more than enough." The leader spoke with bravado. "We came here to try and figure a solution out. This was not to go at each other’s throats!"

"No–Absolutely not. I’m not wasting time with this anymore.” Elena shakes her head, fed up. “I've had enough of your bullshit." She eyes Kaya as she speaks. "Always running around like you're Miss Perfect. I'm tired of this–I'm tired of you."

She walks toward the pile stacked by a tree, picking up her bag, resolute to walk away as Kaya replies. "If I’m the Miss Perfect for thinking of others before doing reckless things–Fine! Be it! I will rather be labeled as that than be labeled as a freaking selfish bitch."

Elena ties the sleeves of her jacket around her waist as she angrily rebuts, "Oh, don't you fucking worry, Kaya–your stupid little secret is safe!"

The shock on Kaya’s face is tremendous as she gulps down her anger faced with the threat. Both Freya and Jin feel the need to barricade whatever reaction she was about to have, as he places a hand on her shoulder and the girl grips at her arm. On the other end, Yoongi is about to stop Elena from leaving, as he is still firm about coming to a conclusion for this unexpected and needed reunion when they all hear the snap of a branch nearby.

No one says a word, as heads perk toward the sound and all pairs of eyes are busy scanning the foliage.

“There’s no way… Right?” Jungkook questions almost in a whisper and a chill runs through their spines. More silence follows, no one dares to say a word. And although no one is able to indeed spot someone in the woods, watching them, they know in their hearts—You was somehow there. “MhmHm.” Hoseok shakes his head, picking up his backpack. “I’m done here,” he adds, as he starts to make his way to leave, pulling Jimin alongside him and signaling Kaya to follow. Elena’s last statment about his sister awakening a paranoid distrust in the pit of his stomach.

In a matter of seconds, the group is scattered. They leave in pairs, trios, and some even wander alone, but none is able to shake the awful sensation of still being followed.

“I thought I might find you here…” Namjoon says as he approaches Kaya carefully. She had been skittish lately, especially with him, and much to his misfortune, the Psykhe’s captain couldn’t blame her even if he wanted to. Deep down he knew her reasons, even after their rocky encounter at the library. “I think–”

“Listen,” she interrupts him. Kaya fixes her position by the feet of the giant Gaia statue so she could stare at her boyfriend’s eyes properly. She had discovered that statue by chance due to venturing inside the maze, only a few students knew existed, in the gardens of the imponent boarding school. Lately, the girl felt perhaps, aside from her girlfriends, only she and Namjoon knew of its existence. “I know what you’re going to say. And I love you for caring but I really don’t need a lesson right now.”

The boy before her lows his eyes to the colorful crystal-clear pebbles adorning the floor, and opens a smile as he tucks his hands into his pockets and kicks softly one of the tiny rocks. “Seems I can still surprise you after all,” he says and looks up to see her reaction. “I actually came to say I get how you feel.”

As she looks suspiciously at him, he shrugs. “I get that just like me you know nothing about this ‘you’ persona and that all of us are scared.” he continued. “And I also get that you have a lot to lose in case your secret–Our secret comes out, and that is frightening.”

Kaya looks at her own hands, curled in her lap while weighing his words. He then takes the opportunity to take a few more steps toward her. “Not knowing what could be thrown at us is scary and I would definitely take a more…” he stops to think of the proper choice of word. “Cautious approach. But that is my style, my personality faced with danger. So is yours.”

Their eyes meet again and she takes force in his argument to let her anger out. “Exactly! So why–” Namjoon places a hand on her thigh, coming a little closer.

“That doesn’t mean everyone will behave identically when confronted with the same situation… I get you, and I get myself for thinking the way we think, but I also get Elena.”

Kaya scoffs, her anger still not subdued. She crosses her arms as she says “So much for saying you weren’t giving me a lecture.” and all Namjoon can do is laugh as he wraps his arms around her frame.

“And I’m not! I was just saying I get everyone for having the reactions they’re having at the moment. Was it a bit imprudent of Elena to go at that psycho? Yeah, a bit… But I get her. Some people run, some people hide, others much rather grab the bull by its horns.” he says and she gently leans her forehead on his chest. “Besides, we do need to take action. That thing in the clearing…? It happened at the library with us.”

As the girl inhales deeply, with her eyes closed, Namjoon caresses her hair with a soft touch he only knew how to invoke for her. In this sense of security, Kaya is brave and steady enough to uncross her arms and place them around his waist. She pulls him closer, compensating for all the time they stayed out of each other’s reach. “You’re like a very much-needed cup of tea,” she says diverging subjects and looking up at him. Her chin is now the one being pressed against his chest.

“Out of all things, a cup of tea?!”

The smile reaches her eyes as he exclaims indignantly. “It’s the only other thing besides you that manages to calm me down.” she says.

His eyebrows waver and she sees how he is pondering her statement. It’s in moments like this that she finds Namjoon precious. She knows he will find the beauty in her phrase and intent, and because of that, this moment will be significant forever. He will make sure of it, as he had done countless times before by sneaking little poems he had written himself inside her books.

“If that is the case… Alright. I’m good with being a cup of tea.” He muses, showing off his dimple. “Healing properties, right?”

“Tons!” she says, grabbing him by the collar of his tee and locking him in a kiss.

Freya liked the transition from afternoons to evenings the best. There was something calming about how the sun would set every day just as she would. With a big breath of hers, it was already hidden away again, all of the stress that burned her shoulders gone within those bright and scorching oranges against the deep sea of blue. At least until tomorrow came.

The Psykhe tower was the best place to watch it happening, but ever since she found out about the shocking truth of someone stalking her from there, she hadn’t felt comfortable hanging in her old spot. And because of that, she found herself taking a stroll around the school grounds, searching for her new safe haven. Only the sun knew how much she needed some peace and quiet away to drown her frustration after the recent events and their last meeting at the clearing. And Jungkook, after their shared encounter earlier on.

She had her headphones on, whispering soft melodies into her ear, and because of that, she didn’t take notice of someone walking behind her. She was really close to the borders of the woods, staying close by after having left the group’s rendezvous but opting to skip classes to uncloud her thoughts. When she looked up at the sky, the oranges began to fade, and all that golden light blind-sighted her. At this rate, she would lose the sunset.

Then a gulf of wind hit her face and a chill ran down her spine. A pair of hands came in contact with her shoulders and she shivered, remembering the last moments before she and her friends were scared away from the clearing.

Taking her headphones off in a hurry, she turned around startled. The sound of laughter invaded her ears before she could even meet the eyes of her jumpscare.

“Got ya!” the tall golden retriever-like boy exclaimed as soon as she came face to face with him.

“Mingyu!” she stressed. “For fucks sake, I almost died!”

The response she received was more whole hearty laughter and that eased her mood. She smiled seeing him have fun but something else clung to her heart.

Ever since the games, the both of them had grown slightly close. Every time they crossed paths around school, there was a smile there paired with brief hellos and sincere curiosity. By Monday morning a mutual invitation to be each other’s lab partners in one of the few classes they shared—chemistry.

Still, he wasn’t the laughter she sought to hear when all that orange was about to clash with the soon-to-be night sky.

“So what are you doing around here?” Freya asks and the brunette has to wipe his joyful tears to be able to answer.

“I was on my way to the dorms actually. Just got out of practice.”

Freya still couldn’t help but admire his genuine smile and how his freshly washed hair dropped some water droplets on his face. But at the same time, her head was dancing elsewhere. A few yards away, to be exact, where under an oak tree she had made a deal to meet after classes. The sun was setting, but she was still to hear from her free-period companion.

“I saw you walking by and decided to say hi.” Mingyu continued searching for her eyes.

“And that’s how you say hi?” she laughed.

“Next time I’ll try to be more… Charming about it.”

“Next time?” her eyebrow raised. She couldn’t say she ever paid attention to a guy from school before that year, or that she ever really liked a boy from there. Well, besides her friends of course. And that was mostly because she was afraid of things that required too much vulnerability on her side. And a tiny bit because no one had ever seemed worth the struggle she called trust. Did they genuinely like her, or did they just want the status? So the story unfolded naturally. There were too many eyes, and being a great wall to climb became a trait of personality she was too comfortable with to change.

Ever since she got unrightfully exposed, however, by sneaking into the boys' quarters, some freedom of choice was returned to her in that regard. No one was interested in knowing who the next guy in her love life would be. And so she perhaps was beginning to feel ready to come out of her shell. Both in love and new friendships. But the former wasn’t the risk she wanted to take when it came to Mingyu… Possibly if someone else hadn’t arrived in that department first.

He seemed to understand her line of thinking as his eyes got bigger and his expression turned sour. Suddenly he was apologizing.

“Oh–I’m so–So sorry!” he shook his head as if realizing what he had just done. “You have a boyfriend. I’m being disrespectful. I’m sorry.”

At first, she was confused. Boyfriend? She didn’t have one. That wasn’t her point at all. But then the recent events hit her like a truck and she had to inhale hard to get hold of the little patience she still had.

She liked Mingyu. She could tell they could be good friends, amazing even. So she took a leap of faith.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked. Freya didn’t have much to lose at this point, and she needed this. A safe space of her own.

Mingyu nodded attentively.

“Yoongi isn’t my boyfriend. We never even hooked up.”

She could see in Mingyu’s face how surprised he was. All the engines of his brain working to make sense of what she had just confessed. Freya was relieved, however, to finally get it out of her system. That someone knew the truth besides her and her girlfriends. That she was at least in control of that tiny little confession and somehow still free. She almost did it earlier on that day anyways.

“Why…?” the words fell off his lips, afraid to lengthen the subject in question. Freya offered an encouraging glance, waiting for his inquiry to be resumed. He got hold of what her eyes wanted to convey this time. “Why are you two pretending to date then?”

“I guess Yoongi knew how much bothered I would be by the amount of gossip even though I pretend I’m not… And he also knew people wouldn’t shut up about it until a name was given to the starving crowd. So why not his? Everyone already assumed we were together anyways.”

“I’m proud to say I’ve never thought that,” Mingyu confessed, raising his hand as a solemn promise. “I even argued otherwise.”

Freya chuckled, finding it endearing. “You would have been the only one then.”

The darkness of the night was already covering every nook of the school like a cloak when the group of friends received a text from Elena.

Nothing but three words. Classroom 202 now.

Receiving a text from the girl after what went down that afternoon seemed hard enough to conceive, let alone one so encrypted like that. And so, each and every one of them immediately stopped what they had been doing and rushed in secret through the marble tiles of the main building in search of the room she invited them in.

One by one they entered. Elena was already there, pacing back and forth when the first of them arrived—Taehyung. It was evident that she possessed some kind of information that she would much more like to be false thinking of her part. He didn’t need a second look at her to prove that.

Hoseok and Namjoon entered right after. Kaya was a few seconds behind them, and they all felt the same. Besides being afraid of possible detention for running through the halls so late at night, all sat in silence waiting, taking in the gravity of the situation by glancing into each other's eyes in the dark. And it didn’t get better as the more they waited, the more impatient and eerie they all got.

Elena still paced, cryptic. Sometimes she would look out the window or check the door for the ones missing. She would hear some of them whispering to each other questions she couldn’t lose time answering, nor had the patience since she was still hurt by their last meeting. At least not unless everyone was present.

And then Yoongi opened the door, everyone looked at him frightened and relieved at the same time. Some searched for something behind his back with their phones flashlights and that made him turn around to check the hallway. It was too dark.

“What?” he asked, spooked, searching for their eyes once again. His hand is still on the knob, keeping the door open, as he too turns on the light from his device.

Elena paces quickly in his direction, pulling him into the classroom and peeking outside to check if he was indeed alone. She closed the door rushedly. “Are you alone?”

“Yes,” Yoongi replied confused. “Shouldn’t I be?”

“We’re missing my sister,” Taehyung said, going toward the window alarmed. The only thing he could see through that darkness was the woods silhouette.

“Ok…?” Yoongi continued completely clueless, barely making sight of everyone present in the room due to the poor illumination. “What am I missing? We better have a fucking good reason to be out here.”

But no one replied. Or even attempted to.

Both girls looked at each other in a silent question about Freya’s whereabouts, putting their resentment aside momentarily. They reached the same conclusion with a hopeless shrug of shoulders. And Hoseok’s concerns didn’t help to lift the mood.

“You don’t think she was attacked like Joy… right? She wouldn’t…” As soon as he questioned it Jin slapped his arm with a hard stare and he shut up flustered. But the possibility taunted everyone present.

There was a pause. Time halted in that classroom. In a flash, Elena pulled her phone to text Freya in desperation, the faint flashlight from her mobile turned off in the process and the room got darker than it already was.

“I’ll go look” Jungkook offered, a dagger piercing his stomach for missing out on both his and Freya’s promise to spend the after classes period together. Right at the same time, Taehyung crossed the room to the door.

“C’mon…” Yoongi mumbled as he pressed his mobile closer to his ear, trying to call the girl in question. He had finally grasped the gravity of the situation.

Jimin and Kaya were by the big window, swiping the landscape beneath them inch by inch. A red bleep twinkled by the edge of the forest and Jimin leaned his nose against the cold glass to try and see it again. He squinted his eyes, but nothing appeared. When he was beginning to think his eyes were playing tricks on him, he got startled by the sound coming from the door. He turned back in a flash. As soon as Taehyung opened it to set foot outside he came to a halt. Jungkook consequently bumped into his back like a domino.

“Get inside!” They heard Freya’s hushed voice demand. “Turn that off. Now!”

Suddenly the room was engulfed in a deep blackness. The kind of dark that makes the hairs on your nape jump. The one that makes every fear you have come true. No one dared to whisper a word out. All they could do was search for each other’s shadows and listen closely for the haunting sound of thumping against the cold marble floors of the corridor.

A few minutes passed, maybe seconds when Yoongi lit his phone again. Time was hard to pinpoint when faced with the extreme nothingness of a total blackout. Soon, all convinced that the night guard had moved on from that section, they all turned the soft light of their screens back on again.

“Sorry–” Freya was the first to break the silence. “I was already outside… Had to go around that security.”

“Just. Please,” Kaya begged on edge, “Let’s get on with this–Whatever this is and go to our rooms. Please.”

In a silent agreement, all eyes turned to Elena.

The strawberry-blonde girl lifted up from the crouch she was previously hiding in and leaned on the teacher’s desk. The ones close to the floor followed, sitting by the empty wooden chairs in front of the class. Only Jungkook and Yoongi were up. One leaned by the wall and the other by the door to keep watch.

“I texted you all here because I think I figured it out,” Elena says, a bit taken aback by her own statement.

“What do you mean…?” Jimin inquires, and everyone looks as if the world would end. Because in fact, it was.

“I know who You is.”

next chapter.

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investigativelewis · 2 years

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💬 — playlist made for the characters of #FightOn! belonging to @singguks [ masterlist ] @socksjinie [ masterlist ] @bluenpjm [ masterlist ]

#bts fanfic #taehyung moodboard #bts series #lq moodboard #red moodboard #bts packs #carrd #yoongi moodboard #namjoon moodboard #jin moodboard #bts moodboard #spotify playlist #bts au #bts scenarios #bts college au #bts high school au #Spotify #.png

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ldysmfrst · 6 days

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Writing Update as of 5/29/24

Wow! Okay, like, WOW! Chapter 8 has 11,456 words and is available on Patreon for a paid member's early release benefit!

Chapter 9 is in the works and currently has 6,864 words. It looks like another long one is coming. I am also breaking the YA wall and taking American Mate into Mature/MDNI reading land!😶

There is also currently a poll for members on Patreon, which will impact how the story progresses!

Chapter 7 of Breaking and Entering totaled 3,639 words and has been available to paid members since May 28th.

A membership poll about Chapters 8,9,10 is also available to paid members.

I am excited to see where the poll takes the story because who lets us into their side of the story will determine a lot of what you, as the ready, will find out.

I want to thank you all for being patient with me. Writing with a broken ankle while still trying to take my youngest child to school and my oldest (special needs) child to their appointments has not been easy.

If you choose to become a paid member of my Patreon page, I will be forever grateful for your support as I have not been able to work and am currently trying to see if I qualify for temporary disability.

Thank you for your patience!

💜💜💜

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gard3nias · 1 month

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01 | Love is all around

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wc: 4.23k

date: 12/04/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

Early in September, just hours before midday. The sun is not high yet but shines light through the whole town. Like the weak and bright sunrays, Daphne's dad drove on the road, pushing through the fresh waves of the summer morning breeze. As background noise was crunching stones produced by the tyres.

Breeze combed the hair strokes. Morning freshness caused the rise of goosebumps. Butterflies in the stomach showed how excited Daphne was about moving. Yes, moving.

Usually, they'd come to the countryside only for the summer holidays but now she would stay longer. A smile was printed on her face as she observed. She was going to like this, she thought. She was going to like this place, this new beginning. She started regretting ever complaining about moving in the first place.

Her mother was in the passenger seat explaining how the town was beautiful, her fingers pointed at random spots occasionally. Daphne wasn't even listening to her. She only thought that her mother could save her breath because she didn't need any more convincing: the view before her spoke for itself.

Daphne lowered her window and, with an arm swinging outside, she observed, she beheld the sight. The car took a turn and now they were riding up a hill along a road surrounded by beautiful houses.

It'd been long since she last came here but she couldn't tell if the place had changed or she'd just forgotten.

Women were spreading out the laundry, dusting carpets, watering flowers. Pink, yellow, red, purple flowers. They painted the street. Some kids were playing in their front yard. Dogs barked and ran to their gates as they drove by. The bottom floors housed a variety of shops and all had a little banner on the doors that said 'open'. A flower shop. Greengrocery. Ironmongery. A bakery. A butcher's shop. And many more. The people looked friendly as they greeted them. She happily greeted back, and her smile expanded.

"This place is beautiful, Mom," her words caught the respondent off-guard as she immediately looked in the backseat to agree with her daughter, glad she wasn't angry anymore. "We're almost there," the dad informed, taking another turn.

The road they were riding led away from that loving neighbourhood of flowers—fields on the left and a few farms on the right. Daphne's dark hair waved with the breeze. The smell of manure filled her nostrils but instead of feeling unpleasant, it reminded her of how lovely living in the countryside was. Horses were munching on the grass. Bells on sheep rang as she passed by the flock. The manure smell was soon replaced by the one of grass coming from the left where tractors were working on the field. The big vehicles were shaping the dried grass into big blocks reminding her of her childhood and how she used to spend her time watching the whole process.

Their destination was her grandparents' place. It was a huge white two-story building with a dark brown roof, divided into two separated yet joined houses: one for them and one for the grandparents. They were struggling financially in the city so they opted to move to the countryside since they couldn't afford to pay the rent. She didn't fully oppose their decision but living in the countryside for God knows how long scared her but now that she was there, she wasn't bothered anymore.

As mentioned before, the place wasn't completely foreign to her: she'd come here with her family for the summer holidays and she enjoyed her stay with the difference of knowing she'd go back to the city and therefore back to her friend. Yeah, her friend. Singular. She didn't have friends here if not her grandparents' neighbours' daughter, Cleo, who, though, was her complete opposite: while Daphne liked spending sunny days reading on a spread-out blanket in her garden, Cleo liked running up and down and playing. Daphne felt like Cleo was like a child whose energy you must match, or else they just drain you out.

"We're here," the dad informed as he took another turn out of the long field-side road and climbed up towards a house slightly hidden by trees. Their new home. By the gate were her grandparents happily waiting for them with two big dogs beside them.

The road leading to the house cut through a mildly thick forest. The house was directly facing the road while their neighbours' were on the sides.

Daphne's smile broadened as she hopped down the car and then into her grandparents' arms. Kisses, compliments and continuous reminders of how much she grew as they hugged her before hugging the parents. Now her attention was on the two dogs that couldn't hold back from barking, hopping left and right with wiggling tails. Loki and Luke, the first was an Australian shepherd and the second was a German shepherd. They too have grown so much and she felt it the most when they got up to greet her and reached her shoulders.

Playing with their fur, she wondered whether to help her family with the bags but they read her mind and told her to go inside and not bother. She'd normally insist further but this time she didn't stay any second longer and rushed inside the house. The two dogs ran after her.

Her parents and she would live in the house on the left while her grandparents were their next-door neighbours on the right. The front door was unlocked. She quickly left her shoes outside before going inside.

It was just as she remembered it. Just as they had left it. Beneath her naked feet, the tiles were cold and of an umber brown that would create a mocha shade if mixed with the milk colour of the walls, a gradient colour that from the bottom starts in brown, slowly fades into caramel and finishes in a paler tone topped by the white-coloured painting ceiling. Matching was the chocolate brown curb.

The floor started with a rectangular anteroom. On the right was an umbrella rack, above it hangers for jackets and hats; on the left was space for shoes, a bench to sit on and put them on, hangers for keys and the staircase. Further in, the space was divided into three: the living room on the left, the dining room on the right and in the middle, leading to the garden, her second favourite place in the world, was a little space.

The living room was placed between two walls, the right one was covered in tall glass windows facing the garden, and the right one welcomed a door opening that led to a tiny hallway presenting two doors, one was the of the store and one of the bathroom. Cream sofa with green uniquely shaped pillows. A brown armchair on the left and a little swing chair on the right. Between the couch and the fireplace was a coffee table decorated with a vase of flowers and a cascade of books on the second layer. On the floor was a wide oval carpet. The fireplace was against a wall between two door openings leading to a study room.

The dining room was composed of a round table surrounded by four chairs. Further to the right was the kitchen, simple and traditional, light-brown in colour. The counters were covered with utensils, flower pots and miscellaneous items. On the tile-covered walls were hangers holding gloves, kitchen tools and aprons. The stove was as empty as the sink. The coffee machine on one side, the microwave on the other. Hanging by the handle of the oven was a chequered green cloth. Next to the stove was the dishwasher and in front of both, on the floor, was the kitchen mat. Pots resided in the wide drawers, plates in the cupboards. A double-door fridge finished the kitchen design.

She gently quieted the dogs and took her time to examine the room. A smile lit up her face whenever she took notice of any small details that reminded her of her childhood. She strolled through the kitchen, running her finger across the counters and was pleased to see that everything was sparkling clean. She couldn't stop grinning as she thought about how excited her grandmother must have been while cleaning the house in anticipation of their arrival. It was always heartwarming to see her grandmother filled with joy. She'd get very energetic and talkative unable to contain her happiness. Witnessing her grandmother's happiness was infectious, making her feel just as happy as her.

Daphne quickly rushed and ran upstairs, the dogs matched her vibe behind her. The walls that ran along to the top floor had a light floral print that gave the house the vintage and cosy look of a cottage.

While Loki and Luke ran around, she slowed down: in front of her was the little nook where she'd spend her time reading during rainy days while on the left, behind the railing, were four doors: her bedroom, her parents', her sister's and the bathroom. She missed her sister so dearly. They could meet only during summer break because she was studying abroad but she didn't linger on it much and proceeded to her bedroom. As she opened the door, the dogs ran inside.

It was just as she'd left it and that had her tear up a bit. On her left was her little bookshelf, on her right was her dresser and a little farther away from it, was her bed. The bedsheets were identical and not dusty to the touch. Another sign of her grandmother's hard work.

The blanket was light. Pink floral prints. White pillows in front of which sat her plushie, an adorable teddy bear her grandmother had gifted her when she was five.

The nightstand welcomed a lamp and adorable miniature decorations she found in her grandparents' attic. Opposite the bed was the window brightening the room. In front of it was her desk and to its right, in a little nook, was her wardrobe.

After walking around the room for a few moments, she dropped herself on the bed, the softener scent filled her nostrils. She stared up at the ceiling. In the corner of her eyes, she could see the waving tails of Luke and Loki as they roamed around before walking by her legs and caressing her with their soft fur.

She was certainly going to miss her only friend in the city. Daphne had particular difficulties with making friends because she found it hard to vibe with a lot of people so finding her match was a real struggle. It took her a long time before she met Margot. The two matched like pieces of a puzzle. They vibed with each other so well. They had so much in common. To understand it better, Margot was the type of neighbour Daphne was wishing for rather than the one she had in reality because Margot was just like her. While Cleo would scrunch her face and call her boring whenever she'd say that she'd rather read all day than play, Margot would agree with her and sit down so they could read together. Margot was the type of friend who didn't feel as overwhelming. The type of friend whose simple presence was enjoyable: you didn't have to talk, play or do anything in general. Daphne and Margot brought ease to each other by simply being in the same room or space.

But Daphne also couldn't fully blame Cleo: she'd met Margot in 10th grade while she had known Cleo since when they were kids. Any child would find reading all day boring. A straight-up form of torture.

Downstairs she could hear her family rustling with stuff. One of the dogs rushed out of the room while she still lay on her back, arms spread, looking up at the white ceiling in pure bliss. She didn't budge for a few more seconds and probably wouldn't have at all for minutes if she hadn't heard an unfamiliar voice come from downstairs.

It was a voice that sounded brighter than she'd ever heard in a long time. She was sure she'd left just her grandparents and parents downstairs but the voice she was hearing was female and sounded brighter than her granny's and mom's. So she sat up. Instantly. Almost robotically.

As her, the dog sensed the presence and rushed out of the room. Daphne followed right after but she didn't go downstairs. She was about to but she noticed the dogs weren't barking up and down which meant that whoever it was knew them. They were already familiar with them. A strange feeling settled in her, a feeling that held her back from going down the stairs and simply had her stretching over the railing to see. A bit shy, you can assume.

"She's upstairs," she heard her grandmother say, leaving Daphne increasingly confused. Who could be coming up to see her? She had no idea, but from the bubbly demeanour of the person, she could tell they were happy to see her. A shy smile emerged on her face just as the person appeared on the stairs. "Hey, Daphne," the voice sang as they saw her leaning on the railing. They rushed upstairs and were now standing in front of her. "Do you remember me?" Daphne's shy smile grew. How could she forget her? Caramel brown bouncy curls, freckled cheeks, moss green eyes, and lips as reddish as her cheeks. She hadn't changed a bit. She had grown, but it was still the same Cleo.

"Course I do," she happily answered and Cleo giggled. The bright smile that decorated her face made Daphne regret everything she was thinking about earlier. The smile behaved like a vibrant filter animating her memories. "Granny told me you were going to move here and I've never been happier. I thought we'd never meet again," she happily spoke while Daphne came out of her trance, grabbed her hands and led her to her bedroom.

As happy as the latter was, Cleo couldn't hold back from giggling all the time unaware of just how much happiness she'd put in the other girl's heart. A few moments ago, Daphne was thinking about how making friends was so hard for her only for Cleo to happily hop into her home, all happy to see her. Never would Daphne have thought that someone could be waiting for her so excitedly. It warmed her heart so much.

"How have you been?" she spoke first. Cleo's face glowed even brighter as she started talking.

Amazingly bored, she said. Amazing because she's fine, no illness nor body ache or particular border to carry. Bored because, aside from Daphne, the neighbours were younger than her and therefore felt more like kids to babysit rather than people to make actual friends with. Granny started cleaning the house a month in advance, she narrated, and she helped her out on it. Said she enjoyed cleaning while listening to Granny telling stories about Daphne. It increased her excitement and her will to help Granny. She spent days here at the house with granny and never got tired. Granny tried to tell her not to worry but Cleo was just as excited. She'd spend the day cleaning and preparing and then would head home for dinner after which she'd be crocheting little cute things for the both.

Daphne listened with a never-ending smile. All of this for her? Wow. "I have them at my place. If you wish, later I can take you there and give you them," Daphne simply nodded. Eagerly. Happily. A happiness that then spiralled into taking Cleo in for a hug. "I'm just as happy to see you. I thought I wouldn't make friends here," Cleo dramatically gasped and clutched her chest, denying all of Daphne's beliefs. "You'll never be friend-less. Not under my watch," they both laughed before they heard a slight knock on the door. "Granny is going to prepare lunch and asked if the two of you would like to join".

"I caught enough vegetables from my farm so we could have fun," Granny spoke to the girls' happy faces. They were going to make pizza. Pizzas. Granny had already prepared the dough. They now had to set the ingredients and make unique pizzas. Cleo took on the onions while Daphne took a few zucchini to chop. In the fridge was a container of mozzarella and one of cheese. They had everything at their disposal.

They spent the following forty minutes chopping all the ingredients, blending tomatoes for the sauce, cutting the mozzarella into blocks and grating the cheese. Once done with that, Granny started working on the dough while the young girls buttered up the pans and prepared the oven. Next door Daphne's parents were unpacking and settling in.

"So, how was the city?" Cleo asked, starting a conversation. "Nice, in its way. Yeah, nice,"

"You've got friends you'll miss?"

"A friend, yeah. Margot. We met in 10th grade. She's a great person but knowing her, the distance is going to make the friendship falter," as she spoke, Granny smiled. She was listening and knew who she was talking about. Granny and Daphne's mother were more like sisters than anything else. Daphne's mom always kept her updated on her life and Daphne's so Granny knows how hard it is for Daphne to make friends. She'd suspected it since the girl was a little child because she could see how socializing wasn't on the list: Daphne could spend an eternity of time by herself and never get bored or feel lonely. It didn't bother Granny much but as Daphne grew so did her mother's worries. Whenever Daphne's mom called, she'd never forget to state how bothered she was about seeing her daughter be all reserved so you can imagine how happy she became the day Daphne asked her if she could invite a friend over.

"A friend? A friend! God, yes, invite your friend over! I told her. Ooh, I'm so happy. Like, I get it. She finds solace simply in herself which is a good thing, awesome in fact, because it means that no one can hurt her because, you know, out there are monsters in human form ready to just hurt people but just one person once in a while never hurts, you get me?" she told Granny on the phone. Daphne's mom is a talkative person who's scared of miscommunication and misunderstandings so whenever she's speaking, she can't hold back from clarifying every single thing she said making her wholly sound in panic.

Granny found that adorable, just like Daphne's dad did. But Daphne wasn't like her mom, she was like her dad and like Granny too. A person of a few words. Someone who enjoyed listening more than speaking.

"Oh, why's that?" Cleo asked. "Our friendship isn't really the type that goes on both physically and virtually. We... we don't text," Cleo nodded in acknowledgement before focusing back on transferring the dough from the board to the pan. "Thank god we're neighbours then," Cleo giggled. Her words warmed Daphne's heart who couldn't help but giggle as well. In the background, Granny struggled with holding back her smile.

"Are you still the bibliophile I used to know?" she proceeded. Another warm smile on her face as Daphne nodded, "I got tons of books at mine. I don't exactly classify myself as a bibliophile too but I do read. On special occasions, but I do"

Daphne chuckled and assured her she'd explore her bookshelf. Cleo giggled in response. She continued, "Do you have any specific thing to do these days?"

"No, not exactly. Why?"

"I was planning on giving you a town tour. A tour of my house, our neighbourhood, the neighbouring neighbourhoods, the town centre and, eventually, our school. You down?" Daphne quickly looked at her grandma in search of a nod of consent which she found and followed through with, agreeing to Cleo's plans. "We'll do all that today?"

"Oh, no. My god. If we did, it'd mean I carelessly showed you the place but that's not what it'll be. Once we've done the town tour, we'll go pre-school shopping. I know a store that sells the cutest school supplies I've ever laid eyes on".

They talked about their favourite school supplies: Daphne admitted to having a passion for decorating diaries and planners; Cleo's the same but decorates notebooks. Cleo got to know how a perfect academic performance was a priority to Daphne. She wasn't surprised. Daphne got to know that Cleo didn't change much and cherishes a good time above bending over a book and reading all day. She, as well, wasn't surprised. While Daphne is a dog person, Cleo fancies cats. Cleo adores sunny days, Daphne'd rather stay under a downpour than a burning-hot sun. Daphne's an early bird. Cleo's a night owl.

Overall, Daphne could tell that they were two different faces of the same coin. Equally different. Cleo was going to be a hit of fresh breeze to her pretty monotone life. She's someone who loves indulging in the same routines but, in that moment, she was ready to change them all for Cleo.

Can't really blame her. You have yourself someone eagerly waiting for you despite having seen you years ago and then we talk.

By noon, all the pizzas were ready, hot and sizzling delicacies. As they waited, the whole family, Cleo's included, helped with setting the table on the veranda. Eight chairs. A round wide dining table. A floral print tablecloth. A vase of fresh flowers in the centre. Scattered evenly were jars of water, fresh and sparkling. In front of each chair was a plate sided by a fork and a knife. No need for spoons.

Birds chirped. Dogs barked. Cutlery clicked on plates. Water hit the kitchen sink whenever someone washed their hands or rinsed a utensil.

"Food's going to be up in minutes," Cleo announced and soon everyone was sat at the table. Granny and Daphne's mom came on the veranda with pizzas placed on round wooden boards. Everyone seated exclaimed in joy, complementing the cooks.

Once they've brought enough, they finally sat at the table. They said the grace before they started sharing the pizzas into slices. One helped the other and soon everyone had something on their plate, a bite between their teeth.

Cleo sat next to Daphne. They each had a slice of the pizza the other prepared and were complementing each other on the result. Smiles never faded away. Beside Cleo was her brother, Cole. He too was smiling, laughing in fact, with the adults. Beside him, his father.

Daphne had met them and had a little conversation with them. Cole had just graduated high school and would go to the University by October. He had a car of his own and was working on getting an apartment too. Daphne didn't see the mother and no one mentioned her so she didn't pry further but that didn't stop her from wondering.

Cleo's father loved dad jokes. He couldn't help but stick one every two sentences. They made people laugh for the sole reason of being hilarious, so stupid that it has you wondering how can someone even come up with them. He had a deep voice that made everything he said sound serious which made the jokes come off even funnier. Cole took after him. He too had a deep voice but he didn't make any hilarious jokes. Everything he did and said sounded very mature. Daphne assumed that he probably read a lot or had a good academic performance. He just sounded like he could be the class president, like the type of teenage student who could argue with a scumbag of a teacher pushing sixty who feels heavily entitled.

Cleo's voice contrasted theirs. She was the bright moon on a dark and starless night. Her voice was as chirpy as her laugh. She looked like the type of person who could rock golden shades because she glowed. She glows. She looked like the type of girl you'd always want to be happy, never sad, never see cry. The type of girl whose sad face could induce the watcher into a great state of melancholy. The type of person that can make anyone empathic.

A part of her almost reminded Daphne of her mother with the only difference that while her mother talked so much in fear of causing a misunderstanding, Cleo talked so much because she was simply made like that. Her mind was a running film strip. A very fast one and she was always in a hurry to talk about it in every of its details.

The lunch went on like this. Laughter was the only thing you could hear. Some dad jokes here and there but all for fun. All in happiness.

Daphne in that moment thought that her past life wasn't a life. Was she dead the whole time because she started feeling alive only this day, in this instant, sitting between her mom and her old-yet-new friend, eating pizza in the wonderful atmosphere of the sunny day.

Yeah, she was probably dead the whole time. Or at least a zombie.

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singguks · 2 years

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horus academy, 04 | bts

© horus academy | all rights reserved. do not repost, translate or claim as your own. if you find this work elsewhere besides the three blogs stated, please report it to any of the writers. @singguks × @socksjinie × @bluenpjm

summary: in a school where greek methods rules, not everything is as clear as it appears to be. heart, mind, soul, and body. those are the teams of the horus academy and boarding school. but deep within the long corridors, lies dark secrets. the so-called loving families formed in the shape of teams begin to tear up when an anonymous source unravels their deepest secrets.

genre: high school au | mystery au | smut | angst | fluff

pairing: OT7 × OC's

rating: PG13

word count: 11,829

warnings: foul language, bullying, pyromania (impulse control disorder regarding fire), exposing secret relationships, femicide.

a/n: if you want to be part of the tag list so you won't miss the secret that'll be revealed next, comment down below and we'll add you :)

chapters. 01, 02, 03, 04, 05 ✩ masterlist

PREVIOUSLY ON HORUS ACADEMY

“Good morning Horus, and get ready for the Ascension,” The speakers throughout the entire school turned on as Kihyun’s voice, the school’s announcer, caught everyone’s attention. “The schedule of this week’s round will be the following—please take notes or regret not doing so—first stop, a game for intellectuals only. The second phase is for those who dare to be brave… and physical! The third and final round must be for the jacks of all trades. Best of luck to all teams- and may the greatest God or Goddess win!”

The Griffins were starting their day very uneasy… A little before the announcement of the game, the leader of the team, Archie Miller, opened the doors of their common room just to find it completely out of place.

The yellow sofas that normally stood on the four edges of the walls, against them, were placed in a circle and in the middle of the room. As he came closer to have a look at what was going on, he found a blue envelope on the floor, right at the center of the circle. It was as if it was inviting the whole team to gather around and take a seat to know what it contained. And some even managed to arrive on time to see their leader reading it alone because Archie was anything but patient or very loving.

To say the Sarx meeting didn’t go so well was more than an understatement. Archie was completely out of his mind; fuming in anger. All he could think about was how they managed to enter their common room. And he knew who had been the culprit, that was the sole reason he was so furious.

“Those damn wolves.”

[ ... ]

“And it’s… Correct!” One of the judges announced giving one more point to the Dianoia team. Jin and Kaya, the ones that were chosen to be representing their house in this first round, hi-fived each other while celebrating.

Dianoia kept leading with two points ahead while Kardia and Psykhe were disputing second place, both tied with four points each. The audience was anxious. After all, this was a game of intellect but also speed. The fastest team to reach a total of nine correct answers would be given a clue to the location of the next round, and that meant the next duo would have to reach the secret location to be given an advantage quickly. No one could leave without the so-wanted nine, and the groups were waiting right there, completely powerless; the wait was slowly killing them.

“The seventeenth question is the following…” A girl from the judges' panel announced, “Which monarch officially made Valentine’s Day a holiday in 1537?”

There was a moment of silence, some glances from the teammates being exchanged, but then Vernon from Psykhe cut through it and slammed the button in front of him and his partner. “I think I know it, but I’m not so sure,” He chuckled in a boyish manner. The Psykhe team, all sitting behind them, started to shout words of encouragement.

“We trust you, go on!” Dahyun, his partner, cheered alongside their team.

“Would it maybe be Henry, The Eighth?” He tried, “No! Wait! Ok, no, Henry, The Eighth is my answer- Ah! I don’t know, man,” He laughed again confused, starting to feel the pressure.

“Are you locking in that answer?”

He took a glance back at the Psykhe team and everyone seemed cool with his reasoning, giving thumbs up and screaming Lock it! which made him feel more confident about it. Vernon was often not sure about the information he thought he knew, but the team did not doubt him. That was why they appointed him to the spot. The boy even had a nickname in the family. Tidbits, because he often shared tiny pieces of information no one ever heard about… Actually, a lot of the Psykhe students were like that, Dahyun included. He was just the ace of it.

“Yeah, I’m locking it!”

“And the answer is… Correct! Another point for the Psykhe team!”

They all cheered in unison. Mark, from the Sarx team, slightly punched their stand, murmuring a Fuck, I knew that! At this point, the Griffins were falling way behind… And the thing was, you were not allowed to receive the clue to the next location unless you had nine correct answers. The Sarx team, having only three questions on their belt, was feeling more than uneasy.

“Okay folks, next question!” The judge called for their attention, “What is the rarest M&M color?”

Not even a second after, Nayeon from Kardia, smashed the button overly excited. “It’s the brown one! Lock it, I’m sure.” And then she turned to her partner to say, “I googled it not even a month before this.”

“And Kardia, your answer is… Correct! Congratulations!” The judge cheered, laughing, “I guess someone is an M&M enthusiast.” And to that, she received a truthful answer, shouted from Kardia’s stand.

“WHO ISN’T THOUGH?!”

“You got me there!” The judge chuckled, “Let’s carry on. Dianoia still leading with six points, close behind them with five points, we have Kardia and Psykhe now tied- again! And Sarx, you better pick it up, you only have three…”

Archie Miller, Sarx’s leader, was pacing back and forth a few meters forward, where the second phase teams were awaiting. He would have to give his very best if he wanted Sarx to secure its place as the current champions. And the way Freya was stretching overly joyful by his side made him feel even more furious, after all, he was still brooding about the Wolves’ attack on their common room.

“Nineteenth question! What is the loudest animal on Earth?”

Jin pressed the button without hesitation and Kaya looked at him alarmed. He often said things without much reasoning and she was afraid they would lose their one-point advantage if he answered something stupid.

“Sperm Whale,” He said and she looked at him incredulously, almost certain her track of thoughts was coming true and the other teams would catch up in a second. “Lock it.”

“And the answer, Dianoia, is… Correct!”

“I don’t know how I know but I know, ok? You can trust me.” He said simply when he looked at the face she was making.

“Dianoia, two more questions, and you guys are ready to go!” The judge announced and the team got loud once more, cheering and chanting Go Stags!

After that, Sarx managed to get a point, and Archie screamed more than his teammates competing in that round. Dianoia once more snatched a point, this time through Kaya, and they could already feel the taste of victory—at least for this round. Shortly, Psykhe snatched one more point and Kardia followed.

“So, participants, what is the biggest-selling music single of all time?”

You could see Kaya furrowing her brows, trying very hard to make sense of some song. The audience went silent again, some trying to think of the answer themselves, some just searching for the team who would ring the button.

Dong!

Vernon had pressed it. “Candle in the Wind from 1997.” He stated very sure of himself this time, “Lock it.”

“Psykhe… Correct!”

Their crowd cheered and the boy put a hand on top of his chest, almost fainting, making them all laugh.

“Ok, a little bit of science now… Shall we?” The judge wasted no time in introducing the next question, “What is the hottest planet in the solar system, and what is its temperature?”

“I know this!” Kaya shouted, making Jin jolt beside her with the jumpscare. She pressed the button, “It’s Venus! With um… I’d say with, umm about 460 degrees Celsius. Lock it!”

“And Dianoia, your answer is…” The expectation was in the air. Kaya held her breath, she knew she was right but at the same time, there was a chance she wasn’t. Jin held her hand tight, waiting anxiously for their final and winning point.

The audience was silent apart from the thumping of the feet of the Stags, everyone was up in their seats.

“CORRECT!”

A lot of shouting could be heard, mixed with some boos from the Sarx team.

“Congratulations Dianoia! Here is the clue!” The judge passed a black envelope to Kaya’s hands, “Solve it first and then give the location to your teammates over there!” She pointed toward Joy and Yeonjun, the participants of the second phase who were waiting a few meters away.

While the rest of the trivia game was being resumed, Jin and Kaya started discussing the words written on the envelope.

“It meanders this way and that, but prove you’re no fool. You’ll be both west and north of it, relaxing or should I say, feeling cool…?” Jin mused. “This doesn’t make much sense… Why would I feel cool?”

But Kaya didn’t mind much of his question, her brain was working to full capacity. “What do we have inside the school both north and west?” She asked him expectantly, still thinking about the answer herself.

“Um… Not much. I know North is that way for sure,” He turned to face the trail of the woods behind them. “But west-”

“So it’s inside the woods!” She stated in a hushed whisper, “What do we have there? It meanders… Meanders.”

“We better hurry, Psykhe and Kardia are one point away, I think.”

“Um, I think… Cool! It’s not the cool we’re thinking about, Jin!” She shook him lightly by the shoulders, “Think about it, it meanders and it’s cool… It’s water!”

“Water?” His nose scrunched.

“Yes! The abandoned pool!” She whispered excitedly, “That’s the only old building still standing in the woods, which is both north and I’m guessing west from here.”

“Oh, fuck.”

In a split second, both of them hurriedly went to the second team of Dianoia waiting. They briefed them about the location and how it would make sense since they were all warned through the speakers this morning the second team was the only one allowed to take an empty backpack to the challenge with them.

“For the wet clothes or any object you might find at the pool.” Kaya clarified with a brilliant smile on her face.

Once Psykhe passed their intel, Freya, and Jooheon ran as fast as they could through the dense woods. The sun was shining bright, as rays passed the little breaches between the leaves. Every little sound made the duo turn their heads, afraid they could be leading the team that had stayed behind to the next game. There was no explicit answer to the riddle so, despite being confident in Vernon and Dahyun, there was no way to know if the pool was the right place to head to.

“Should we go in?” Jooheon asked Freya. A look at him would never reveal how much of a scaredy-cat he was.

“What?” Freya asked as she kept on moving towards the old building.

The pool was in ruins. There was no certainty about how long it had been abandoned. But the long ivy branches on the walls made it clear that it had been years since anyone had taken care of it. The rumors regarding it were many. No one could understand why the school had decided to leave an entire building and simply relocate all its services.

“Didn’t someone die here?” Jooheon whispered.

“Those are just stories.” Freya chuckled. “C’mon. Dianoia is probably already inside and Kardia was just ahead of us. We don’t have any time to waste.”

The girl rushed inside, the glass doors creaking as the movement presented new to them. “Don’t leave me here!”

Jooheon rushed after the girl who was fiercely striding into the building. Freya didn’t believe the stories. About the pool. Or the boy. She had heard so many versions of it in the last two years she had been in Horus that the more she knew, the more absurd they sounded.

“There’s no way I would’ve come here after five,” Jooheon whispers, but his voice echoes anyway. The sound makes him nervous, as he tightens the grip on the strap of the black backpack he had been carrying for the game.

“Shush-” Freya stops in her tracks. “Did you hear this?”

“Is it- is it the boy?” He stutters.

Freya moves after the sound and as she does, she is perplexed by the sight. The duo from Dianoia was putting on swimming suits, hurriedly. But the creative kids with blue uniforms can’t focus on their actions. Instead, their eyes fall on the pool. It was the size of an Olympic one, but it was far from it. What once might have been crystal clear water, now was dark green, with moss floating around.

“Oh, gross!” Joy squealed as her bare feet hit the water. “I’m going to be sick.”

“Oh God-” Freya let out, her hands instinctively covering her mouth as the other rested on top of her stomach.

“Freya-” Jooheon called out, tapping the girl's shoulder.

Isn’t the weather perfect for a swim? We are not that cruel—suit up! You should dive and find the consoling sight of home. Find the board with your crest and you shall move one house ahead. And don’t think you can fool us. We might not be present, but we are always watching your every step.

The duo couldn’t believe they had to dive into the filthy water. By now, Yeonjun had helped Joy into it and the girl’s squeals were echoing loudly through the abandoned halls. Freya was quick to rush to the suits, grabbing one for herself and another for her partner.

“There,” Jooheon said softly, trying his best to not alarm the girl.

Freya followed the tilt of the head he had given her only for her eyes to lay on one of the corners of the room, by the ceiling, with what seemed to be a camera with a red light flashing. The game had become increasingly serious and there was no policy for cheating.

“Let’s get ready.” She shrugged. “There are snorkeling masks there, too.”

The boy simply nodded as he began to get ready. But he was soon paralyzed, the sudden sound of screams coming from outside alarming him. Jooheon's eyes widened and he felt like he had stopped breathing. He was certain he would see a disfigured man, running towards him and pushing him into the mossy pool, as he took his last breath of air.

“Spider!” A scream was heard and the boys fell straight on their asses.

Everyone is silent for a second until Freya bursts out laughing, the sight of Jackson Wang and Kim Mingyu both screaming over a spider being too funny for her to hold it in.

“How are you two here already?” Jackson points an accusing finger at the duo.

“How aren’t you?” Freya remarks sarcastically.

“It’s not like arrows were pointing Abandoned pool that way!” The boy from Kardia spoke again, his exaggerated personality being enhanced in moments of stress.

“I’m not going in there,” Mingyu says, a disgusted look on the boy’s face as he reaches the edge of the pool.

But as soon as he speaks, Jackson is already shoving his swimming suit up his legs, a sudden moment of courage filling his body. “For Kardia!”

“We’re being watched?” Mingyu asked as he looked around, aiming to find the lurkers.

“Top corner, to your left,” Freya commented as she put her hair in a bun.

She watched as the Kardia boy looked around, eyes finally laying on the camera. And in that same moment, a mischievous smile appears on his lips. Freya tries to focus on the task ahead of her, the thought of having to dive into those waters grossing her out more and more as time passes. Still, she couldn’t keep herself from hearing Mingyu whisper to his teammate.

“Let’s hide these.”

From the corner of her eye, she sees Jackson smirk, grabbing the last two pairs of swimsuits and running toward the old balneary with them. She thought about playing some tricks herself, but she wanted to win this year’s games. Not even for the prize, but for the satisfaction of stealing yet something more from Sarx, and getting back at them for what they did to Jungkook.

“How are we doing this?” Jooheon asks by the girl’s side. They are both standing so close to the edge, that their toes are curled in the air.

Freya sighs, considering her options. For a moment, she watched the water, waiting for Dianoia to come back to the top. As time went on and on, she was quick to notice how much more frequent their visits to the surface were.

“Do you think there might be flashlights or something lying around?” She whispered.

Jooheon was quick on his toes, the sudden mention of the item rushing through his mind. “On the backpacks.”

“Damn it!” Yeonjun let out a frustrated sigh as he came out for air. He climbed the edge of the pool, sitting down as he tried to catch his breath.

Joy followed a couple of seconds later. “I can’t anymore.”

“Let’s rest for a second.” The younger boy helped her climb out.

“We should search separate areas. I comb one side, you do the other.” Freya suggested after overhearing the other team interaction.

“Deep side first?” Jooheon asks and Freya nods in response.

“It might be best. We probably won’t have the strength to comb that part later.”

“And if we find someone else’s board?” Jooheon whispers, eyes falling on the Kardia boys that were struggling with their suits.

“We keep our mouths shut.” Jooheon nodded in agreement.

There was still no sight from Sarx and everyone in the room was glad for that. Archie was close to losing his cool during the first game, and the lack of his presence made everyone sure he was destroying everything that stood in the way of his victory. Sooner, he would be storming over those rusty doors, getting a little too close to breaking them and diving into the sludge-filled pool with no second thought.

But for the time being, the room was filled with Jackson’s squeals. Anyone that passed outside could think someone was being murdered. The mischievous boy had quickly faded into a soft one, too afraid—or better yet, grossed out—to enter the pool. Mingyu tried to give the example, but he too was petrified.

As soon as the Psykhe team was about to dive, hands securing their masks as they adjusted them perfectly on their face, Archie came rushing into the room.

“What’s the game?” He brutally asked, shoulder-shoving Mingyu out of the way as he stopped in front of the board. “Momo!”

The girl came running into the forgotten building, a little out of breath. Everyone could tell she had been forced to run after him towards the abandoned pool.

“Look for the suits.”

“Suits?” She asked confused, considering she had no time to read the pieces of information about the game on the wall.

“Swimsuits!” He screamed impatiently.

The girl looked but the longer she took, the longer Archie pressured. He cursed the game makers for not ensuring there were enough suits for everyone.

“Loser’s crops.” Jackson shrugged, knowing he would get a reaction from the Sarx leader.

“What did you say?!”

“You should work your brains as well.” An innocent smile was plastered on the Kardia boy’s face, but he was far from that.

“Whatever dude.” Archie laughed dryly as he noticed the camera. “Momo, let’s go into the water. We don’t need suits.”

“Wha-” The girl stuttered. It wasn’t enough that she wasn’t comfortable around water—or her partner—but she also had never tried to swim in these conditions. Just the smell that arose from the water made her stomach turn. “I can’t.”

“What?”

“I- I’m not a good swimmer.”

“Bro, what?! And you’re telling me this now!?” The leader lost his cool, yet again. The Griffins were motivated with micro-aggressions better than with words of affirmation. No one could understand that house around Horus.

“Relax dude.” Mingyu gets between the leader and the girl.

“Fuck off, bro.” Archie makes sure to hit Mingyu with his shoulder as he passes him one more time daringly. “You’re not going in, Momo?”

“I-I really can’t.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have brought a fucking girl to this. Pathetic.” He spits as he turns around to face the pool.

“You’re such an asshole…” Freya can’t keep quiet.

“You’re out of your mind, dude. It’s a game.” Mingyu shakes his head.

“Again, fuck off.” Archie gives everyone in the room a dirty glance before diving just as he was.

Freya dived right after. She wanted to keep the advantage her house had so far from the Griffins but at the moment, they were standing equal. Even Dianoia, who had a good head-start, was now seemingly falling behind. Joy hadn’t entered the water ever since she last sat down on the edge of the pool. Even with the snorkeling masks, it had proven too difficult to stay down for too long.

Joy watched all the other participants give their best. Her mind kept on rushing. The big windows let very little light in, most of them being covered by the tall trees of the woods that surrounded Horus. The wind made the leaves dance swiftly; the sight was almost peaceful.

Yeonjun came up again for air. He was already exhausted. The pool was more than 6 feet deep. He had a hard time reaching the bottom, much like everyone else, and even harder staying there. More often than not, his flashlight would shut out and he would be lost in the darkness, his only sense being the faint touches of his pruney fingers.

Mingyu, having the body of an athlete and the brain of a strategist, had already found a board, Psykhe’s. He stayed a little, analyzing the piece glued down, hoping that it would make it easier once he laid eyes on his. He wasn’t sure if it was from the small deprivation of air in his brain, but the more he thought about what would be the use for it, the less sense it made for him.

He came back up for air.

“You okay?” The boy from Kardia asked once he saw Freya leaning against the pool edge, her body still inside the water.

She turned to see who was speaking to her. “Yeah.” But it didn’t sound as hip as she wanted, her lungs gasping for all the air they could get. “Not as easy as I thought.”

Mingyu laughed, agreeing. “You should look elsewhere. You’ve been there for some time.”

Despite her tiredness, Freya was quick to notice the look on the boy’s face. That wasn’t a simple comment out of care or worry. The thought of him passing by her team’s board was as if a bundle of fresh air.

“I will.”

Grabbing the ledge of the pool, she moved to where Jooheon was diving and waited for her teammate to come back up. She was quick to explain the interaction she just had and justify their new search area. Her partner agreed in a heartbeat.

Not far from them, Archie had been making his best times so far. Sarx would have been proud if they were there watching. Instead, he only had Momo. It was the last time he was going against his gut, he had thought. She was quick to collect herself, giving him tips on where to look next, but the sound of her voice only made him more impatient.

Fifteen minutes passed, with each player doing their best underwater—apart from Momo, who kept crouched by the pool shining light wherever Archie would choose to dive next—and from time to time someone would emerge gasping for air, or even scream. It was difficult to know which was worse: to stay by the edge of the pool gasping for air while hearing weary sounds that came from the trees or to stay underwater wrapped in shades of dark green and floating shadows that sometimes looked like creatures watching you. Both gave everyone the chills. Even Archie, that seemed way too stoic, would look behind his shoulders or flinch when plants would appear in his way.

Freya emerged gasping, right in the middle of the pool. Jackson and Mingyu snapped their heads to look at the noise, they seemed to be strategizing while taking a light rest. “Joo!” The girl called. “You’ve seen him?”

“I think he dived there,” Mingyu pointed out since Momo was too busy—and perhaps too afraid—to diverge her concentration from Archie.

“Thank you!” Freya said excitedly while swimming her way towards the place he had pointed, just in time to catch her partner coming up for air. “Joo!”

The guy screamed, scared to see a hand grabbing him out of nowhere. “It’s me! It’s Freya” She laughed it out.

“Thank God, I thought I was done for good!”

“In a certain way you are,” She said, attracting looks from the ones still resting by the ledges, “I found it.” She whispered last.

Jooheon’s eyes got adorably rounded, “You- Really? Like— You’re sure, sure?”

“Super sure.” She winked. “C’mon!” And as they swam their way out of the pool, the players remaining went under it again, too afraid to stay behind, too eager to win, and to get done and over with this game.

The Psykhe pair was quick to get out of their swimming suits and grab the walkie-talkie with a blue string near the Rules board. Freya looked around, her hair soaking the tee she was wearing, and she thought it was best if they talked about it elsewhere. They couldn’t, in any way, share information or clues with the other teams. Jooheon was quick to catch up on her thoughts, so they both ran outside.

The radio screeched once she turned it on, and Jooheon kept fidgeting by the girl's side. Every breeze that hit his wet neck would make him jump, leaving him on edge. They were still deep into the woods, after all.

“Tae, can you hear me?” Freya called for her brother through the device.

“You guys okay?” She heard, but it wasn’t her twin’s voice, it was Jungkook’s.

“Hey! Yeah, we're alright!” She answered with a satisfied smile, and with Jooheon’s protest by her side ‘Define alright’, as he pouted, making her nudge him playfully. “And we got the clue. Write it down, ok?”

“Ok, tell me.”

“Letter H and number 7,” She started, waiting for their response.

“Ok, H and 7,” Jungkook repeated, and right after she heard Taehyung’s voice.

“Any idea of what it could be, Frey?”

Jooheon kept looking towards the crusty doors from the old pool entrance, trying to make himself useful and busy. He was on the verge of freaking out, the tales from the boy of the woods too impactful on his mind.

“It was a chessboard!” Freya described, “The pawn was in the H7 position… But I don’t know if you should relate it to chess or if it’s just a coordinate, like the letter H and number 7?”

“Ok, we’ll see what we can do with that… I mean, we’re in the woods too, but in the south part, by the Stags greenhouse.”

“Watch out for markings in the woods— or signs!” Freya spoke fast, her body getting filled with adrenaline as her mind began to formulate a million different theories of what the solution to winning the game could be.

“Alright.”

“Good luck,” She said as soon as she felt Jooheon poking at her side, notifying her a team was about to come out, “And you two better bring that trophy home, you hear me?”

“Yes ma’am!” They laughed together, and that put a smile on the, most often than not, blasé girl. Something about them together felt awfully familiar, as if Jungkook had always belonged to her group of friends, or been close to her brother.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a scaredy-cat Jooheon who was tugging on her arm for them to go to the finish line and wait for the outcome of the games. Or in reality, just to escape the nightmare people made these woods to be.

While she was leaving, she offered one last glance to Mingyu, who was holding a red walkie waiting for the response of his team.

He caught her glance, their eyes meeting for brief seconds.

“See you guys at the finish line!” She said loudly, and to her surprise, it wasn’t to tease as she often would in the games.

The smile on his face grew, and the radio screeched. “What took you guys so long?!” Elena’s voice sounded through.

The sun was still up in the sky when the third game officially started, but the ones who had even the smallest of knowledge about anything sky-related knew for a fact they had to hurry up if they didn’t want to still be venturing into those woods late at night.

Taehyung and Jungkook were well aware of that. They had barely succeeded in finding their way back hours before this. But here they were, running once more between the long trees that surrounded the school, this time with another goal in mind: find an H and a 7.

“Do you think Jimin and Elena left already?” Jungkook asked his partner, his voice a little shaken due to running.

“Maybe,” He heard Taehyung answer and pant a little behind him. “We were a bit far from each other and I don’t see very well from afar” He laughed it out making Jungkook chuckle and relate a bit to his roommate.

“Oh- Look!”

They came to a halt, slowing their pace. In front of them, some of the trees could be seen with markings, some with letters, some with numbers. They glanced at each other knowingly.

They would have to search for two trees apparently, one with their number and the other with their letter.

“They’re painted with four colors…” Taehyung thought aloud making the other boy start looking at the trees once again, “You see there?” He pointed to his left. “That one has a B painted in blue but this one is painted in yellow.”

“So we have to find the blue ones with H and 7,” Jungkook concluded making Taehyung nod. “We could split up to cover more ground?” He suggested with his hands on his hips.

“That’s what they want,” Taehyung said convicted while looking around once more.

“What do you mean? Who?”

The trees were dancing with a light wind right above them. Some melodic whistles floated in the air, little birds that were probably nestling around. Despite what he had been through, Jungkook still thought the woods were almost magical. It would be nice to venture around them in a lighter situation…

“YOU’RE FALLING BEHIND!” Both of them heard Jimin’s voice echo and they snap their heads to follow the sound of it. Jimin and Elena were close by, towards their left, running further into the trees. And as they left into the distance, they could still hear the girl’s excited laugh.

“WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT!” Jungkook shouted back with a smile on his face. He kept on looking at their backs distancing further and further from where he was standing, a million thoughts spiraling in his mind. Maybe this is where I belong, he thought. And looking back at Taehyung, he found the boy already smiling at him, amused and with a complicit look plastered on his face.

For a moment Jungkook feared having to open up to his roommate for being caught in a moment like that. He didn’t think he was ready to say anything about his past yet, or if he would ever be ready for that. But thankfully Taehyung didn’t press him. Nor made fun of it, like he was sure any other guy would.

“We’re not searching anymore,” Taehyung said simply, and Jungkook wasn’t able to follow his track of thoughts, getting confused.

“What?”

“Follow me!”

The two of them trailed together between the tricky spaces around the tall trees. Jungkook had to remove the flannel shirt he was wearing on top of a tee due to the sun's rays hitting his face and torso. All the walking and running wasn’t helping either.

Taehyung’s eyes were sharp, looking for their clues. He suddenly stopped before a pine tree with a red seven painted on it and a small paper note attached. They had noticed before that each of the trees had this kind of paper glued to it, some contained the same text, and others had something entirely different.

“What are you doing? That’s not our seven! Ours is blue,” Jungkook started but Taehyung turned around swiftly putting a hand on his shoulder as if explaining some big event to a child.

“You can’t think like everyone else in this challenge, JK.” He said in a funny intonation. The more he spent time with Taehyung, the more he could see the guy was quirky and did things his way. “We only need a seven and an H. No one told us it needed to be in our official colors. Think about it. This is a challenge to make you waste time. It’s a tricky one.”

And Jungkook reflected upon his words. He was… Right. Freya never told them it had to be blue. She only gave them a letter and a number. Taehyung was brilliant. And looking at him, a growing smile forming on his face, he knew exactly why the boy had been appointed to this challenge specifically.

“Now, start digging!”

“Digging?” Jungkook asked getting confused once again.

“Look at the text on the paper.”

Look up, players! That’s right, two flags you must find… One here, and one at the other coordinate. Will you climb? Hmm, that’s dangerous. A practical solution we will share: Go to the heart of it and your tool will be there.

Jungkook read it two times, but the only thing he could take out of this was: one, climbing the tree to take out the flag swinging on the tallest tree branch, or two, go to the heart of the woods—its center—in hopes to find some tool to facilitate the process. So why the hell was Taehyung asking him to dig, he thought.

He heard him sigh, “Pine tree roots are called heart roots.” Taehyung explained already kneeling on the earthy floor to start digging the soil with a stick he found laying around, “It might be a long shot, but I don’t think so because look at this,” He fumbled with a dirty spot near the tree, “The soil is darker here, meaning someone already dug it.”

“And you know all this stuff… How exactly?” Jungkook asked surprised but found himself a larger stick to start helping.

“My grandparents have a farm… We used to spend a lot of time there when we were kids… Freya and I.”

“Huh, I see… That’s- That’s nice.”

“Look!” Taehyung poked a part of the ground enthusiastically, discarding the stick he was previously using to shift some dirt around with his own hands. When he managed to pull at a rope, a whole flag came following. “I told you!”

“Woah… You’re a genius,” Jungkook marveled.

With yet another knowing look, both of them got up quickly and started running after any tree with a big H painted on it. On their search, they passed by the Dianoia team trying to throw rocks at the flag on top of their targeted pine tree, they too seemed to be trying to think out of the box… But with no immediate success.

The Psykhe duo kept running, eagle eyes trying to do the job of finding their so-desired H. Both of them hoped the tree they found wouldn’t be next to any of the other teams, so they didn’t have to accidentally share their technique. Once they found it, a crooked H painted in yellow, they breathed relief for not being able to see a single person around, although they could hear slightly annoyed screams from the Sarx team. Something along the lines of ‘You have to push me harder, Minhyuk! I can’t climb a whole tree by myself!’ So they were the ones attempting the climbing scenario… Sarx was no joke.

With their second and final flag in their hands, Taehyung grabbed Jungkook by the arm and just advised quickly, “Now we run, as fast as you can- Just don’t leave me behind. Please?” He begged, making his roommate laugh.

With a certain nod of Jungkook’s head, they both sprinted towards the finishing line. If someone was winning the games this year, it would be them. Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh like a maniac already thinking about how good it would feel to see the Griffins’ faces, and his laughter echoed through the whole grove.

Elena and Jimin had just found their first tree when the two of them passed by running, their clothing all stained with dirt and two flags in hand. Jungkook looked like he was filming an action movie, sprinting and jumping with great agility through his obstacles, while Taehyung followed him, the difference was that he was just wagging the flags above his head like a crazy person.

“Those bastards…” Elena let out, hands on her hips as she tilted her head. “How the hell did they do it already?”

“Why are they so… Dirty?” Jimin asked a bit baffled by the situation.

Elena didn’t answer it right away, her eyes going from them to the tree marked by a big four painted in red. She analyzed it with half-closed eyes.

“Were they rolling around in the ground? Climbing a tree doesn’t make you that dirty…” She pondered. “They had to be digging. Right?” Her eyes shoot up at Jimin as if something could start to formulate in her brain.

“What, like actual ground?” Jimin had his hands on his hips, and instinctively he kicked the tree trunk in front of him.

“No, like a tree.” Elena looked seriously at him, “Of course, it’s the actual ground, Jimin!” She added and he started laughing at his dumb remark. “You’re too much!” She laughed alongside him.

“Ok, so where do we dig? Here?” He pointed towards the base of the pine tree and Elena nodded, so he crouched down and started poking the soil.

Not even ten minutes had passed by when they found the tip of the flag and started pulling it out. A little bit of hauling and more digging around the edge of it and the flag was loose and on their hands. Jimin was about to celebrate when Elena shushed him out, fearing the other teams would find out.

“Let’s cover and smooth it as much as we can.” The girl said, looking around as her hands were quick to find the piles of dirt and put them back in their place. They only needed their F now, and as they searched for it, the situation wasn’t looking so good. The Kardia duo needed to hurry up if they wanted to have at least a shot at winning first place; with any luck, Jungkook and Taehyung had got lost, with no clue on how to arrive at the finishing line. Taehyung would certainly get lost, Elena thought to herself. Not only that but the Stags passed by them, one flag on Johnny’s shoulders as they moved through the vegetation.

Rumour had it that a long time ago, Horus Academy used to be much chipper. Only the richest would be allowed to pass by the front gates and marvel at the benefits of having the crest of the prestigious school right by their hearts.

The halls were roamed by troublemakers. Grades weren’t important. Even the teachers wouldn’t try too hard with the students. An F could swiftly be transformed into an A by the end of the semester, a juicy donation made to the Horus Academy Foundation from the family acting as the factor of competence and credibility of the kids' performance.

Despite all this, nothing could be perceived more than mischief. Kids were ruthless. They would speak their minds, not a care in the world if they could be shattering you into a million pieces. Some bullying… Some hazing… But never one step further than that. It was fitting, and not even slightly strange, after all, they had been raised by parents that thought money could fix anything.

Even so, a look at the now long-lost records of the students of the Horus Academy could show that the most serious case that had turned up on school grounds had been a miscarriage—in consequence of a conceived in school-grounds pregnancy.

That was, of course, until that day. The day when all changed.

Chadwin Sinclair. Everyone knew him by his self-entitled nickname, Dragon.

The story was that he had been sent to Horus Academy after almost burning his entire mansion down, with his family sleeping and all the staff still inside. He hadn’t meant it, of course. He was only nine. But his mother—had anyone cared to ask—always found it quite disturbing how his favorite toys were a box of matches. Still, she was too depressed to care or do something about his behavior. With another child on the way, Chadwin’s parents saw no other option than to send him away to a boarding school, as he represented a great danger to what could be the perfect frontman of the Sinclair family.

And in no time, they had forgotten all about him.

During the Christmas break, his mailbox was filled with gifts. He was thrilled. There were no visitations nor, like the other students, did he get the chance to go home. But he was still happy his family bought him everything he had asked for. After all, in the eyes of a child, a Christmas morning is fulfilled by presents under the tree. To Chadwin, sitting by the fireplace with his family was, most of the time, a burden.

Sooner than expected, summer break was just around the corner and he had begun to pack. Some students had already gone home, despite there still being two more weeks left of classes.

After all, it didn’t matter if they were there or not, if their attendance was perfect and their brains matched the level of the prestige school known to the outside world. As long as the deposit came through at the beginning of each month, all was well.

Chadwin didn’t get the reception he was expecting. People teased him. Especially the older kids.

Much like his mother, everyone found it a bit odd how enchanted he was with fire. He used to take refuge in the girls’ bathroom, escaping in between bells, just him and his matches.

Chadwin completed one year with Horus Academy, then another, and another, never leaving the somewhat prison he had been sent to. He had quickly been forgotten by his family and his Christmas mornings were less and less crowded with the disguised wrapped love. So much so that he had stopped writing home. It was of no use. The far apart he grew from his family, the more the fire grew in him.

Rumors intensified once he got admitted to the infirmary. And even more when he got released from it. For most of Autumn and Winter, he had been able to hide it with the long sleeves, but as Spring came around the corner and the sun began to fill the days at Horus, everyone spoke about his arm.

It could fall off at any time.

He was probably trying to kill us all. Failed once… I guess he will forever be a failure.

What a freak.

Don’t go near him. Imagine ending up like that.

Again, children were ruthless. And if Chadwin thought he was alone before, now he was certain that he was nothing but a waste of space and air. He thought of himself as not being worthy of a kind word. They made him believe he was a freak. And despite his best attempts to leave his comfort, putting behind the warmth of the fire in his soul, he couldn’t.

So he kept on playing with it.

One afternoon, he was hiding in the Academy’s cafeteria.

Some boys had decided that he should mix his elements. The freak should be in the water—a change of pace from his good ol’ matches. They had tried to dunk his head in the toilets. And they had succeeded. Not as much as they wanted, of course. What were a couple of minutes to dear Chadwin when he got to spend so much time with fire…

As it did before, the fire inside him grew. And Horus Academy was changed forever. No one cared to look for Chadwin Sinclair as the ghastly sound of flames was blended with the screams of frightened children, running for their lives.

Horus struggled to get back on its feet. And truth be told, it almost didn’t. But as the corridors of the new buildings are roamed by a new kind of troublemakers, the Academy keeps on attempting to keep the dark secret of that day from ever being found.

“I can’t believe they’re not here already.” Freya frowned, arms crossing over her chest.

The sun was close to setting and had it been any other day, the focus of the students would be on capturing the beautiful tones that adorned the sky, with soft shades of blue, pink, and purple welcoming the moon.

“I can’t believe our advantage didn’t mean anything.” Kaya laughed drily. The girl was usually a good sport, not caring much if she lost or won, only if everyone around her was having a good time. But this— this was different. It meant too much.

“Honestly, I can’t believe you guys aren’t eating!” Jin spoke after swallowing hard on the big chunk he had taken from his hot dog.

“I’m confident.” Namjoon’s dimple made itself known as he took a step closer to the finish line. “I can already sense Jungkook and Tae turning the corner, flags in hand, a victorious smile on their faces…”

“They better not screw it. I didn’t dive in that gross water for nothing.” Freya lifted her eyebrow.

“The second we knew what the other trial was, I was certain that we weren’t going to finish.” Hoseok laughed.

“Hey man, don’t even mention it. I will have nightmares, forever.” Jackson cried, gaining a laugh from the ones around him.

The crowd is silenced by the sound of screams.

“What the—” Freya squints her eyes, trying to figure out what was going on.

“What’s happening?” Kaya spoke fast, eyes widening in comparison to the tall girl beside her. The brunette started to move, impulsed by curiosity, hand grabbing Freya’s wrist as she pushed past the group of students that stood by the finish line. “Are those…?”

“Oh my God-” Freya gasped. “Let’s fucking go!”

Jungkook passed by the two girls at full speed as Psykhe had been quick to notice what had been happening and everyone shouted his name, as well as that of the boy right after him. Taehyung was out of breath. It was obvious to anyone watching that he had a hard time keeping up with the new guy in school but the compliments weren’t any less.

Stopping by the judges' tables, Jungkook handed them the flags.

“Only the team can finish this trial.” One of the judges said eyeing him up, stating Taehyung’s absence. Jungkook puffed irritated, hands falling to his knees so he could finally catch his breath while waiting for his partner to catch up to him. His eyes fell on the time watch on one of the judges' hands.

“Very well, boys. The flags, please.” Yeri, a girl from the Psykhe house winked at them.

“We already finished. Won’t you stop the clock?” With a hand on his hip, Jungkook pressed, head nudging towards the ticking-bomb-like device.

“We need to check the flags first.” Tzuyu barked back, eyebrows narrowed as she was not pleased that the boy in front of her wasn’t someone from her house. His eyes pierced hers defiantly, as he clenched his jaw and handed her the flags he had discarded on the judges' table.

“What’s going on?” Taehyung who was lying down on the floor finally managed to ask.

“And— stop!” Wheein, from Dianoia, lifted her hands in the sky. “Everyone!” Grabbing the megaphone from the table, she stands up on her chair, expecting eyes to fall on her immediately. “Guess we have our first place! Give it up for Psykhe!”

The crowd roars, filled with wolves, and they rush toward the boys. Suddenly, they are being lifted in the air. Some boos are heard from the other houses, playfully but honestly sore from the defeat. All except the ones coming from the Sarx house. They don’t boo but a simple look at their expressions makes it clear that they would need their time to soak in the stomp on their winning streak.

Jungkook gets put down on the floor again while Taehyung still fights for his safety; his teammates are too excited about the event to even care.

Freya rushes to the new guy—that didn’t seem that new anymore as he fits the group as a glove—without even thinking, her arms swinging around his neck with excitement. He is quick to wrap her in his embrace, squeezing her tight and lifting her in the air.

“Dream team, baby!” Jungkook says into Freya’s neck making her smile widely.

“Hell yeah!” Freya can’t help but scream excitedly. Before she can even notice she is being surrounded by her housemates, a pack of Wolves, as loud as they can be, she catches herself feeling secure in this stranger's embrace. It was weird how she felt so comfortable in Jungkook’s presence yet knew so little about him. “Help!” Taehyung yelps cutting short her trace of thoughts, while almost falling to the floor as he is finally released from the sea of people he was in.

Jungkook lets Freya out of his hold to go and help her brother stabilize himself. A rushed way out of the blood flushing to his years with the sudden proximity with the deep-eyed girl.

“Everyone’s been trying to kill me today.” The twin lets out, as if out of breath.

“Drama queen…” Freya laughs, arm leaning on her brother’s shoulder.

“Do you know how hard it is to keep up with him?” He side-eyes Jungkook, who breaks out in a fit of laughter.

“You’re just simply very much out of shape.” Freya chuckles.

“Nah, I’m just that fast.” Jungkook shrugs, nonchalant, and Freya scoffs amused. Hadn’t she been interrupted, she would be quick to fight him back on his statement. Perhaps that would be a theme of conversation for another time, much like her incessant curiosity to know more about him.

“My man!” Namjoon appears, engulfing Jungkook in a hug.

“Hey, I was part of the team too!” Taehyung pouts.

“Tae, we all know you’re the brains behind the whole operation but he was definitely the one doing the hard work.” Yoongi appears with a smug smile on his lips, hands stuffed in his pockets. “Good job, guys.”

“C’mon, show a little more enthusiasm, I know you’re backflipping inside that head of yours.” Freya pokes the boy’s side, gaining attention from Jungkook.

“Uh, Psykhe.” The dripping dullness in his voice completes the blank expression on his face as his balled fist is thrown unamusedly in the air.

Freya crosses her arms, one eyebrow raised. “That’s the best you can do?”

“C’mon, louder! The sore losers need to know who’s the boss.” Taehyung joins in.

“On three…” Jungkook smiles deviously. “1…”

“2…”

“3!”

“PSYKHE!” The wolves shout in unison.

“...ATE YOUR… Asses…?” Everyone hears at the end and looks at the culprit in question—Freya. “No…? Alright. No need to look at me like that, gee.”

“You have no respect for the mourning of others, do you?” Kaya pushes Namjoon away from the circle they had formed while eyeing the electric twins, making room for herself.

“Don’t be a sore loser yourself.” Freya sticks her tongue out, teasing her friend.

“Shush it.” The younger girl demands in feigning authority for pure spite.

The group dismisses the circle-like shape and is quick to stand by the finish line, eager to see which team would occupy second place. In a matter of seconds, the crowd that had become quieter over time was reminded that there was a competition still going on and a second place to earn.

“JIMIN-AH! RUN!” Elena's strident scream can be heard even before she comes into sight. “THEY'RE CATCHING UP TO US!”

“Elena really wasn't made for this kind of situation.” Hoseok laughs, knowing that if it were him, he would also scream as loud as his teammate.

“I'm surprised we didn't hear her any sooner.” Taehyung snorts, an amused look on his face.

“YOU RUN!” Jimin giggled, grip tightening around the girl's wrist. Elena wasn't as fast as him—maybe it was the adrenaline or his insistent pulling on her arm—but she was running right by his side.

“Those two together are absolute chaos.” Kaya shakes her head. The big smile she had on her lips is quick to fade though.

Following right suit, Johnny and Changkyun turn the corner, and the screams that left the blonde's lips get more intense. The boys from Dianoia are fast and close to catching up to them.

“GO JOHNNY! GO KYUNIE! RUN!” Kaya suddenly jumps up giving in to the frenzy of the crowd, hands tightening around the fence placed between her and the running track. “JIN, LOOK AT THEM!” But the oldest of the group was nowhere to be seen.

“Go Jimin!” Taehyung swings his arms up in the air.

“Let's go, guys!” Hoseok also cheers.

And the crossing of the finish line and delivery of the flags at the judges' table is only separated by a couple of seconds from one duo to another.

Despite the thrilling emotions both teams were feeling, trying to understand their places in the games, the focus of the crowd wasn't on the judges' table. Instead, everyone started staring at Archie Miller, the captain of the Sarx house. The look on his face, as he realized that his team would finish last, was nothing compared to the cussing words that left his mouth. He was enraged. He wanted to take the path and find the team he had sent out for the third game and finish it himself.

“Can’t believe they didn’t tell us if we made it second.” Elena scoffs as she reaches her group, still trying to even her breathing from all the running.

“You never know.” Kaya teases.

“I will smother you tonight. Don’t think I didn’t hear you scream for those two.” A mean expression adorned her face as she tilted her head towards the Dianoia team.

“What?! Oh, now I’m hurt.” Jimin’s hands flew to his heart.

“Don’t mix business with pleasure, isn’t that what they say?” The smart girl laughs.

“Wouldn’t you know…” Elena sticks her tongue out to her friend as she sits down on the grassy ground next to Taehyung. “I still can’t believe you guys got first place.”

“Who else could've?” Taehyung replied with a smug smile on his face, getting shoved right after.

“You only won because you had him.” The girl scoffs and points to Jungkook, who was standing proudly next to his team captain. “You should know that you got sorted into the wrong house,” Elena states to the new boy gaining his attention.

“Look, another sore loser.” Freya jokes at the mercy of her friend teasingly. “But really, this was a collective win, guys. Look at Miller.”

The conversation is quick to die down as the Griffins finally pass the finish line. The judges don’t bother to look at their flags like they had done with the other teams. Regardless of being successful or not, they came in last and their fate was very much decided at that point. As so, they don’t go to the podium. Sarx goes home without a prize, their player's hair all messy and clothes torn from their lack of imagination completing the third game, as they were the most likely team to present it as yet another physical trial.

The third place is occupied by Dianoia. An upgrade from last year’s games. The judges make sure to assert the almost nonexistent difference between them and the second place: Kardia. Only seconds separated the two teams. The teasing between the group of friends is immense as if they had been disputing the first place, to begin with. Kaya, a naturally good sport quickly loses her composure as her roommate, alongside the other two Dragons of the group, Jimin and Hoseok, celebrates with a much-exaggerated dance for a clear win.

Screams of excitement were heard as soon as the judges mentioned the real first place once again. Wolves—and even the Stags and the Dragons—made their contentment knowing Psykhe are this year’s crowned winners.

However, quicker than expected the mood shifts.

A loud and guttural scream is heard across the open field. A human shape dashing desperately through the tall trees that marked the woods' territory—Joy.

The girl seemed out of her mind, scared, and looking like a mess. She was still wearing her swimsuit, or at least half of it since the piece was hanging from her upper body but still covering her from the waist down as if she had run in the middle of completing the task.

Her hair was disheveled and full of dry leaves entangled in it. The closer she got to the paralyzed crowd the more it was visible how she was injured as well. A cut could be seen above her eyebrow along with some ugly scratches adorning the extension of her arm and her bare feet.

“Help!” She managed to exclaim.

Yeonjun, her partner from the abandoned pool game, was by her side in a heartbeat giving her the support she needed so she could finally know she was safe. His expression was mixed with confusion and worriedness, and he wouldn’t stop saying incoherent things, as if he was certain she had been inside the school perimeters this whole time and not in the woods.

Even though she had not arrived with him at the finish line.

And when questioned about what had happened, while being wrapped with a warm blanket, Joy, still crouched on the ground and shaking, had said she had been surprised at the abandoned balneary when she went to take her swimsuit out of her body by a strange figure.

“I just got so scared, so I- I ran! And I knew it wasn’t one of the boys. I- I swear it wasn’t one of the boys that were on the pool with me.” She had said between stutters. The more Jungkook heard her piece, the more his jaw tensed, being reminded of his own episode not so far ago.

Yeonjun promptly clarified that he had waited for her, and once he called for the girl by the girls’ balneary and she didn’t answer, he even entered to check. She was simply gone. So he didn’t make much of it, just assumed she went ahead and back to the finish line.

He returned alone.

A commotion began to form among the crowd. Everyone was nit-picking on their stories. Some pointed out that Yeonjun should have said something once he arrived, others defended the boy. After all, Joy could have perfectly arrived at the safety of her dorm to take a shower and clean the stench left by the gruesome pool, just like everyone else did. Well, everyone minus Archie who kept staring at the woods by the finish line too proud and anxious to lose his precious title.

And then the gossip followed. In a question of seconds, the rumor of the boy of the woods was being spread, Jungkook’s tragic yet mysterious kidnapping as well, and looks of terror started to appear. That was until the first beep was heard.

Suddenly the sound of notifications filled the air, and even the Stags who were all over Joy stopped their interrogations to pay attention to what was going on. Something like this… Could it be…?

“What’s going on?” Kaya asks, looking around quickly and approaching her friends again. “I don’t have my phone. What’s going on?” She insists, looking between them.

“Namjoon?” Jungkook asks, big doe eyes as he can’t help but panic after taking a glance at his own screen.

“Oh, great,” Yoongi laughs drily. It was impossible to ignore all the whispers and stares directed at him.

The captain of the Wolves scratches the back of his neck, a big puff of air leaving his lips. “We have a situation here…”

“So it’s me this time.” Yoongi sighed, the weight of prying eyes still on him. “Let me see.”

“You.” Freya spat. It was like her body was on fire, rage overcoming all the positive emotions she had been feeling. “This is such bullshit.”

“Yeah, don’t think they agree.” Yoongi chuckles, glancing at the hostile faces staring back at him.

“Fuck them.” Freya gets closer to Yoongi, protectively wrapping her arms around his own, but the judging stares don’t stop. They only increase. Like a fire going out of control.

Jungkook can’t help but look at the two of them together. His eyes keep falling on the way the girl strokes the back of Yoongi’s hand with her thumb, ever so gently, and so distant from the harsh expression shown on her face.

The way Yoongi starts fidgeting in Freya’s embrace, even though he appears to be calm and collected, and the way he tightens the grip on her hand tells her all she needs to know—he’s overly uncomfortable. And she can’t stand it.

“I’ll be right back.” She says decisively to him and to her friends, who were still close to each other, each with a look of uneasiness of their own.

Freya marches straight to the mini stage, taking the megaphone Wheein was previously using to announce the results to the crowd off of her hand.

“Hey!” She shouted and a screech echoed making some of the people standing close to the speakers cover their ears. Everyone winced but started paying attention to the girl instead of looking toward Yoongi.

“This is bad,” Kaya stated anxiously.

“Good. Now that I have your attention let’s clarify some stupid and nonsense rumors.” Freya scoffed, too mad that people deliberately chose to just believe some unfound and ridiculous tweet than actually think.

“Someone take her out of there,” Kaya added, gripping Hoseok’s arm but unable to take her eyes off her friend, expectant and afraid You would drag her again to the mud.

“I’m really sorry that Joy had gone through some sort of attack and all but are you really blaming it on Yoongi?” Freya questioned baffled. “That Yoongi? ‘Cause like- Unless he has actual superpowers I can’t see how he left my side to sprint towards the woods and go scare her.”

People started looking at each other. By the incessant whispers, it was notorious that they started doubting You’s statement but also clear that some of them were still not buying Freya’s lead. And all because of a tiny detail… One that could light a fire and burn everything down. She had a motive to defend him.

Horus was filled with troublemakers, yes, but its walls also contained brilliant minds; Some bright, the brightest ever, and some ruthless—like said before. And one of them decided to speak, right at that moment, to ignite a flame.

“I’m sorry but aren’t you his girlfriend?” Bambam shouted from the back of the crowd, a scoff leaving his lips. He had his arms crossed carefreely and an annoying smug smile on his lips that made Freya clench her jaw involuntarily. The way he looked around at people made it clear that he was after sympathy. Some even started to nod alongside him. “The one that was caught climbing his window two weeks ago or so…?”

Her instinct was telling her to jump off that stage and fly up on his neck, but Freya knew better. He just wanted her to act up and lose all her credibility before the confused crowd. So she took a deep breath before smiling sarcastically, ready to give him an answer.

Jungkook however, who was the least rational person in the precinct, was so ready to act that he managed to take his first step toward Bambam, tongue poking the inside of his cheek, anger in his eyes. He remembered the boy’s face from that day in the woods when he had been cruelly tied to a tree.

But Namjoon stopped him right in his tracks. “We got this.” The team leader assured with a last confident smile before walking to the stage Freya was on.

“And what is it to you?” She questioned smartly. “Does that have anything to do with the fact Joy was attacked by someone or are you just trying to start false rumors? Perhaps you know who’s behind that stupid account, no? They seem to follow your track of logic.”

A group from the crowd let a wave of ‘uohows’ mocking Bambam who by now had his smile fading into a defeated frown. Jungkook couldn’t help but show his radiant bunny smile, victorious. Elena shouted a “Damn right” backing up her friend, and Taehyung went along proud of his twin sister.

Before anyone else could point out Freya had just been defending Yoongi because she had something going on with him, Namjoon stepped up onto the small stage.

Asking silently for the megaphone, that was handed to him after a brief exchange of complicit looks, the team leader continued. “I feel ridiculous having to even try and explain something regarding that rumor, but if it puts your minds at ease, Yoongi was with me the whole time waiting for our team to arrive at the finishing line. As soon as Freya ended her trial, she took a shower and met us here where, not only a lot of you had seen us, but also the judges.”

In a matter of seconds, the crowd was silenced and some even quietly apologized to Yoongi while passing by him.

Freya and Namjoon were about to step off the center stage toward their friends when another voice was heard. The fanfare was far from over. Among the crowd, there was a person who was still not over the events of the day. Archie Miller.

With unmistakable annoyance in his tone of voice, he exclaimed. “You know what?! This is bull!”

Suddenly all eyes were on him.

“So these damn Wolves will just get off with anything?!” He continued enraged. “First our room, our stuff, now Joy… The poor girl can’t even say a coherent sentence.” He took a glance at the girl in question, who was being escorted towards the infirmary, with a feign of worriedness that didn’t belong to his normal behavior, gaining some raised brows in return. “I say we punish them.” The Griffins' leader stated finally what he wanted all along.

“Punish them?” Freya questioned once again outraged. “Where are we? In Hunger Games or something?”

“C’mon Miller… Acting so coy. We can barely recognize you.” Elena couldn’t help but join.

Taehyung who was right behind her had to be quick, however. The last thing they needed right now was to add more fuel to the fire. Afraid Archie would unleash his anger on her, Taehyung covered Elena’s mouth with his hand, and in a swift move lifted the girl up, left arm holding her tight on her center, exchanging places with her. “Now’s not the time” He shushed her quietly.

“Taehyung what the fu-” She was about to say when he circled her yet again in his arms, leaving her face glued to his back. All Elena could do due to the height difference was slap poorly his shoulder.

The boy could almost breathe relieved knowing he had stopped chaos from happening, but the thought of peace went out as briskly as the breath he took.

“Archie… Dude. If you want your trophy that bad why don’t you go fetch it?” Jimin retorted impatiently and his best friend was almost heard swearing a couple of feet away. “There are more important things at the moment. Joy’s incident had nothing to do with anyone here… Clearly.”

There was a moment of pause; Some were expectant to what Archie could possibly answer back as everyone knew he was a walking ticking bomb. Some, the gossiping eyes of this school, were curious to know what was this “trophy” talk all about.

Archie himself took a moment just to look at Jimin. You could see his brain was working like a fuming train just by the way he walked toward the other boy with furrowed brows and a questioning glance.

“I never said anything about a trophy, Park.” He barked out, now only a meter away from Jimin.

Instinctively, Jungkook balled his fists standing side by side with Jimin. If looks could kill, Jungkook would have opened a hole in Archie’s forehead. And he wasn’t the only one, as Jackson was furiously opening a path among the crowd to reach his Kardia teammate. Freya too was about to reach Jimin to give him a deserving slap in the back of his head for being such a damn taleteller when someone grabbed her by the wrist.

As she looked up, all she could see was Mingyu’s profile, shielding her from Archie in case something unfolded. Knowing the latter’s temper, a fight was about to start.

Jimin scoffed with a smile. “Joy was attacked on school grounds and that’s where you’re stuck?”

Tension was palpable and shortly it was present everywhere.

“Hey hey, what’s going on?” Jin appeared by Yoongi’s side confused by the sudden ruckus.

“Where were you?” Taehyung asked his cousin under Namjoon’s attentive gaze, but the answer never came as Jin’s focus was purely on the fight about to happen right before him.

Much like the oldest's reaction to the scene unfolding right in the center of a mass of students present, the crowd grew closer, engulfing the two boys in a circle. Whispers were heard from every side and some were even tempted to find the right words that would finally ignite the fight. Tzuyu had left the judges table and was now quick on her feet, right next to Mandy, a close friend of Jimin’s, who had been taping the entire scene from the moment she had heard Joy screaming. No one wanted to miss a second of the spectacle.

“Are you going to let him talk to you like that?” Bambam had a devious smile on his lips as he spoke right at the ear of his team’s captain.

And that was all the incentive the impulsive red-haired boy needed. His eyes fell on Jimin and the other guys backing him up but he was sure he could take them all. Hell, he had his eyes set on the prize. Launching forward, the captain of Sarx pulls his arm back, his fist ready to clash with the now so clearly thief of his precious trophy.

“May I ask what is happening here?!” Miss Bellum’s voice froze them in their places before a fight could actually unfold. She worriedly passed by students trying to reach Archie and Jimin.

Belle, the Dianoia student who worked as a secretary for the school during her vacant hours, came right after the teacher, as it was later found out she was the one reaching out to a professor to prevent something worst to happen. She also made sure to update her biology teacher about Joy’s episode on the way, as Miss Bellum questioned her why the brunette had been admitted to the infirmary with cuts and restless behavior.

“I won’t repeat myself, boys.” The teacher scolded. “If I catch any of you fighting we’ll have serious consequences. Archie put that fist down!”

Jimin backed away, quickly apologizing to the teacher but his eyes were still on the boy before him. Archie didn’t say a word, he was far too angry for that, and in his head, this wasn’t over. Far from it.

Before he could turn back from fighting Kardia’s golden boy, the incessant notification noise traveled through the crowd like a tidal wave yet again.

📓 [ CLICK TO CONTINUE READING ]

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my-ao3-library · 9 months

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put your name on the ballot (your name in my heart)

kim taehyung and jeon jeongguk have spent all four years of high school at odds with each other yet still find themselves nominated for cutest couple in the yearbook despite it.

homecoming gets a little weird.

31,353 words.

#taekook #hate to love #high school au #fake/pretend relationship #football player jeongguk #photographer taehyung

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bts-fic-collection · 2 years

Note

Hi, I’m so happy you’re back! Thank you for all the great fix recs <3

Do you have any (preferably longer) Taejoon childhood friends to lovers fics or canon compliant ones where we get to watch them fall in love starting from their predebut days?

Thank you! ^_^ So there's only one that I could find that fits that description, so I hope that's alright! :)

Everything Now by idyllic_hummingbird

Rating: E

Status: Complete

Word count: 35,955

Summary: The day after they got arrested and let off with a warning, Taehyung left without an explanation, or even saying goodbye. With his best friend gone, Namjoon only stuck around to finish high school before he ran away too, to a quiet beach town. He never saw him again.

Until 7 years later, when Taehyung shows up at the record store where Namjoon works.

#ask #namtae #namjoon #taehyung #childhood friends au #high school au #misunderstandings #Rating: E

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blossomk00 · 2 years

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Taekook Ao3 rec:

✨ For Once In My Life by taefics123

A very cute love story and Jungkook in this is just so adorable.

Status: complete

Word count: 15650 (1 chapter)

Ao3 link is HERE

#taekook #taekook ao3 #taekook recs #ao3 recs #jeon jungkook #kim taehyung #bts fic #ao3 link #vkook #vkook ao3 #vkook fic #vkook fanfiction #taehyung #jungkook #fluff #high school au

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2hightocare · 1 month

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DOWN BAD! 01

Synopsis: Despite undeniable chemistry, your guys’ relationship remains undefined, caught between playful teasing to deeper, unspoken longing,

Pairings: bad boy! jungkook x fem! reader

Genre: friends to lovers. college au.

Warnings: toxicity, jealousy, explicit content, angsty, smoking, usage of drugs and alcohol, fighting, profanity, slowburn, jungkook and oc are literally in love but do nothing about it, crying, hurtful words being thrown out when arguing, slapping.

a/n: IM BACK!! this is something super different than anything I have ever wrote sooooo… but i actually really love it. This would be a two-shot. Hope you enjoy🪽🪽 <3

pinterest board. playlist 02! 03!

"He pisses me off," you say while dropping onto the couch with a loud annoyed sigh, catching Taehyung's and Dahlia's attention.

"What did he do now?" Taehyung jokes, adjusting his tie on his uniform. "Look at another girl, that's what he did," you clench your teeth, fighting the urge to roll your eyes. Your fingers play with the hem of your short navy squared skirt.

Your friends let out a collective laugh, making you scoff at them. "He asked a girl for a cigarette," you mumble under your breath, feeling the pang of jealousy hit your heart.

"Morning," a deep voice speaks from behind you, sending shivers down your body almost automatically. Your brows furrow as Jungkook makes his way beside you on the small couch in the lounge room after acknowledging his friends. His white button-up is opened, revealing a peak of his skin, which annoys you. He tugs on his navy tie, the same one as yours, undoing it and letting it hang loosely around his neck.

"Are you done being mad?" He tilts his head to the side, staring at you. His breath smells of the cigarette he had been smoking, the same one he accepted from a girl who had a crush on him, which irked you. You almost wanted to snatch the cigarette from his lips and stomp on it like a child when he lit it up.

"No, I'm not done being mad," you scoff, getting up from the couch in a swift motion. Jungkook lets out a frustrated sigh behind you before reaching for your skirt and pulling it down.

"Too short," he says, ignoring your whole tantrum.

You don’t reply. Instead, you smack his hand away from your ass before picking up your backpack and throwing it at him.

"Let’s go to class," you say, crossing your arms in front of you, making your boobs push up from the white button-up—you had intentionally left two buttons open after seeing him. His eyes immediately drop to your chest, and Jungkook pokes his cheek with his tongue on the inside before letting out a soft growl and reaching to button up your shirt.

"You’re insufferable," he lets out, fixing your shirt.

"You’re insufferable," you mock back, earning a grin from him.

"Are you ready to talk to me?" He bites his bottom lip, picking up your pink backpack and hanging it over his shoulder, something he was used to doing by now. "No, but the attitude is kinda hot, not gonna lie," you say, before making your way to your first period, with Jungkook trailing behind you like a puppy on a leash.

You and Jungkook weren’t dating, nor were you friends with benefits either. You were just friends with feelings bigger than Mount Everest. It all started on the first day of sophomore year of high school.

“No more fights, okay. First day only and you already got into a fight,” Namjoon blows out a sigh, running a hand down his face.

Jungkook scoffs, pulling on his tie. “This uniform is pissing me off.” He growls, ignoring Namjoon's attempt to coax him into a conversation about controlling his anger issues. Jungkook wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of it, especially today.

“Yeah, well, fancy private schools love their uniforms,” Namjoon jokes, but Jungkook's expression remains jaded.

“Anyways, you’re lucky you didn’t get suspended,” Namjoon continues, shooting Taehyung a look that screams for help.

“Lucky? I would’ve preferred if they expelled me,” Jungkook mumbles, leaning back on his chair, throwing his head back in annoyance.

Before Namjoon could mutter another response about self-sabotaging, a female voice catches Jungkook's interest. “I don’t give a fuck, she literally ripped my new tights,” you whine, your hair disheveled, the lipstick once on your lips now smeared, and your new black over-the-knee tights, ripped.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you could tackle her to the ground, Yn,” another girl says, nudging you, which makes you pout more. “My mom is going to kill me for getting into a fight on the first day.” You sit down in front of Jungkook, not even glancing his way, throwing your pink backpack on the ground beside you, keeping your eyes on the ground.

Jungkook takes notice of your appearance, and his heart rate skyrockets. You were beautiful, like an angel, but Jungkook knew better than to think you were innocent. The skirt was much shorter than it was supposed to be, your blouse more open than closed, which had Jungkook's eyes dropping to the tie between your tits, taking notice of the cross necklace hanging on your neck.

Angel with dirty wings. Jungkook thought to himself as he took you in, the smeared lipstick adding to your allure. Your full and pouty messy lips, had him imagining things only he imagined when he was in his room at night with his hand wrapped around his cock.

Instead, he's sitting at the front office with a pretty girl in front of him for the same reason he was. As he is thinking about far more inappropriate things than fighting. Before Jungkook could look away, your eyes met his.

“You’re new,” you grin at the bruised-up boy manspreading with a matching grin on his face in front of you.

“I am,” Jungkook replies, licking his bloody bottom lip with his tongue. Eyes still remain glued to yours as you nod. “I’ve never seen you around,” you state, tilting your head to the side, leaning forward.

“And I’m pretty sure I would remember someone that looked like you,” you continue, taking him in. The black blazer, with the school logo, he was supposed to be wearing was discarded on the chair beside him, leaving him in the white button-up, sleeves rolled up halfway, giving you a full view of the veins on his arms. His black hair was tousled on his head, the bloody lip made him hotter than you cared to admit.

“Is this a way of telling me you don’t have a boyfriend?” Jungkook flirts, ignoring his friends' obvious stares from beside him.

“Not yet,” you quirk, tapping your finger on your bare thigh. “What’s your name?” you ask, wanting to know more about the boy in front of you besides the fact that he gets into fights on the first day of school.

“Does it matter? You’ll be calling me “baby” by the end of the day,” Jungkook says aloof, which gets him a small smile from you. “Smooth,” you shrug, leaning backward.

"Angel," he says, his hands snaking around your waist, pulling you in.

"Hi," you smile at him, your eyes twinkling with unspoken affection.

"Hi," Jungkook responds, his dimple carving into his skin as he leans forward, his nose touching yours, nuzzling—a short, quick gesture that steals the air from your lungs. You almost feel yourself hanging onto these moments by a thread—moments where he isn’t high or drunk out of his mind or fighting with anyone who pisses him off in the slightest.

"Do you like my costume?" You flutter your eyelashes at him sarcastically, eliciting a small laugh as he throws his head back into the wall. "I don’t know, do I?" he says, his tone dipped in enticing sarcasm. His tattooed hand drops lower on your back, causing your breath to hitch in your mouth.

The music suddenly muffles out as you focus on Jungkook’s finger dipping into the waistband of your skirt. "You look pretty," he whispers into your ear, sending shivers down your spine.

"Where’s your halo, baby?" he says, pulling on your perfectly curled hair, making you look up at him. "Lost it while I was dancing," you pout, wrapping your arms around his waist, pulling him in closer to you.

You’ve never understood when people said, “home could be a person,” but you hundred percent get it now. It's almost embarrassing how quickly you melt into his embrace, your limbs relaxing—inhaling his scent. Your brain suddenly shuts down, not thinking about anything besides him, the moment he wraps his arms over your shoulders, dropping his lips on the crown of your head, leaving a soft kiss there.

"Don��t smile," you jut out, peeping your head up to see the small curved smile displayed on his face. "Why not?" he pokes, amusement clear in his face as his smile widens, deepening his dimples.

"Stop," you giggle, placing a small hand over his face.

"What?" he chuckles, getting a hold of your hand, giving your wrist a kiss before letting it hang beside you. "Your dimples are showing, and they’re only mine to see. Bitches love dimples," you say, only making him smile more.

Anyone else who saw Jungkook smiling all giddy at you would know better than to poke fun at him—but it was rare to see Jungkook smiling and laughing so casually out in the open. Behind closed doors, Jungkook was the epitome of a teddy bear; he loved head and back scratches and loved being a little spoon, all contrary to his dark clothes, cigarettes hanging from his mouth, and the heavy amount of alcohol he could consume.

"Be a good boyfriend and stop smiling, please," you quip, untangling from his embrace and looking around for Dahlia, only to be met with her making out with Taehyung on the countertop.

"I’m not your boyfriend, angel," Jungkook says beside you, putting a hand over your shoulders, taking a chug out of his beer.

"Oh yeah, my bad. I forgot. You’re my bitch," you turn to look at him, a mischievous smile on your face, which has him playfully rolling his eyes, mumbling something under his breath that you couldn’t quite catch before he took his arm off your shoulder, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a cigarette.

"Let’s go outside," he holds out his hand, which you don’t think twice before intertwining yours with his. You feel giddy as you walk past the crowd holding his hand, as he leads you outside. You hated how many small moments like this had you wanting more from him, knowing this is the most he could ever give you. Jungkook had walls larger than the walls of China. You tried your hardest to stand up on your tiptoes and look. But whenever you got a sneak peek from what's inside, Jungkook built them right back up.

Ever since sophomore year of high school, you had the hugest crush on Jungkook, and you knew deep down he did too, but he never said anything all these years. It was embarrassing how you found yourself waiting for him—you couldn’t help it; your heart basically beat for him.

As you both reach a tall seat wall, before you know it, he's picking you up and placing you on the cold brick wall. Goosebumps appear on your bare thighs while he rubs his warm, calloused hands up and down.

"Cold," you whine, looking down at your angel costume—the white, flowy short skirt, your long white knee-high socks with the tall heels. And don’t forget your lace white top that kept getting tangled with your belly piercing. "I know ways to keep you warm," Jungkook waggles his eyebrows, moving closer to you. You feel his hands on your knees, opening your legs before he steps in between them. The closeness was something you were used to—the cheek kisses, the hand on your thigh, but never this. He was too close to your face—you could feel his warm breath whenever he would breathe. You felt your chest heave as everything you wanted was for him to put his lips on yours. Jungkook's face moved closer in.

You felt your heart stop in your chest almost abruptly. If it wasn't for his face millimeters away from yours, you would think you just had a heart attack.

Your eyelids fluttered closed, waiting for his lips to make contact with yours, but you're met with nothing. Then you feel the warmth of his hand on your thighs disappear, and the same with his body between your legs. You open your eyes to be met with Jungkook lighting up a joint instead of a cigarette. Before you could stop yourself, you pull it out of his mouth with a hard tug.

"What the fuck," Jungkook says, an unreadable expression on his face when he looks at you. "Are you fucking serious?" Your eyebrows furrow as you throw the rolled-up paper somewhere far—jumping down the wall. Your heels click on the pavement as you walk closer to him. The heels didn't do anything for you, as you still had to look up at him to meet his eyes.

"You said you’d stop," your voice cracks like your heart, as you push on his chest.

"It's just weed," Jungkook lets out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "That's what you said at first then you ended up in my room, high off oxy. So don't tell me it's just weed, Jungkook," you shove him, sending him tumbling backward.

The knock on your window sends your soul leaping out of your body. The sight of your favorite boy outside has your heart beating faster—it's past midnight, so seeing him there sends a different feeling down your body.

“Hi, what are you doing here?” You ask, opening the window to let him climb in. His eyes don’t meet yours as he walks in and sits on your bed, watching you close the window.

“Just wanted to see you,” Jungkook mumbles softly, his voice raspy.

“Well... hi,” you say as you drop beside him on your bed. “Hi,” he says, his eyes avoiding eye contact as he looks down at his twiddling fingers.

“What’s wrong?” You ask, worry picking up as your hand moves to his cheek. His skin is hot under your palm as you move his face to look at you.

The moment his eyes lock with yours, you feel as if the ground disappears beneath you. Jungkook's eyes are unnervingly vacant, the pupils dilated into enlarged black circles.

“What did you take?” Your voice cracks, holding his face in your hands as he slumps into you. “Baby... don’t be mad,” he slurs, his eyes fluttering closed—your hand immediately goes to his heart, finding his heartbeat. This isn’t the first time this has happened; it’s a repeating cycle where he gets high, ends up at your house, and you hear every apology in the book, but it doesn’t mean anything since he’d do it again. The new thing is you don’t yell anymore; instead, you feel the tears start rolling down your face.

“Fuck. Don’t cry. Yell at me, be mad,” Jungkook slurs, trying to reach for you, only for his arm to drop beside him.

“I can’t...” you sob, “why do you do this?” Another sob racks through your body as you pull him into your chest in a hug. His body is limp in your arms.

“Baby... I’m so fucking sorry,” he groans into your chest as you squeeze your eyes shut, trying to calm down. “I love you,” he whispers, and you feel like you can’t breathe as another sob breaks out of you.

“Tell me when you’re sober,” you sniffle, knowing he wouldn’t remember in the morning, laying him down onto your bed and placing the pink covers over his shaking body. You know you’re just feeding into the cycle, but right now all you can do is cry. You prefer him in the safety of your room instead of outside on the streets. So instead, you wrap your arms around him and pray to god he’ll be okay.

“Why do you give a fuck about what I do?” Jungkook scoffs, “it’s none of your business,” he continues, but now it’s your turn to scoff.

“Right, it’s none of my business, asshole,” you throw out.

“You just don’t get it, do you? I’m not good for you,” Jungkook says, his tone much higher than he had anticipated. “I don’t give a fuck, I want you. Don’t you get that,” you frustratedly point your finger into his chest, almost annoyed that he still didn’t get it.

“You want this?” He motions between us, “us fighting all the time, because that’s all we do,” Jungkook scowls, the hard expression on his face has your heart shattering—you almost even hear the cracks as he continues to talk.

“I don’t need you being all up in my business; you’re not my mother,” Jungkook says, letting out a sigh of frustration—rubbing a hand over his face. “I care about you,” you say, looking at him, your voice betraying you as it cracks, again.

“Don’t,” he steps backwards, a shaky laugh escaping him as he avoids meeting your eyes. “Why?” You find yourself asking, making his head snap to look at you.

“Why what?” He asks, brows furrowed as he locks eyes with yours.

“Why did you lead me on then? If you don’t want me,” you ask, wrapping your hands over your waist, feeling vulnerable out in the open as you lay your heart in front of the man you were in love with. He had two choices, break it or carefully pick it up and lock it somewhere safe. You were praying he would pick option two—instead, he decided on the first option.

“What other reason would there be?” Jungkook says, his tone low, stepping closer to you, backing you into the brick wall. Your eyes move to his lips then back to his eyes.

“Maybe because you so easily would open your legs for me. All I have to do is ask,” he spits out. Before you know it, your hand is making contact with his cheek.

“Fuck you,” your teeth clench as you feel a tear stream down your face, “and this is why you shouldn’t want me,” Jungkook clicks his tongue before stepping away from you— a pained expression on his face.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. Come back,” you hurriedly say as your eyes fill with tears, watching him walk away into the dark street.

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darkjimxn · 9 months

Text

Chapter 2: Busted [M]

Summary: “A manwhore and a junkie… it’s a match made in heaven.”

Pairing: Park Jimin x Reader

Genre: High School au, angst

Word Count: 8.9k

Warnings: 18+, substance use disorder/drug addiction, PTSD, child abuse, sexual content (not explicit), additional warnings might be added as story progresses

A/N: Sorry for taking forever to update, a lack of motivation and school are to blame :( On another note, thanks for that anon's kind words, comments like that really help to keep me motivated!

Jimin lurched upright as the sound of the door shuddering violently reverated around the room, his heart hammering wildly in his chest. For a fleeting moment, he was back in his childhood bedroom, watching his door be slammed against repeatedly while his father let out a string of threats from behind the wooden structure.

But instead of his father bursting into the room, it was Taehyung, who looked exhausted and distressed.

“Party’s over, get out,” he announced, pausing when he noticed who was sitting up on the bed, “oh, it’s just you.”

Taehyung looked into the hallway for a moment, shouting at someone to hurry up, before poking his head back into the room, “are you staying over? My parents won’t mind, you already know they love you more than me.”

Jimin chuckled, trying to mask his erratic heartbeat, “they won’t mind me, but what about her?”

Their gazes both dropped on you, who was still sleeping peacefully beside Jimin under the soft covers of the bed. He found it funny how Taehyung’s incessant banging hadn’t even caused you to stir in your spot.

“Yeah no, definitely not. She needs to go.”

Jimin nodded, expecting as much, “I guess I can stay over tonight, just let me wake her up.”

“Great!” Taehyung declared, clapping his hands together, “but when you’re done that, sleep in the second bedroom, not this one. My parents would kill me if they thought I made you sleep in some random guest room.”

“Because I have parents!” He raised his voice suddenly so everyone rushing in the hallways could hear him, “I’m not one of those frat boys whose parents go on week-long business trips! Mine will be back in a few hours from a date, so everyone get out of my house!”

After watching Taehyung scurry back into the halls, Jimin turned towards your sleeping form.

You were completely passed out as you laid on the mattress with the comforter covering half your face and a pillow fixed snuggly between your arms. The part of your face that Jimin could see was puffy from the few hours of sleep the two of you had managed.

“Y/N?” He tried, repeating your name a few times.

But the most you did was shift in your position, and even that had been at his last repeat of your name. With a sigh, Jimin shuffled closer to you, letting his hand rest on your bare arm tentatively while he called your name once again.

It was only when he shook your arm when you finally shifted, “hm?”

“The party’s over, you have to go kitten,” Jimin answered. He felt you slipping back to sleep, causing him to catch your arm and pull you into a sitting position.

The change in posture had you blinking lazily as Jimin’s figure appeared before you, top exposed and sitting up in the bed the two of you had apparently spent the night in. His orange hair was sticking out in multiple directions while his eyes were slightly squinted due to his sleepy form.

The party’s over…

Party? Yes, party… there had been a party and then you and Jimin had sex and then the two of you had fallen asleep.

Reluctantly, you turned to take in the rest of the room, which was still dark aside from the bedside table lamps and a sliver of moonlight which had escaped through the window. If the moon was still out, then that meant the two of you must have only slept for a few hours.

“Hey,” Jimin spoke up after a couple of seconds, noticing your groggy form, “you good?”

You blinked a couple of times cluelessly, wishing instead to just burrow back into the sheets and sleep for days. Your body felt like an anchor: heavy and unwilling to move until a sturdy metal chain was ready to drag you out of the bed.

“Did you come here alone?” He asked when you didn’t answer, assessing your state carefully. Your nod came after a few moments too long as your mind struggled to process his question.

That made Jimin’s eyebrows furrow, “okay, I’ll take you home. It’s still pretty late in the night and I don’t think you can drive in this state.”

With that said, he pushed himself out of bed, the blanket falling to the floor to reveal his toned back as he began throwing on his clothes. It wasn’t until he was pulling his shirt over his head when you forced yourself to stumble to your feet and do the same.

The cool air felt fresh against your skin as the two of you walked along the road quietly side by side. It had taken Jimin forever to get your address and car keys in order to drive you home, but once he had parked your car in front of your house, he only needed one look at the abnormally long distance between the separate driveway and the front door to decide that your exhausted form wouldn’t last two steps without him.

Your house wasn’t like most, slotted between a row of other houses to form a crowded and organised community. Rather it was located far away from any neighbourhoods, and instead nestled between large acres of grassy land. Jimin would’ve guessed it was farmland, but in the dark he found it hard to make out any crops or barns with animals, so he couldn’t say for sure.

That led to the two of you walking along a dirt-packed footpath, with Jimin keeping a firm hand on your arm to make sure you wouldn’t fall from exhaustion. It still irked him as to how you could still be so tired even now. Sure, you weren’t exactly running on a full night’s sleep, but the few hours you had managed should have been enough to ensure you weren’t a walking zombie.

“Was it the sex?” He finally asked, “How can you be this tired?”

Even in your exhausted state you still managed to shoot him a withering glare.

“If you had just let me take the Adderall earlier, I wouldn’t be like this.”

Jimin’s expression fell quickly, a sinking feeling in his stomach, “why? You don’t need it.”

“How would you know? I have a prescription,” you lied smoothly, “do you not believe in mental health, Park Jimin?”

You tried to remember what Adderall was actually used for to really sell your lie, but your mind was much too hazy to manage that level of thinking.

An amused scoff escaped Jimin’s lips, “really? What do you take it for?”

You almost groaned out loud as you went back to racking your brain. BPD? ASPD? IBD? Ugh, why did so many disorders exist in the first place?

“It doesn’t matter,” you finally huffed, giving up on the ability of your thoughts, “I don’t owe you my medical history anywa-”

Before you could finish your sentence, a pebble caught between the edge of your shoe and the dirt-packed ground, causing you to stumble. With how sluggish you felt, your face would have gotten some serious reshaping if it wasn’t for Jimin’s hand that kept you steady,

“The bottle didn’t have a prescription label with your name on it,” Jimin said, pulling you up, “you don’t have to lie to me.”

That made you groan, “if you’re going to tell me about the dangers of drugs and how I’m going to die alone I don’t want to hear it. I have no energy to deal with that right now.”

But to your surprise he didn’t say anything, even after the two of you had arrived at your front door. Instead, Jimin turned towards you, an unreadable expression evident on his face. Or maybe you were just too tired to make out the meaning of his facial features.

For a brief moment, his lips parted, hinting at an unspoken thought he might have wanted to express. But after a moment of silence, he ultimately closed his mouth, choosing instead to look away.

“Sleep tight, kitten,” he said finally, turning around and making his way back to the car without another glance, “I’ll see you on Monday.”

You watched him drive off, much too tired to think any more of the recent events.

The next morning the shrill sound of your alarm was quick to spring to life, causing you to groan irritably. You slammed a pillow over your ear in a desperate attempt to block out the deafening noise, hoping that it would at least be enough to get you a few more seconds of sleep, but the soft barrier couldn’t do much to dampen the piercing screech. Frustrated, you threw the pillow off of you, letting it’s useless form fall to the floor.

With the pillow gone, the first thing that hit you was the sunlight. It travelled into the room through your window, setting fire to your surroundings as if someone had accidentally brought the sun in here. It was too bright. Everything was too bright and too loud and too hot.

Wishing for some semblance of peace, you finally turned towards your bedside table to pick up your phone and shut off the annoyingly loud alarm. It felt a little better, but it wasn’t enough. The sunlight was still so bright it hurt your eyes, while your body still felt heavy. And you were hungry too. So hungry you felt like you could eat a whole cow if you were given the chance.

“God Adderall crash is such a pain,” you whined as you turned towards your bedside table and began rummaging through the drawers. You pushed past safety pins, hair ties, hairbrushes, some old papers…

Your eyebrows furrowed as you continued searching, but ultimately failed to produce a small white bottle that was your salvation at the moment. You just got a new bottle from Yoongi, where could it be?

You forced yourself to recount yesterday's events, ignoring your rumbling stomach and sore arms. The bottle had been in your pocket as you were leaving school, so it couldn’t still be there. Then you attended Taehyung’s party where you drank some beer and failed to find some drugs, so instead you had sex with Jimin-

You flopped back into your bed as the realisation came crashing down on you. Jimin. Park Jimin had taken your bottle and thrown it away. Your last tiny bottle of Adderall was now in a trash can in Taehyung’s house.

Your body suddenly felt ten times heavier at the thought. The last time you were out of Adderall, you had to go through a week of fatigue, headaches, and an intense desire to eat everything in sight. You could not go through that again.

With newfound determination, you stumbled out of your room and down the stairs to enter the kitchen. Your goal had been to search the cabinets for some Adderall you might have stashed in the past for later, but the sight of the fridge had derailed that goal. You couldn’t help but grab yesterday’s leftover noodles and shovel them into your mouth as you simultaneously began searching the cabinets. You had to have at least one stash hidden somewhere in the house.

Though the more you rummaged through the cabinets, the more frustrated you were becoming. They were filled with nothing but decade old spices and some granola bars you couldn’t help but eat alongside your noodles.

Ultimately you huffed in frustration as you shut the last cabinet and collapsed onto the floor of the kitchen, still no Adderall in hand. Yoongi couldn’t contact you until the police were off his back and you didn’t have any other dealer you could go to. It had already taken you so long to find someone as trustworthy as him. What were you going to do?

Could you get your bottle back from Taehyung’s house? There’s no way that rich kid with a bunch of maids wouldn’t have already replaced all the trash cans in his house, and there’s no way you’d find your small white bottle in all that trash after a party.

You munched on one of the granola bars as you tried to figure out some other solution to your problem, but with your mind going through withdrawal, it was pretty much useless. There was no hope.

As you sat tiredly on the kitchen floor, biting at your granola bar and finishing up the noodles, your gaze suddenly caught onto a flash of white near your fridge. Confused, you scooted closer to it.

Your eyes widened in excitement as you noticed a small white bottle wedged between the bottom of the fridge and the counter. You knew it. You knew there had to have been one bottle left.

But as you grabbed at the small container, it became apparent even to your unfocused mind that the bottle of Adderall was completely empty. Not even one pill for you to at least get through the day.

Tired, still hungry, and mind foggier than ever, you just wanted to burrow back into your bed and sleep for the rest of the week. And you were about to do just that until the sound of the kitchen door slamming shut behind you caused you to flinch.

“Y/N?”

The mind that was struggling to form even one thought suddenly froze altogether at the familiar voice. Eyes wide and bottle in hand, you slowly turned to find your father standing near the kitchen’s doorway. There was a white plastic shopping bag hanging from his hand as he first scanned your form on the kitchen floor, the granola bar wrappers on the dining table…

And then the empty bottle of Adderall in your hand.

Crap.

When Jimin thought of therapy, the first thing that usually came to mind was a minimalist living room with two neutral-coloured sofas, a matching coffee table, and an intrusive woman that was hell bent on finding out ‘how he feels.’

The sofas and coffee table were definitely no stereotype, confirmed by the beige couch he was sitting on now and the glass coffee table standing right before him.

The intrusive woman, on the other hand, remained yet to be seen.

Jimin’s gaze jumped around the room anxiously as his arms leaned against his knees, taking in the tall bookshelf that he assumed was filled with self help books, an abstract painting filled with strokes of blue, black, and white, and a window displaying the vast view of the city’s many buildings.

He had been so preoccupied with scanning the window that the sudden sound of the door opening made him flinch. His head snapped towards the door behind him, revealing a woman in her late twenties walking into the room. She was dressed professionally, with a simple white blouse tucked into black dress pants, while her straight brown hair flowed freely beneath her shoulders.

“Hello Jimin,” she greeted with a smile when she noticed his seated form, “you’re early. That’s good.”

Jimin greeted her back politely as he watched her take a seat on the identical sofa in front of him. Her sudden entrance had only increased the anxiety he felt towards the fact that he couldn’t see the door. If someone else were to walk through it quietly enough, he wouldn’t even know. Anyone could just sneak up on him just like that…

“I’m sorry,” he finally spoke up, unable to contain his anxiety much more, “could we- um, switch seats?”

Instead of confusion, there was only understanding apparent on the woman’s face, “of course.”

He thanked her as they changed seats. With both the window and the door in his sights he felt a little less anxious.

Once everything had been settled, the woman gave him a warm smile, “my name is Lauren, and I will be your therapist for the duration of your sessions.”

“How long is this going to take?” Jimin couldn’t help but ask. He didn’t want to be rude, he knew Lauren was only doing her job, but for some reason her presence made him anxious. He felt like she could see through him and reveal every part of himself he’d much rather stay hidden.

“This, as well as your future sessions, will be around fifty to sixty minutes long. During this time, we will be focusing on your feelings in reaction to the traumatic event, but we won’t be focusing on that too much today since I’ll be doing most of the talking.”

Lauren held up a binder that was sitting on her lap,“I’ll have your treatment manual in my lap and will be referring to it throughout our sessions to ensure I deliver the psychotherapy as it was prescribed. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions as the session unfolds.”

Jimin simply nodded, eyeing the beige pendulum wall clock that had barely moved since she had walked into the room. Seeing as only a minute or two had gone by, he knew this was going to be the longest hour of his life.

Oblivious to his apprehension, Lauren began to give him an overview of what would normally go on in their sessions before she explained the outline of their current session. It wasn’t until she had moved onto a different topic when Jimin’s straying attention was caught once again.

“According to your CAPS score, you met diagnostic criteria for PTSD, which is a mental health condition that often develops after experiencing a distressing event. PTSD is characterised by three clusters of symptoms: re-experiencing, avoidance and numbing, and hyperarousal. Could you give me some examples of symptoms you experience that would fall under any of these clusters?

There was a moment of silence as Jimin shifted uncomfortably, “I get frequent nightmares- that would fall under re-experiencing. And last night, for a moment, I thought I was back in my childhood room and my dad was banging against the door. Sort of like a mini flashback.”

Lauren nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“For avoidance and numbing… I try to avoid thinking or talking about what happened altogether. I also kind of feel detached from others, but I couldn’t really explain that in detail even if you asked me to.”

“As for hyperarousal symptoms…” Jimin paused, “Taehyung always tells me I keep my guard up a lot. I’ve also noticed that small things tend to startle me as well.”

Lauren nodded, “re-experiencing symptoms, like your nightmares, are related to hyperarousal symptoms, like your hypervigilance. Both of these symptoms usually elicit a desire to either avoid, become numb, or both. Ironically, trying to avoid or numb your feelings ends up maintaining, or even increasing, your PTSD symptoms. Which is why the more you avoid or numb, the worse your condition gets. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, I guess,” he responded, eyeing the clock once again as her words flew over his head..

“Everyone has existing beliefs that encompass how they see themselves, others and the world. When these beliefs are challenged by things like traumatic events, people respond in different ways. Some might change their perception of the event to make sense of it and essentially blend it into their existing beliefs. This is a process called ‘assimilation.’ Another reaction can involve a process called ‘overaccommodation,’ which involves an individual drastically changing their entire belief system to make the traumatic event fit. Trauma usually affects various areas of beliefs, including safety, trust, power or control, esteem, and intimacy.”

“Another important thing to note is that if someone already had negative beliefs about these aspects before the traumatic event, the event could further reinforce those negative beliefs. Make sense?”

Jimin simply nodded, not entirely understanding much of what she was saying; he just wanted the session to be over with faster. It felt like his brain was going to explode with all the new information that was being thrown at him and his distaste only grew when she asked him to describe his upbringing.

Even though he knew talking was all therapy was about, he really didn’t want to talk about his crappy past. He’s done a great job of pretending it didn’t exist up until now.

“My dad did drugs all throughout my life,” Jimin forced himself to say, reminding himself that he had to at least give this thing a try if he wanted to get better, “ they were really hard ones too. They would make him have these hallucinations where he was convinced my mom was cheating on him, or that she and I were planning his downfall or something.”

“Because of that he used to beat my mom a lot, so badly she’d end up in the hospital sometimes. He tried to beat me too, to ‘teach me a lesson,’ but my mom would always protect me by diverting his attention onto her. She did that for the first seven years of my life before she decided that she’d had enough of being my human shield and ran away. My dad’s drug use got ten times worse after that, and with no one to stop him, he began beating me instead.”

Jimin’s gaze dropped to his fidgety hands, “I wonder if my mom left because she had gotten sick of raising me as well. I guess I was a little hyper for my age, maybe if I had been a more quiet and obedient kid she would’ve taken me with her when she left.”

He noticed Lauren write something down in her binder, but decided not to voice his curiosity. When she finished, she looked up at him with sympathy evident in her eyes.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that Jimin, you didn’t deserve what your father did to you all those years.”

Jimin merely shrugged, though his gaze wouldn’t meet hers.

“Many people experience traumatic events in their lives, but not everyone develops chronic PTSD symptoms. This is because of a concept commonly known as ‘stuck points.’ Stuck points refer to certain ways of thinking about trauma and about oneself, others, and the world that act as barriers to healing and moving forward. These patterns of thought basically keep a person ‘stuck’ in their distress and contribute to the persistence of PTSD symptoms. This is why the main goal of these therapy sessions will be to figure out what prevented your recovery.”

“But in order to achieve this goal, we’ll have to explore your trauma. Could you provide a five minute account of the traumatic event you experienced?”

That made Jimin scoff, “I got beat up several times a month for years. How am I supposed to pick one?”

“Which of those events do you think about the most? Which event do you dislike thinking about the most? Remember it doesn’t need to be detailed, just a brief overview of what happened.”

Jimin’s dread intensified as his restlessness only increased. But the session was close to ending soon. The faster he got this over with, the faster he could leave.

“I get the most nightmares about the night my dad died,” he recounted emotionlessly, the pace of his words quickening, “I was in my bedroom with my girlfriend when my dad suddenly started banging against the door. I let him in, but realised he was hallucinating some insane story which made him hurt my girlfriend. I ended up taking a bat to his head which eventually killed him.”

“You did a great job sharing that with me,” she praised, “how do you feel after sharing that memory?”

“Like I want to leave,” he said honestly.

Instead of taking offence, Lauren simply nodded in understanding.

“‘Natural’ emotions are feelings that are proportionate reactions to experiences that have occurred. For example, if we’re placed in a dangerous situation, it’s natural to feel fear. The diminishing course of these emotions means that allowing ourselves to feel these natural emotions will eventually cause them to naturally dissipate. ‘Manufactured’ emotions, on the other hand, are emotions that we contribute in making through the frequency of certain thoughts. For example, if a person tells himself he’s ugly again and again, he will likely feel more and more anger towards himself. This is why another goal of therapy will be to figure out how you have been manufacturing emotions that are unhelpful to you.”

“So to summarise, the three major goals of therapy will be to, one, remember and accept what happened by not avoiding those memories and associated feelings. Two, to allow yourself to feel your natural emotions so that the memory can be put away without such strong feelings still attached. And, three, to balance beliefs that had been disrupted or reinforced so that you can stop manufacturing unhelpful emotions.”

The mention of ‘feeling his emotions’ made Jimin want to crawl out of his own skin.

Lauren then put up a strong case for how important it would be for Jimin to do the out-of-session practice she’d be assigning him at the end of every session, emphasising that not doing those assignments would mean that Jimin would only be spending 1-2 out of 168 hours a week on his recovery, and that doing the assignments would help him reduce his inclination towards avoidance. His nods felt automatic as his gaze stayed fixed to the wall clock, urging its hands to move faster. Recounting his past had left him jittery and all he wanted to do now was lock himself in his room, away from the world and especially away from the therapy that he was disliking more and more every minute.

But seemingly satisfied with his response, Lauren handed him a worksheet anyway, “your first assignment will be to write an Impact Statement about the meaning of the event you recounted today. This is not a trauma account. Rather, it’s simply designed to get behind the meaning of the event in your life and how it impacted your belief systems.”

He took a look at the worksheet, seeing that it only reiterated what Lauren had said to write in more detail, before hesitantly taking it from her outstretched hand. The two of them then exchanged a few pleasantries as he rushed through the doorway.

Jimin couldn’t seem to run out of that place fast enough.

Your muscles stayed frozen as your father continued to stand in the doorway of the kitchen, glare directed towards the white bottle in your hand. You couldn’t believe you had completely forgotten that he was coming home today, your mind too occupied with finding a solution to your current Adderall predicament, and now here he was catching you in the kitchen with an empty bottle of Adderall in your hand.

You were so screwed.

Your father finally walked deeper into the kitchen before snatching the bottle from your fingers and inspecting it thoroughly.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Listen dad, I completely forgot you were coming home tod-”

“We had a deal, Y/N,” he interrupted, crossing his arms, “what do you have to say for yourself?”

You pursed your lips, unable to put up any defence. He seemed to study your form in silence as you pushed yourself off the floor and opted to lean against the dining table instead, still much too tired to even stand on your own. Whatever he saw must have been pathetic enough for him to simply sigh instead of scold your ears off.

“Forget it,” he huffed before turning around and making his way towards the porch.

“Come on, I brought some food.”

“God, you know I hate the smell of weed dad,” you whined, waving a hand under your nose like it would do anything to dampen the putrid smell.

The two of you sat on the porch overlooking the vast acres of land that surrounded your house comfortably, making use of the white plastic table and chairs that were at least a decade old. Usually you would appreciate the beauty of the view, with its luscious green grass, bright blue sky, and fresh airy breeze that were completely absent in the city.

Today though you were miserable with withdrawal, so the green grass and blue sky were much too bright for your eyes, and the fresh air was obscured by the smoke coming out of the fat blunt between your father’s fingers.

“I already told you the smell goes away after a few minutes,” your dad responded, “here, take some. It’ll help you feel less crappy during your Adderall Crash.”

Normally you would decline. You weren’t a fan of smoking, even if it was weed, since it always made you cough your lungs out. But with your current Adderall withdrawal and the prospect of having to feel this way for the next week looming over your head, you uncharacteristically accepted your father’s blunt before taking a long drag of the thing.

Just like always, you had to cough it out for a moment.

“Ah, I feel like I’ve failed you as a father for not teaching you how to smoke properly.”

“Most fathers wouldn’t let their kids near this stuff in the first place,” you deadpanned.

Your father was much too high at that point to take any offence to that and instead laughed.

“So,” you began, wanting to change the subject, “how was work?”

He took a moment to answer, “work’s work. I drive a giant truck here and then I drive a giant truck there. Drove a little farther away than usual yesterday. The view was incredible, like something straight out of Narnia”

You nodded, beginning to feel your mind and body relax from the drag you had taken earlier. You watched your father open the white plastic bag and bring out some takeout, announcing that he had gotten it on his way back home. He handed you a burger and fries as he brought out one for himself.

“So, care to explain to me why I found you on the floor of the kitchen with an empty bottle of Adderall in your hand?” Your father asked, taking a bite out of his burger.

You threw a few fries into your mouth, chewing on the crunchy exterior while the inner softness melted on your tongue. Maybe weed wasn’t your thing, but even you had to admit that eating when high on the stuff was just another experience in itself. It had the power to turn even the worst fast food into the most delicious, five-star food known to man.

“I’m out of Addy,” you finally admitted.

“Addy?”

“Adderall.”

“Right,” your father said, “I can’t keep up with the slang you kids keep inventing nowadays. But anyways, I figured that much. I meant to ask why?”

“I’m sorry dad, I know I promised that I’d get some for your friend since he’s been asking for it, but my dealer had to go in hiding because the police had been tipped off about him and now I don’t have any for myself much less your friend.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” your dad shrugged, not as annoyed by it as earlier. You weren’t sure whether it was because he’d gotten over it or because he was high.

It was probably the latter.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anyone that could get some for me would you?” You asked hopefully, though the weed was making you feel a lot less concerned about it at the moment.

Unfortunately your dad just shook his head, “my plug doesn’t really deal the small stuff like Adderall. I can give you some Ritalin though? I have a prescription for it for my job. I heard it’s basically the same thing.”

“I’ve heard the same,” you thought for a moment. Honestly you were desperate for anything at this point, “I’ll take it then. Thanks.”

“No problem, sweetheart.”

The two of you sat in silence for a moment, your relaxed minds taking in the scenery before you. Unlike earlier, you were starting to enjoy the sight of the fields, with its soft green grass and glorious sky. The soft breeze felt fresh against your skin as you continued to bite into your delicious burger.

“By the way, what happened to your car? Did you take it to the mechanic or something?” Your dad asked absentmindedly, “I didn’t see it in the driveway.”

“What? Are you sure?” You asked as your eyebrows furrowed. Your car should’ve been parked in the driveway since the party last ni-

You suddenly stumbled to your feet, grabbing onto the railing when you felt a wave of dizziness hit your head. You hadn’t driven your car back home last night, Jimin did. But he had left your house driving a car too. That meant…

A gasp slipped from your lips as you rounded a corner, scanning the empty driveway now standing before you. Aside from your dad’s enormous truck, your black compact Toyota was nowhere in sight.

“He stole my car,” you realised incredulously.

That bastard stole your car.

“Jeez Y/N calm down, you’re shaking the whole table,” Namjoon whispered, eyeing the teacher as she continued to lecture the class.

You were seated in your last period classroom, practically counting down the seconds as you waited for the bell to finally dismiss the absolute nightmare of a day you were having. When you had asked your dad for some Ritalin, you had expected him to hand you Ritalin. Whatever he had actually given you had to be far from it though, because there was no way anyone would subject themselves to what you were going through.

Since the morning you’ve felt like a ticking time bomb, too much energy packed into a single human being. You couldn’t stop moving, which was evident in your persistently shaking leg and constantly fidgeting fingers. Technically you did manage to focus in class, but it had taken a lot more energy than you usually needed to compared to when you were on Adderall.

At this point, you were just waiting for the awful effects to wear off, but you didn’t know whether your father had given you the extended-release form or the immediate-release form. You hoped it was the latter because you could not endure this for another 7 hours.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Namjoon asked, laying a hand on your finger. You hadn’t even realised you had started tapping against your desk anxiously.

“God, I’m so jittery right now,” you admitted, willing time to go faster, “I shouldn’t have taken that Ritalin.”

Namjoon’s gaze narrowed as he let out a frustrated breath, “of course it’s the drugs. Why should I even bother thinking otherwise at this point?”

Choosing to ignore the comment, you tried to calm your shaky hands to no avail. As if you weren’t anxious enough, now Namjoon’s frustrated, and slightly worried, gaze drilled into the side of your head.

Thankfully, the sound of the bell reverberated around the classroom a few minutes later, signifying the end of the period. The second the teacher dismissed you all with a wave of her hand, you were out the door, ignoring Namjoon’s inquiries about where you were going. You may have been the most energetic you’ve ever been in the past few years, but you still hadn’t forgotten that there was something important you needed to do.

So you pushed past the hundreds of students beginning to crowd the hallway, searching through a sea of maroon and dark grey uniforms for a certain orange-haired menace. You’d seen him in your second period, taking advantage of his seat that was directly behind you by annoying you to no extent throughout the class. Then the coward had left class 5 minutes early so that he didn’t have to face your wrath after the bell rang.

Your only option now was to search for him after school, which you did in the cafeteria, gymnasium, and a bunch of classrooms, but he was nowhere in sight. You were even debating checking out the principal's office in case the idiot had gotten himself detention.

Fortunately you didn’t need to make a fool of yourself in front of any school faculty when you turned into a relatively deserted hallway and noticed a flash of orange.

You found Jimin standing with his back towards a row of lockers, speaking casually with a frustrated-looking Taehyung. He looked really angry, though you weren’t close enough to hear what they were talking about. Despite his friend’s evident irritation, Jimin seemed completely nonchalant. The first few buttons of his uniform had been undone, revealing a sliver of his toned collarbone while his tie hung loosely from his neck.

But you pushed Jimin’s good looks and Taehyung’s frustration aside, opting instead to march up to the man you’ve been searching for.

When you were close enough, his gaze finally noticed your form, eyebrows raising for a moment before a smirk overtook his features.

“Well, look what we have here. What’s wrong, ki-”

But you had no desire to entertain the jerk for any longer than you needed to. Instead, you grabbed his collar, surprising Taehyung who hadn’t even realised you were there, and dragged him through the hallway before entering the school’s only gender neutral bathroom. The door slammed shut behind you as you focused your glare onto him.

Jimin merely chuckled.

“If you wanted round two so badly, you only had to ask, kitten.”

Maybe it was the Ritalin that was fueling your irritation, because the sound of that nickname had you a lot more annoyed than usual.

“My car.”

Jimin leaned against the bathroom wall, crossing his arms as he scanned your form.

“Come again?”

“You stole my car,” you spat, trying to contain your annoyance. You felt like you had so much energy, mixed with anger that was a dangerous combination.

“Your car,” he said finally, a hint of amusement in his voice, “I have it, yes.”

His nonchalance wasn’t helping either.

“Just because you drove me home that night, doesn’t mean you have permission to steal my car. You think you get to have something like that just for being a decent human being? I could’ve called a cab if I wanted to you know-”

You paused when you noticed his smile widen, clearly amused by your anger. This jerk…

“I can call the police for this, Park Jimin. Just because you gave me a good time once doesn’t mean I’ll feel guilty for having you arrested for taking my car. Have fun in jail you as-”

“I didn’t take your car because I wanted it,” Jimin interrupted, pushing himself off the wall before making his way towards you. It was only then when you realised that he wasn’t wearing his blazer, only the standard white button up that struggled to hide his toned body.

“I took your car,” he continued, stride ending right in front of you, “because I wanted you.”

That made you scoff.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

You hated the way his proximity made it so much easier for your gaze to travel down his neck and linger at his collarbone. It was bringing back memories from the party, so much so that you could practically feel his plush lips on your skin as you stared at him now. The ghost of his hand rubbing circles into your waist also did not go unnoticed by you.

“It means that I wanted to see you again,” he reiterated, his own gaze dropping to your lips, as if he were having the same thoughts.

You watched his hand disappear into his pocket and return with your car keys before placing them in your hand.

“Your car’s in the parking lot,” he said in a low voice, still focused on your lips, “you can go to it right now.”

But you felt stuck under his gaze, unable to rip your own away from the movement of his plump lips as he spoke. You remembered the feeling of them on your lips, how good it felt when they had brushed against the bottom lip roughly.

Seeing that you weren’t moving, Jimin let his arms trap you against the door, bringing his face closer to yours as he whispered, “or you could stay here with me. Would you like that, kitten? To stay here with me and see what happens?”

At this point, he was so close you could feel the heat from his body on yours. The images from that night were fueling your lust. There was no doubt that that night had been amazing, and now here Jimin was giving you a chance at feeling that all over again.

Hesitantly, your fingers hovered just above his shoulders before you let them slowly travel down to his chest. You watched his muscles tense under your touch, an oddly vulnerable reaction from a guy like him.

You shouldn’t…

You really shouldn’t…

But why? Because Jimin is a prick that you can barely stand? Because the thought of giving him exactly what he wants makes you want to put yourself in timeout? He stole your car for god’s sake. He annoyed you during class.

But he’s so hot.

How could you be expected to ignore the sharp lines of his jaw? The muscled expanse of his strong shoulders and chest? The deep resonance of his voice? You can’t. Not when all of it is standing right in front of you, shooting you with a gaze that could light you on fire.

It’s not like you’re agreeing to date, you thought. Sex is just sex, and you’re sure Jimin has it with a bunch of other girls all the time. It would barely mean anything to him. It would definitely mean nothing to you.

You felt your hand continue to travel up his skin until it stopped at his neck, waiting for you to make another move. You probably should’ve pushed him away. Told him you weren’t that easy.

But instead your fingers wrapped around his already loosened tie and slowly pulled him closer until his nose was barely an inch away from yours. The words that left your mouth next had a hint of a whisper in them.

“You’re a jerk, Park Jimin.”

That was the closest to a ‘yes’ he was going to get from you. You had to keep some semblance of dignity. The man stole your car after all.

The bathroom reverberated slightly at the sound of a click as Jimin locked the door behind you before you pulled him closer, allowing him to finally catch your lips with his.

Your stomach burst at the feeling of his plump lips gliding against yours in a heated frenzy, one hand holding your cheek steady as the force of his kiss pushed you against the bathroom door. It was clear that the Jimin before you today was eager and impatient, unlike the Jimin that had taken his time that night at the party.

Right now, you couldn’t help but like it.

The hand holding your jaw pulled your face closer to his, deepening the kiss, while his other hand travelled down, brushing delicately against your neck, before grabbing at your waist. In that moment, Jimin’s tongue slipped into your mouth, exploring the space with a hunger that only rattled the butterflies flying wildly in your stomach. You felt him trace the inner lining of your lips, caressing your tongue- the action causing you to yelp unexpectedly in his mouth. As surprising as it was, you wanted him to do it again.

Jimin pressed you against the door once again, the rough surface hard against your back, but this time all you could do was pull him into you more, encouraging him to continue dragging his tongue across your mouth. You basked in the heat of his chest so close to yours, the feeling of his hand on your waist, the sensation of his tongue on yours. You couldn’t seem to get enough. He knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Every passing second had you regretting your decision less and less, no matter how annoyed you still were at him.

Distantly, you felt his middle finger rubbing circles into your waist.

Jimin broke the kiss for a moment, filling the bathroom with heavy pants as the two of you were allowed to catch your breaths. Your fingers hovered over the buttons of his dress shirt, desperate to start opening them for the view you knew wouldn’t disappoint.

Jimin, clearly noticing your impatience, let a breathy laugh escape his lips, “relax, kitten. I’ll have you moaning my name like a broken record soon enough.”

That had you scowling, which of course only seemed to amuse Jimin even more. You huffed, knowing your next words would come out weakly before they even left your lips.

“We’ll see about that.”

“You were such a jerk for that.”

You faced the bathroom’s mirror as you finished adjusting your uniform so that it at least partly resembled itself before you had walked into the bathroom. Jimin had, unfortunately, succeeded in his earlier promise and more, which had you too embarrassed to turn around and face said man who you knew was just a few steps behind you. He'd practically taken every ounce of dignity you had left, and you had given it to him on a silver platter.

If only dignity felt as good as him.

As if Jimin had heard your thoughts, he replied, “I made it worth your while, didn’t I?”

You could see him in the corner of the mirror, a sly smile plastered over his face as he peered at you through the mirror the same way you were watching him. It didn’t occur to you until now just how good his face would look with a soap dispenser thrown at it.

To your surprise, he didn’t leave right after he had fixed up his uniform. Instead, he walked over to you before slightly pressing into you, the heat from his chest spreading to your clothed back as he leaned his arms on the sink. You could feel his breath on your neck as his lips brushed against your ear.

“But let’s make one thing clear, kitten,” he breathed as the words caught your attention, his focus intense even though he was still holding your gaze through the mirror.

“The next time you want to go a round, you’ll have to ask for it. No ambiguous sex bathrooms or calling me a jerk to imply you want some. Just you. Asking me. Using your big girl words.”

“Only in your dreams will I want this again, Park Jimin,” you shot back so quickly you didn’t even have time to wonder what the hell ‘sex bathroom’ was supposed to mean. The fact that he thought there was going to be a next time was laughable.

You simply got caught up in him and his looks this time. That’s all. This was not going to be a regular thing. You’d never let that happen.

But Jimin gave you a knowing look, throwing your earlier words back at you, “we’ll see.”

You watched him reach in front of you, grabbing a few paper towels from the dispenser, before drying the hands he had just washed with them and then throwing them in the trash. Once that was done he finally stepped away from you, walking towards the door of the bathroom.

He glanced at your state momentarily before opening it, “until next time.”

And, just like that, he was gone.

“Jerk,” you muttered, the word starting to gain a familiar spot on your tongue.

After fixing yourself in the mirror one last time you walked out of the bathroom as well. To your surprise, Namjoon immediately ran up to you not a moment later.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he panted, readjusting the strap of his backpack on his shoulder. But then his gaze shifted to behind you, seemingly noticing where you had come from, “why’d you use that bathroom? The only time people use it is for sex, you know that right?”

You turned to look back at the bathroom’s door, only now realising what ‘sex bathroom’ probably meant. Did Jimin think you had brought him in there on purpose? As some kind of ambiguous way of saying you wanted sex?

Oblivious to your thoughts, Namjoon ignored your silence, “whatever. Anyways I came here to tell you that you’re coming home with me today.”

That had you snapping back towards him, “what? No, I just want to go home and sleep off this Ritalin.”

Namjoon was shaking his head before you had even finished the sentence.

“Nope, you’re coming home with me and we’re finishing this math assignment together. Come on.”

“Wha-” He grabbed your arm before you could whine anymore and began dragging you behind him.

“Namjoon!”

“Where have you been?” Taehyung asked frustratedly as he watched his best friend make his way towards him. He had no clue where you had dragged him off, and honestly? He was too mad to care.

Jimin, on the other hand, seemed perfectly untroubled, ignoring Taehyung’s furrowed eyebrows and crossed arms to instead open up his locker. The question floated aimlessly in the deserted hallway for a moment before he huffed loudly.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

Taehyung’s eyes widened as Jimin brought a textbook out of his locker, closed it, and then began walking towards the school’s exit.

“Dude?!” He huffed incredulously, trailing Jimin from behind, “I’m talking to you!”

“And I’m ignoring you,” Jimin deadpanned. Taehyung felt himself take several steadying breaths to calm himself down, trying for a less aggressive approach.

“We were having a conversation before.”

“No, you were being tenacious. And I was trying to ignore you.”

“You’re not fine, Jimin!” Taehyung suddenly exploded, secretly thankful that the hallway was deserted, “you think I can’t see it? You think I’ve been blind these past few months?”

That had Jimin turning around, eyebrows furrowed, “what are you talking about?”

“Don’t act oblivious,” Taehyung spoke sharply, “you haven’t been sleeping properly. You’ve been pushing me away. You haven’t been okay for months- wait, no. Who am I kidding, you haven’t been okay for the past 3 years. But it’s never been this bad, Jimin. It’s been getting wor-”

“Okay,” Jimin interrupted, holding up a hand, “where is this coming from? I’ve been sleeping fi-”

“I heard you that night. At the party.”

“Wha-”

“When you came back from dropping Y/N off,” Taehyung admitted, eyes softening, “I could hear the nightmares, all of them. It’s never been this bad, Jimin.”

Jimin froze, eyes wide for a moment before he forced out a hesitant laugh, “you sure it was a nightmare? Because nightmares aren’t the only kinds of dreams that can have someone panting li-”

“Stop it,” Taehyung snapped, his voice nearing anger now, “stop using that mask on me. You can be carefree and flirty with anyone else, but we’re best friends. I know you better than that. Don’t insult me.”

Jimin let out a frustrated breath, very much tired of this conversation, “then what do you want, Taehyung?”

“What do I want? I want you to open up to me. Things have been getting worse, and yet the worse they get the more you shut me out. Just talk to me, man. Get some stuff off your chest. You can trust me. You know I’m not one to spill secrets to others.”

“I’m fine, Taehyung.”

“No, you’re not.”

Jimin ran a hand through his hair frustratedly. Taehyung has always cared about him so much, too much, for so many years. He gave Jimin a place to stay every time his dad kicked him out of the house. He never judged him for the bruises and scars littering his skin. He’s always made himself available for Jimin whenever he needed to vent about how crappy his life truly was.

And he’s continued to help Jimin, even after his father died-

No.

After Jimin murdered him.

Taehyung, of course, knows what went down that night. Maybe not every exact detail, because Jimin had just barely managed to tell him the watered down version of the story before he was a shaking heap of laboured breaths on the floor. But Jimin knew. He knew the look Taehyung had given him after hearing the story.

Taehyung had judged Jimin.

Taehyung had seen Jimin for who he really was that day.

A murderer. A cold-hearted killer that had murdered his own father like it was nothing.

And yet, still, he’s been determined to stay by Jimin’s side. He’s always cared for him despite what his true thoughts of Jimin were. Taehyung’s heart was too big. And Jimin knew he was too undeserving of it.

“As if the therapy wasn’t enough,” he mumbled, pushing the thoughts out of his mind. It was harder to push the mixed emotions starting to strain his chest.

Taehyung rolled his eyes, “as if you’re actually going to that.”

But Jimin’s silence had Taehyung’s eyes widening suddenly.

“Wait… You actually went?”

Hiding his hands in his pocket, Jimin nodded, feeling kind of vulnerable admitting that out loud. But he might as well let Taehyung know he was taking it seriously considering his parents were the only reason he could even afford to think about therapy.

To his surprise, a wide grin suddenly replaced Taehyung’s prior frown. He rested a hand on Jimin’s shoulder, “that’s great, dude! I’m really proud of you, seriously. I’m sure it’ll really help.”

Jimin couldn’t meet his eyes.

He hoped Taehyung was right.

Next Chapter...

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