"What was that all about?" Jeongguk whisper-yelled at him as they went to the back.

"Do you see how worked up he is?" Jimin snickered, glancing at Taehyung, only to espy that he was still staring at them.

"What were you implying by that little problem?"

"Jeongguk, you're a big boy. I was implying exactly what you're thinking." He wiggled a mischievous brow, and the other's eyes popped once he got a grip of the situation.

"What the hell!? Why would you let him think something like that?"

"I just wanted to prove my previous point about Mr. Daddy material being jealous."

"Jimin, no! Stop playing games with him. He doesn't like that! He's gonna be pissed all over again now."

Jimin studied his worried expression and frowned. "I'm sorry, Kook. You can talk to him later, and I'm sure he'll understand."

"I hope so."

 
Jeongguk was sitting at the back at first, but after Taehyung noticed it, he told him to sit at the front next to his desk. Although he was a little confused about why he had to change places, he did without questioning anything.

The teacher patently glanced at Jeongguk every time he turned away from his students to put the music on. And each time, Jeongguk had the courage to stare back at him with big doe eyes. He wanted to see if he was mad at him, but he couldn't identify any shade of hatred in his eyes. He could only individuate something delicate, fond even, when their gazes met.

 
Once the class ended, he was already on his feet, ready to talk to Taehyung. And as the teacher approached his desk, he cleared his throat. "Mr. Kim, can we talk for a moment?"

"Um, actually—" His words were interrupted by a quite familiar boy.

"Hey, Kook," Dongmin chirped.

"Can't you see that he's talking to me?" Taehyung asked in a sharp tone but as calmly as possible.

"Um, sorry." Dongmin frowned at his rather callous behavior. "I'll find you later."

"What was that?" Jeongguk asked once the other left, baffled to the bone.

"We were talking, and he interrupted us," he mumbled, as if he were a kid who was chided by his parents.

"You snapped at him. Don't make that cute innocent face of yours."

"Well, thank you for the compliment," he purred, jaunty. "Actually, I can't talk now. I have to go home."

"Is everything okay?"

"My landlord's kids are coming back from abroad with their mother and he announced to me yesterday that I have to move out. So I have to move like today."

"What? He can't do that! Don't you have a contract?"

"It was in the deal when we signed the papers. He can break the contract anytime if his family decided to come back."

"Then why did you say yes?"

"Because I needed a place to live and it was the only one at the time with reasonable rent. And it was such a gorgeous apartment, you should have seen it." Taehyung shook his head, disappointed. He didn't want to say goodbye to that apartment, but unfortunately, he had to.

"Oh," Jeongguk uttered, his pout deepening by the second.

"Why are you sulking?" And why the hell are you so adorable?

"I lost my uber driver for the day," he whined cutely, making the other chuckle.

"Who says I won't be here to drive you home?"

"What!? You're not gonna go to your house and then come back here just to drive me home and then—"

"Jeongguk," he called, demanding him to stop rambling. "I don't have anything better to do anyway."

"What are you talking about? You have to move out! Of course that's more important than me."

"I don't care because I said that I will drive you home every day and I will keep my word."

"Mr. Kim, stop saying such absurd things and don't you dare come back for me," Jeongguk admonished, trying to put some sense into him, but the only thing he got in return was a honeyed chuckle.

"Being aggressive doesn't suit you."

Jeongguk huffed at his words and stomped his foot. "Are you mocking me?"

"Look, I really need to go if I want to be back on time to drive you home." Taehyung inched closer to his desk and gathered his things.

And the younger approached him, closing the gap between them. "Not listening to me is not cool, Taehyung."

His movements halted then, and he twisted his head to look at him with an amused smile. "Fiesty," he teased, earning a snort from him.

"You're a dork."

"Did you just call me... a dork?" His eyes widened in surprise, his delighted smile only stretching broader.

"You deserved it," Jeongguk muttered as he glanced away, feeling self-conscious.

"I don't think so." He chuckled, still amazed. They 'befriended' each other only yesterday, but Jeongguk was already being more open and intimate with him. It would be a lie if he said that he didn't like that.

Jeongguk grinned upon finding him so welcoming about his teasing.

"You're not gonna say sorry like you used to?"

And just like that, Jeongguk's smile died out of his face. "Um, sorry." Maybe he wasn't so welcoming after all .

"I'm kidding, Jeongguk."

"Oh, okay." He beamed once again, feeling more at ease.

"Now I'm sorry because I really need to go."

"Yeah, of course, go."

"I'll talk to you later when I come back to drive you home," he sing-songed as he threw his backpack over his shoulders and bundled off.

"Don't you dare!"

"Bye," he said, ignoring his protest, and disappeared with long-legged strides.

This unbelievably cute dork. He snorted and shook his head at his thoughts. Then, another thought slammed into his mind, causing his brows to dart skywards. Why the hell didn't I think about that earlier? He rummaged in his pocket to grab his phone and made a call.

"Hey, Kookie, is everything okay?" Mirae asked.

"Yes, I have a favor to ask."

"Sure."

"My teacher, um, his landlord actually threw him out and he doesn't have a place to live. Can you pull your strings and find him something quickly?"

"If they have a contract, he can't do that, Kook—"

"It's kind of messed up and I'm sure you have a lot of work already so I don't want to bother you more than I have to. Can you help him out?"

"You're not bothering me and you know it. But of course, I will do anything I can to help him."

"Thank you, mom, you're the best!"

"Two compliments in one day? Well, this seems to be my lucky day."

"If you do your magic, I'll make sure to compliment you every day," Jeongguk said, chuckling.

"I'm already on it. I'll call you later."

 
Jeongguk finally went to the cafeteria to meet his friends and eat something. Once he took a sandwich, he walked towards their table. "Hey, guys."

"Where were you all this time?" Seokjin asked.

"I was just... arranging my stuff," he mumbled. "Where's Dongmin? He wanted to talk to me."

"He's over there." Jimin pointed at his table. "Apparently, he met these guys when he was waiting in line to take food and sat with them."

"Oh, good, he's making friends," Jeongguk said with a smile as he gazed at Dongmin who was happily bantering with the other boys.

They chatted about various things, teasing each other here and there until the break ended, and they had to go to their next class.

Soon enough, all of their classes finished, and Jeongguk made his way out of the school gates.

He couldn't help but smile upon seeing Taehyung stand outside of his car, looking smilingly at him. "Why am I not surprised?" he snickered.

"Hello, Mr. Jeon, I'll be your driver for the day." Taehyung bowed and walked to the other side of the car to open the door for him. "Please." He gestured him to get inside.

Jeongguk chuckled throughout his little sketch, shaking his head. "Aren't you just a cute little dork."

"Second compliment for today. I won't lie, I'm flattered."

"Apparently, I give a lot of compliments today."

"What does that mean?" Taehyung's expression turned into a confused one real quick.

"Nothing."

Is he talking about that Dongmin guy? Did he compliment him too? I hate that guy. Taehyung spaced out with the thoughts swirling through his mind.

The younger scanned his concentrated, frowning face, and his brows clumped together. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah."

Jeongguk decided not to comment on his behavior at the moment and slipped into the car.

The older closed his door with a delicate thud and walked around the car to get inside as well. He put some lofi music on to fill the silence and drove off to Jeongguk's house.

"You're acting a little weird today."

"Why do you say that?" Taehyung asked, hesitant.

"I mean, you snapped at Dongmin for no reason. And Jimin told me that you wanted to talk to me this morning, but you regretted it... for some reason." He cast him a glance, wanting to check his reaction.

Taehyung tried his best to stay unaffected by his words and keep a straight face. "I didn't want to interrupt your conversation with your Dongmin or whatever."

"He's not my Dongmin!"

"He's not?" Taehyung peeped at him.

"No! I mean, he often says that we can be anything I want, but I told him I want to be friends."

"I'm just stating what I saw."

"And what did you see?" Jeongguk twisted his body completely towards him, a scowl decorating his face.

"First of all, sit properly."

"And what if I don't want to?"

"Don't be a baby."

"Well, I am, so deal with it."

"What happened to 'I'm turning eighteen in a few months?'"

"I'm just answering you as you deserve."

"As I deserve?" Taehyung asked in disbelief.

"Yes because assuming things and making your own conclusions solely from what you think you saw is completely immature."

"And the mature thing is to act immature just so you can oppose me?"

"Yes."

"Wow, by the age of seventeen, I thought you would be a little more mature than that."

"And wow, by the age of freaking twenty-two, I thought you would know not to judge a situation solely on what you think you're seeing," he shot back in a sudden fit of vexation and reclined in his seat with a frustrated plump.

"And what about Jimin, huh?" Taehyung blurted out, catching the other off guard.

"What about him?"

"Nothing, never mind."

"You can't do that! If you start something you should finish it."

"I don't know why I said that, just drop it."

Jeongguk couldn't explain his behavior anymore. As much as he mooned over it, he couldn't find a reasonable explanation about why he was acting like that. Somewhat angry. Somewhat jealous. Somewhat possessive over him.

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