𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟻𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟾
𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 𝟺𝟹𝟹𝟸

࿇ ═━━✥◈✥━━═ ࿇
𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐓 𝐖 𝐎
࿇ ═━━✥◈✥━━═ ࿇

5:30pm

With smiles on their faces, Jungkook and Kyu walk through the front door after having just previously spent an hour at the ice cream parlor. Though, soon after entering the house, Jungkook's smile faded once he spotted Junha sitting on the couch, along with a few other teen boys dressed in a similar, dark style as him.

"Oh, there you are." Junha says upon seeing the younger walk in.

Jungkook glanced around at the teens who were shoveling handfuls of m&ms and and doritos into their mouths, staring at the giant flatscreen tv that was mounted to the wall. "What's...going on here? Where's Yunseok and your mother?" Jungkook asks.

Junha looked around and propped his legs up on the table. "Obviously not here." He gave a smirk and took a bite out of the brownie he was holding.

As Jungkook walked farther into the living room, he looked down and noticed a large pile of trash and soda cans spread across the floor around the area that the teens were sitting at. "What the....Junha! Do you realize how much trou-"

"MINNIE!!" Kyu says in a joyful tone after seeing the brown haired teen coming waltzing out of the kitchen; her arms full with a giant bowl of popcorn and a six pack of beer in the other.

"Kyutie!!" Minnie carefully hurries over to the table and sets the things down on it; opening her arms up wide.

As Minnie leaned down and gave Kyu a big hug, Jungkook rubbed the back of his neck. "Minnie..? What are you doing here? I thought you were going to hang out with the others tonight."

Minnie stood back up straight, holding hands with Kyu. "Oh, I changed my mind actually. I figured it wouldn't be any fun without you, sooo, I decided to come here and hang out for a bit. Maybe even go underwear shopping with you."

"Did someone say...underwear shopping?" One of Junha's friend said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Ignoring the teen, Jungkook says, "Oh...yeah...underwear shopping..." He removed his hand from the back of his neck and crossed his arms. "Well...I hope you weren't waiting for too long...I took Kyu out for some ice cream and it took longer than I anticipated."

"Yes, I can see that." She giggled as she looked down at Kyu's face that was covered in pink ice cream.

Jungkook glanced over at Junha who was clearly eyeing the 17 year whilst quietly whispering to the other teens around him.

"Uhm, Minnie...can you help me with something in the kitchen for a moment..?"

"Yeah, sure." She says.

As Jungkook and Minnie were walking towards the kitchen, Jungkook looks over at Kyu. "Kyu, why don't you go upstairs? I'll be up there in a few minutes to help you get cleaned up."

"Ok, Jungkookie."

After Minnie and Kyu waved goodbye to each other, Minnie walked into the kitchen with Jungkook following behind her.
~

Before Jungkook was even able to get a word out, Minnie spun around and grabbed him by the sides of his arms. "'Jungkook! Why didn't you tell me you had a hot as fuck roommate??"

"Hot roommate..? You mean Junha??"

"Duuhhh." She peeked through the doorway over to the older teen who was sitting on the sofa, taking a bite off of a brownie. "Keeping him all to yourself, eh??" She says after turning her head to look at her friend.

A disgusted look came across Jungkook's face. "Ew. Gross. No way."

Minnie turned her entire body back to face him. "What do you mean ew??? Are you crazy??" She drug Jungkook by the arm over to the doorway and placed her hand on the back of his neck, forcing him to look out into the living room. "Get a goooood look at him."

"Believe me, I've seen Junha plenty of times...and I'm getting kind of sick of looking at him to be honest..." He muttered the last part.

"Apparently not. Because if you did, you would be seeing the hotness that is him. Here, I'll give you 5 more seconds. Really get a good look."

Jungkook rolled his eyes as Minnie held him there. After 5 seconds on the dot, Minnie tore him back into the kitchen, rotating him around to face her.

"Now. Tell me to my face that you don't think he's smokin' hot." She leans in close to the teen's face and squinted her eyes, concentrating on his face to see if she could see the several different quirks that he does when he's lying.

"He's not hot." Jungkook says with a serious expression.

Minnie scoped out his face carefully. "Hmm...no lip biting...no eye twitch...no smirk..." She quickly lifted her fingers and placed it underneath Jungkook's jaw, feeling for a pulse. "...and no rapid heartbeat." She removed her fingers and shook her head in dismay. "And you call yourself a gay."

Jungkook widened his eyes and quickly reached up to cover her mouth. "Shhhh! Can your voice be any louder??"

"Not with your hand over my mouth." Minnie mumbled.

Jungkook shook his head and dropped his arm to the side. "You don't have to be a smart ass." He whispers.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She says innocently.

Jungkook crossed his arms. "Just please be quiet. Junha doesn't know that I'm...you know...and I hope for it to stay that way."

"Ok, I'm sorry." She outstretched her arms and tilted her head to the side; sticking her lower lip out. "Can you forgive me?"

Jungkook's dead serious expression was ruined by the small smirk that involuntarily crept over his lips. "Ahh...fiiine..." He shook his head and chuckled softly as he wrapped his arms around the short teen.

Minnie squeezed him tightly and got up on her tippy toes to give him a big kiss on the cheek.

As the two pulled away, Jungkook resumed his crossed arms. "So...how long have you been waiting here for me?"

"I've been here for about a half hour. I was about to leave once I found out that you weren't here, buuuut, hottie in there insisted I come in and try his brownies."

Jungkook covered his mouth. "Minnie. Do you realize what are in those brownies??"

Minnie shook her head 'no'. Jungkook leaned in and whispered into her ear.

Minnie stood there for a moment, dumbfounded as she tried processing what he had said. "...really??"

Jungkook nodded his head quickly. "I found out last night that apparently it's popular to put that shit into food."

"Hm. No wonder I've had the munchies like crazy. I mean, usually I'll only eat one family size bag of doritos, buuuut I found it strange how even after two, I still wasn't satisfied."

Jungkook shook his head. "How do you maintain your small waist with all of the eating you do?"

"Good metabolism I guess." She pulled her hand out of her pocket and looked down at the mint she pulled out of it; popped it into her mouth.

Jungkook stood there thinking of something when he snapped his fingers. "Aw shoot...looks like now you're not going to be able to go underwear shopping with me."

"Why not??" She asked with her mouth full. "I'm perfectly fine."

"For now. That stuff takes a bit to kick in.."

Minnie waved her hand back and forth. "You worry too much about me, Kookie." She threw her arm around him as she lead him back into the living room. "I'll be just fiiine."

(time skip)

"Oh my gosh...! Look! It's a teeny weenie..." Minnie held up a piece of popcorn that was suggestively shaped; staring at it in awe.

Jungkook shot a look of anger over at Junha who was sitting there with his hand deep into a bag of chips. "Idiot! Why did you offer those to her? There's no way she can go home in her condition!"

Junha looked back over at Minnie who was giggling like a mad-woman as she stared at the piece of popcorn. "I couldn't deny a pretty lady a treat." He says.

"You didn't even tell her what was in it!"

"Of course I did. Think I'm stupid? I ain't about to be pulling that shit with anyone else."

"You did it with me."

"Hence the reason I said 'anyone else'. Geez, you need to clean your ears out or something, sunshine. Or learn how to listen better."

"But...she said she didn't know.." Jungkook says as he looked over at the 17 year old who held up the piece of popcorn to Jungkook's mouth.

"She wouldn't do something like that if she knew what was in it...would she?" After getting lost in his thoughts, Jungkook was brought back to reality when he felt something bump against his lips. His eyes slightly crossed as he looked downwards, spotting the piece of popcorn that Minnie was prodding his lips with; trying to get him to eat it.

"Open uuup." Minnie says in a droned out tone.

Jungkook rolled his eyes and blew a strong puff of air at the popcorn; knocking it out from between Minnie's fingers.

Minnie looked over at the piece of popcorn that was laying on the ground; her mouth slightly parted. "I...can't believe you just did that...I thought you liked popcorn.." She looked back over at him. "And I thought you would like it even more since it was shaped as a-"

Jungkook quickly lifted his hand up and covered Minnie's mouth; giving her a 'shut the hell up' look. "Minnie. I think you need to just lay back and watch tv, ok?"

Minnie slowly nodded her head as Jungkook removed his hand from her mouth. She laid back in the couch and looked over at the tv, visibly in a daze.

Jungkook rested his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands, running them through his hair. "Damnit Junha...how long is this gonna take for her to go back to normal? Well...as normal as Minnie can be, anyways."

Junha patted the younger on the shoulder. "Don't worry, 'Kook. It will only be a few hours until it starts to wear off."

"But...I have to go somewhere in-" He stops after looking down at his watch. "5 minutes??" He facepalmed himself and let out a sigh of stress. "And I haven't even gotten Kyu washed up yet.."

"Where are you going? You never go anywhere."

"Just this thing...it's nothing important."

"Ohhh...perhaps it's a...hot date??"

"No..! It's...it's none of your business is what it is."

"Geez, sunshine...the way you're acting makes me think that you're up to no good...is the little good boy finally going bad?"

Jungkook rolled his eyes and stood up from the couch. "I'm not going to talk about this with you. What I do is none of your business...now...I'm going to go get Kyu cleaned up."

As Junha stood up from the couch, a bunch of wrappers and crumbs fell from his lap, adding to the already messy pile of junk on the floor. He grabbed onto Jungkook's arm before he was able to walk away. "Wait...I'll clean Kyu for you. Just go and do whatever it is you need to do."

Jungkook stood there for a few seconds, trying to process what was told to him. He slowly turns his head to look over at Junha. "...what's the catch?"

"There is no catch. Geez, you act like I'm such an awful person that won't do anything unless it benefits me."

"Well...maybe I act that way because it's true."

Junha let go of Jungkook's arm and crossed his arms. "I'm trying to be generous and help you." He sighed. "I feel bad for the way I blew up on you this morning...so...either take the help, or get out of my sight."

Jungkook thought about it for a few moments before he responded, "...you would really do it for me?"

"Yes. How many times do I have to say it?"

Jungkook raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Wow...thanks Junha. That's actually really nice of you."

"What can I say? I'm a nice guy." He knocked past Jungkook, heading towards the staircase.

"Wait, but even if you do that...what about Minnie?? I can't just leave her here like this."

"Don't worry about her. She'll be fine...probably will sleep most of the time."

"Well...ok. Thanks again, Junha.."

"Yeah, yeah. Now get outta here."

Jungkook nodded and went hurrying towards the front door, but stops before actually stepping out. "Oh and Junha...?"

Junha stopped midstep and looked over at him with an annoyed expression. "What 'Kook??"

"Don't take advantage of her or anything...or be rude to Kyu.."

Junha crossed his arms and stared down at Jungkook with a serious expression.

"What..? I just want to make sure that we're on the same terms."

Junha shook his head and headed upstairs, not even bothering to reply to him.

Jungkook sighs and stands there in the doorway for a few moments, looking over at Minnie who looked dazed as she stared at the television.

"Please let him actually be decent for once.." Jungkook says quietly to himself and walked out; putting his faith in the older teen.
...

6:20pm

Out of breath, Jungkook stops on the side of the street once he came up onto the block that the group organization was located. Hunched over with his hands on his knees, the teen struggled filling his lungs with air, as it was very painful to breath due to the non stop running he endured for 20 minutes.

"Shit...I'm so...out of shape.." He managed to say through his heavy breathing. He then stood up straight and threw his head back; wiping the sweat that was pouring from his forehead.

After finally catching his beath, he dropped his arms to his sides and opened his eyes; his gaze immediately landing on a drab, reddish-brown building down the street of which stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the other fancy looking businesss that were surrounding it. He didn't even have to look down at his phone that had a picture of the business to know that was it, though, the building in the photo looked a lot cheerier than it did in person. Figuring it was probably just a photo of the building from years ago, he shrugs and doesn't think too much more of it, and after shoving his phone into his back pocket of his jeans, along with his hands that he shoved into his jacket ones, Jungkook started walking towards the building.

...

Jungkook looked left to right, having felt a random sense of paranoia come over him as he walked up to the building. The eerie silence that seemed to have began the moment he stepped foot on the block only added to the strange vibes that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere...even the businesses next door had no signs of life with the lights being turned off and no people going in and out, despite it still being early in the evening.

Slightly freaked out, Jungkook placed his hand on the doorknob and stood there for a few moments, debating on what to do when something hit him like a ton of bricks; competely waving away his paranoia.

....

"What am I doing?? I left Kyu and Minnie with him!" He quickly lets go of the doorknob and goes to turn around, but stops. "Just relex, Jungkook...I'm sure everything is fine. You need to learn how to trust people better...even if he is an asshole.."

Jungkook turned back around and placed his hand back on the doorknob, about to open it, but he stops once more when something else started going through his brain. "What's the point...? A stupid group session isn't going to fix my issues...no one can." He let go of the knob. "...even if they have 'helped over 2000 teens'."

As Jungkook turned around to head back home; he stops in his tracks when he sees a mysterious figure standing at the end of the block near a street sign that read "Lufdae Rd."; something that was completely foreign and looked nothing like the rest of the street signs in town.

The teen immediately got a sinking feeling in his stomach after noticing how odd this person was dressed. Between the ankle long, pure black trenchcoat paired with the black shoes, gloves, and fedora that covered up the majority of the person's face that was tilted downwards just enough to hide their eyes and nose with it, Jungkook was understandably feeling even more creeped out than he was before.

As the teen was about to reach into his pocket for his phone in case he would have to call the police, the figure at the end of the street, who was previously standing dead still, took an aggressive step towards him; getting faster and faster with each step.

Jungkook widened his eyes as it was now very obvious that the person was coming towards him. So without hesitation, and realizing he had no time to call the police, Jungkook did the only thing he could think of to do. He threw his hands at the doorknob leading to the red building and quickly turned it; hearing the latch release.

Before Jungkook went inside, he took one last glance over at the person who had now picked up to a running pace and was very quickly closing in.

Jungkook squeaked as he darted into the building. He slammed the door behind him and immediately began hauling ass down the long, dark corridor; just preparing himself to hear the metal door open, since, he was 99% positive whoever that was was indeed after him.

By the time Jungkook had turned the corner, his heartbeat felt to be racing 100mph as he made his way down the second hall that was barely lit by a dim, yellowed out lightbulb hanging from the middle of the corridor ceiling.

...*huff huff*...

After a few more seconds of running, the teen slowed down when he realized that he hadn't heard the door open like he was anticipating. He took a glance behind him to make sure the person hadn't snuck in and was just being extra stealthy, but to his relief, there was nothing.

He stops for a moment and takes a deep breath when he comes up to another door; calming himself down. He took a glance around the small, darkish room that he was standing in that the corridor eventually lead into; the walls in the room painted a blood red. The only notable things in this room were a small wooden table with a glass, waterless vase atop of it that held a single dead lilly. And strangely, an out of place, fancy, golden sconce was placed on the wall direcy above it as if it were supposed to be lighting up something important, though there was nothing besides the dead flower.

"Wow this place is sure inviting..." Jungkook muttered sarcastically to himself. "If I wasn't fucked up before I came in, I sure as hell will be by the time I leave this place...if I make it out of here, anyways.."

He took another deep breath; wondering what he was going to find in the next room. At this point, all he was hoping was that he didn't come across a dead body on the way to, well, wherever he was headed.

After placing his hand on the silver doorknob, Jungkook carefully rotated it and opened the door ever so slightly; taking a peek between the door and the frame into the next room; spotting a circle of chairs with a few teens sitting in them, and one teen boy who was standing up in front of his.
~
"Well...it all started when I was 14. I started getting paranoid that everyone was talking bad about me behind my back...which lead me to push everyone I knew out of my life.."

A lady who was wearing glasses with a clipboard and pen sitting in her lap, leaned forward and nodded her head. "Was there anything big specific going on in your life at the time you began exhibiting these intense feelings of paranoia?"

The teen stood there and reflected back to a couple years ago before he responded. "Um...my best friend and I got into a really nasty argument and stopped talking about a month before it all started happening...but I wouldn't really consider that to be big though.."

The woman began jotting things down in her clipboard. "Mhm. Mhm. Well...it might not have seemed like it at the time, but something like that could have definitely brought on these feelings. You see, when we lose someone we care about, we all get a feelings of sadness, hurt, anger, stress...all of which can overwhelm and sometimes even trigger something in the brain to-"

♪"Ooo you touch my tralala...mmm my ding ding dong.."♪

Everyone in the room fell silent and turned their heads towards the direction of the door that Jungkook was looking through.

Jungkook widened his eyes and frantically stuffed his hand into his pocket, pulling the phone out with wicked speed. After successfully muting it, he stared down at the phone. "Damnit Minnie!!" He whispered angrily; knowing for a fact she had changed his ringtone for what seemed like the millionth time.

After noticing the sudden silence, Jungkook glanced up from his phone and through the crack of the door once again. Upon noticing every eye in the room was now focused on the door, he gasped and quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket.

As he was about to turn around and head back to the exit, he stops in his tracks when he heard the door behind him creak as it was, assumingly, being opened. He immediately tensed up when he feels a hand gently being placed on his shoulder.

"Are you perhaps the missing member that I have been waiting for?"

Jungkook slowly turned his head to face the direction of the woman's voice; soon spotting the older woman with glasses who was just previously writing notes.

"U-uhm...yes...?"

The woman's serious face turned into surprising welcoming smile. "Welcome! We've been waiting for you, come in! Come in!"

"A-actually, I-"

Before Jungkook was able to say any more, the woman grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind them.

Upon entering, the room's vibes were immediately noticed by him to be far different than the eerie ones that he felt outside of the building and the corridor that lead to the room. He wasn't sure if it was the superior lighting, the smell of cookies and other pastries that were set out for the members, or just the addition of other people who made the room feel livelier that made him feel more at ease, but either way, if was far more welcoming than the previous rooms; despite the walls still being a fairly dreary color of dark grey.

"This way, this way." The woman says as she drug the teen towards the circle of chairs.

Upon coming up to the chairs, the woman gently pushes Jungkook in the middle, holding her hand out to the other teens. "Please, introduce yourself."

Jungkook swallowed his saliva, feeling insanely nervous. Though there were only 5 other teens in the room, Jungkook had pretty intense social anxiety; making it seem like there were hundreds of them.

"I'm...Jeon Jungkook..." He mumbled while staring down at the ground.

"Jeon Jeonwhat?" A snobby teen boy said.

"Kook. Jeon Jungkook." He repeated, making sure to be a little clearer this time.

"How about everyone give Jungkook here a warm welcome to the family!"

...silence....

"....or not..." She cleared her throat. "W-well, Jeon Jungkook...why don't you go have a seat?" The lady held her hand out towards the many empty chairs. "We usually have more of a turn up, but it seems like there aren't as many people who signed up this month. And I'd like to hope it's because teens are getting past their issues on their own.."

Jungkook nodded slowly and glanced over at the chairs, debating on which one to take; finally picking one that was farthest away as possible from the rest of the teens.

"And please, help yourself to the many treats and drinks that are set out." The lady says with a big smile.

"Oh, thanks...but I just had ice cream." He gave her a slight smile and headed off.

As he was walking towards the seat he had picked out, Jungkook slowed down after spotting a dark brown haired boy that was dressed in a uniquely styled white fringe shirt and a shiny silver bottom lip piercing that caught his eye. And strangely after seeing him, the teen was finding it difficult to take his eyes off of the stranger.

Figuring he was probably seeming like a creep by staring, Jungkook slighty shakes his head; trying to get focused on what he was supposed to be doing. But, as he started to walk off, an intense urge to sit in the chair next to the stranger stopped him for a second time.

Part of him, the normal part of him, told the teen to keep going until he reached the seat he originally had eyes for. But, there was another, more powerful part of him that seemed to be luring him towards that specific seat; a part that seemed to be, even physically, stopping him from going any other way.

So, after a quick, internal struggle with himself, Jungkook ultimately went where his legs guided him to. And that was the spot next to the brown haired stranger.