2012

"Get your hands off of him!" A young teenage girl yelled, gaining the attention of few boys who were pinning a smaller boy against a brick walk.

"Stay out of it, freak." The biggest of the boys said. "This isn't any of your business."

"Taehyung *is* my business! And I said to take your hands off of him!" The girl yelled back, standing a few feet away. She wore a large brown hoodie that reached her knees, and there was a paper bag over her head with small holes cut out over her eyes.

"Until he gives me back what I want, I'm not letting him go! I know he has it!" The boy said, clutching the shirt of Taehyung even tighter.

"I said to let him go!" The girl yelled and swiftly reached into her pocket, pulling out a plastic bb gun.

"You might be able to scare off everyone else, but you don't scare me. I know you're just all talk. Now...go on and do whatever it is weirdos like yo-" The boy was cut off mid sentence after feeling a stinging sensation hit him directly in the back, to which he instantly dropped Taehyung.

"OW!!!" The boy shouted, reaching behind his back. "You shot me!! This crazy chick shot me!!!!" He said in disbelief.

"Come on, Taehyung!" The girl said, shooting the boy in the chest who had tried snatching Taehyung by the arm during his attempted escape.

"WHAT THE HELL!!! THAT HURTS!" The other boy yelled, clutching onto his chest.

The girl grabbed Taehyung's hand when he approached her, and the two turned around and went running into a nearby forest. "HEY!! HEY, YOU TWO GET BACK HERE!" They heard a teacher demanding in the distance, but they didn't look back until they disappeared completely within the trees and bushes.

. . . .

*huff huff*

"Are you okay?" The girl asked Taehyung, who was breathing heavily as he slumped up against a tree.

"Yeah..." Taehyung said followed by a cough. He looked up at the girl with one of his eyes pinched shut. "A-are you?"

"Yeah...I'm okay." She said, shoving the bb gun back into her backpack. While she was doing so, Taehyung's eyes fell down onto her pant let that had been ripped - the edges of it were stained with fresh blood.

"You hurt-t-t-t yourself." Taehyung said, looking back up at her.

"I'm fine. It's just a scratch, really." The girl said, plopping down onto the ground tiredly.

"Let-t-t me help..." Taehyung said, reaching into his backpack.

"You're making a big deal out of this..." She said as she watched Taehyung pull out a bottle of water. After he opened the bottle, he pulled the string out from his hoodie, and he motioned her to bring her leg closer to him.

"You d-don't want it to g-g-get inf-f-fected." Taehyung said, taking her leg gently and placing it over his, propping it up from the dirt. The girl winced as Taehyung poured the fresh water over her leg, rinsing out any of the visible dirt from the rather deep wound. After letting it dry for a few minutes, he ripped off a piece of material of his shirt and gently wrapped it around her wound, cautiously tying the string around it to ensure it was snug.

"Y-you really d-d-d didn't have to do that-t-t, Mercy." Taehyung said. "I didn't want you t-t-tto get into any t-t-trouble...now you're g-g-gonna have de-t-t-tention again."

"Shut up, Taehyung. I don't care." "They were being jerks and they deserved it. They actually deserved to be shot in the face to be honest." Mercy said bluntly.

Taehyung scooted over beside her. "Th-th-thank you...for everything."

"I told you not to thank me." Mercy said, reaching over and picking out a piece of twig from Taehyung's hair. "We're friends and this is what friends do. I am not doing anything special."

"Well...you're r-r-really s-special t-t-to me.." Taehyung says, and Mercy looks down and fiddles with her fingers. Under her bag, her face reddens.

"Don't be mushy. I hate it and it makes my stomach feel gross." She said and let out a small sigh. "So...why were they picking on you?" She asked.

"B-b-because I t-t-took someth-th-thing from them." Taehyung said, and Mercy looked over at him.

"What did you take?" She asked and watched Taehyung as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small golden bracelet.

"This..." Taehyung said - the small golden butterfly on it sparkled in the sunlight peeking through the trees.

"Taehyung!!!" Mercy said, jumping back up onto her feet. "This is Jack's dead mother's bracelet! His most prized possession! Why would you take this??"

Taehyung stood up. "I w-w-wanted you t-t-t-to have it..." He said and Mercy snatched it from his hand.

"Taehyung...you can't just take things like this from people!" Mercy said, looking down at the bracelet. "Yeah, Jack is a jerk, but you can't take this from him. You have to give him it back." She said, and she offers the bracelet back to him, but then swiftly swipes it back when he goes to grab it. "No wait. I will...I'll sneak it into his locker tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, M-M-Mercy..." Taehyung said. "I j-just want-t-ted to get you s-s-something for your b-b-birthday.."

"I told you that you didn't have to get me anything. Especially if it means you getting hurt over it!" Mercy said.

"Okay...I won't d-d-do it anym-m-more..." Taehyung said.

"You're so confusing sometimes.." Mercy said.

"I'm s-s-sorry..." Taehyung said.

"It's okay..." Mercy said, looking down at the bracelet for a few more moments before putting it into her coat pocket. "But...can I ask why you do these things for me? You're always getting into trouble for me and I just don't get it."

"B-b-because you're my f-friend." Taehyung said.

"Yeah, but...you wouldn't jump off a cliff for your friend."

"Yes I would." Taehyung said, staring at her with big eyes.

"That's stupid." Mercy said, but couldn't help but giggle. "I mean...I guess I'm stupid too 'cause I would jump in for you too."

"Really?" Taehyung asked, his eyes growing wider.

"Yeah...'cause if you jumped off a cliff, I'd have no one." Mercy said quietly.

"I wouldn't have a-a-nyone eith-ther." Taehyung said.

The two stood there quietly for a few moments, listening to the chirping of birds and gentle running water nearby until Mercy spoke up once again.

"Um, Taehyung?" She said.

"Yes?"

"I've been thinking of something...would you want to see what I look like?" She asked, staring down at the ground and Taehyung looked over at her.

"Only if-f-f you wan-t-t-t me t-t-to see..." Taehyung says and Mercy stopped to think about it for a short while.

"How about this...if you answer my question, I will show you." Mercy said, turning her body to face Taehyung.

"What is it-t-t?" Taehyung asked.

"Why do you act weird sometimes?" Mercy asked. "Like...sometimes you act like a different person."

"I didn't k-k-k-know I did." Taehyung said. "Does...it s-s-scare you?"

"No." Mercy said. "You've always been nice to me, so...I was just curious." Mercy said.

Taehyung turned to face her and watched as Mercy let out a sigh and placed her hands on either sides of the bag on her head.

"You know, you're the only one that will have seen me without this...well, besides my parents..." Mercy said and Taehyung is quiet as she lifted the bag off of her head.

As she nervously smooths down her short black hair, a smile came over both her and Taehyung's face and the awkward silence was, soon, no longer. With no words having been spoken, the two interlaced their arms together, and they giggle as they walked happily down the forest's path as if nothing had changed.

a/n if you hadnt noticed i am making chapters significantly shorter. I hope this is okay because i hope if i do this i will have more motivation to pump em out more often. I also think so many chapters of mine could have been condensed or split into two. But yeah i hope this is ok. This is though is especially shorter because its just a flashback chapter so dont worry they wont all be this short.