;;

"we're dissecting a heart today people, you know what to do. oh- and jeongguk, we have an even number today so you can turn around and work with taehyung, sweetie." mrs thomas exclaimed, swizzling back around with her back to the class, scribbling some instructions on the board that jeongguk had already long ago memorized.

the ravenette's face paled.

actually, it didn't just pale; his mouth dropped and his chest constricted and his lungs imploded. before he knew it, taehyung was leaning in from behind him, whispering into his ear with that hot, husky voice of his that had the younger's knees turning to jelly and his face burning redder than an inferno.

"close your mouth, pretty, don't wanna attract flies now, do we?" jeongguk could hear his teasing smirk in his voice, his hot breath on the nape of his neck, the deep rumble- all he could do was gulp and go and get the equipment they needed for the practical, as he neared the bench and began quickly scrambling for the things, kate came up beside him and poked him in the waist.

"hey gguk-gguk, good luck-luck!" she whispered before scurrying off with a teasing grin on her tanned features, overly long red hair whacking the smaller boy in the face before he even had a chance to open his mouth and protest.

of course, jeongguk knew exactly what to do right away, it was a simple dissection, just cutting into the muscle and labelling the ventricles and valves and chambers. he'd done it a countless number of times but... he wasn't so sure about taehyung.

the older boy just sat there from across the other end of the classroom, resting his long legs on the bench, staring right into jeongguk's soul. he could hear the blood rush in his head, suddenly he couldn't seem to concentrate.

he didn't even do anything when jeongguk neared the lab bench, dumping all of the equipment onto their work station and removing the bloody lamb's heart from the packaging.

"a-are you even going to do anything?" the smaller asked tentatively, pausing with the scalpel half way into the heart. taehyung hadn't moved an inch, the most he'd done was put the latex gloves in that jeongguk had gotten for him. some lab partner he was.

"course'," taehyung stated, pausing to run a hand through his perfect hair which led jeongguk to raise an eyebrow.

"i'm watching you." another smirk.

jeongguk wanted to roll his eyes so, so badly but he stopped himself before he'd have got in trouble with kim taehyung.

"you could at least get the labels ready." the smaller mumbled, pouting with annoyance.

taehyung did, surprisingly.
he wasn't as dumb as jeongguk thought he was then.

"i'm not dumb, you know." oh, you read my mind.

"i never said you were-"

"yeah, but you always look at me that way. like i can't tell my left foot from my right. just because i don't get along with the teachers doesnt mean i'm thick." he tilted his head to gaze at Jeongguk, who had his face buried in the experiment.

"kay." the younger whispered, intimidated by the depth of taehyung's voice. he paused his cutting when taehyung put some of the labels in the wrong chambers of the heart. "they're atria, n-not v-ventricles." jeongguk whispered- he wasn't intending for taehyung to hear him, he just wanted to point it out.

taehyung leaned his shoulders against the table and scoffed, tilting his head to get a better look at jeongguk's lowered, burning face.

"you can't tell. there are too many valves in the way. it doesn't matter, it's not like she's coming around to check, anyway." taehyung groaned in boredom.

"actually, there are only two major valves in the way. the first to recognise are the tricuspid and bicuspid valves, located here and here," jeongguk pointed obliviously, unaware of how intently the older was watching him. "the next are the semi- lunar valves, which are here and... here. i think you're getting those mixed up with the superior and inferior vena cava- which is understandable because if the way the heart is positioned-"

"it's upside down, kitten." taehyung 'tskd' and leaned back in his chair again, gazing at the younger under thick lashes.

jeongguk felt a blush blossom on his already firey cheeks at the nickname. no one had ever called him that. no one. he definitely wasn't expecting kim taehyung of all people to say such a thing.

"i-i, you- how- you s-still don't know th-that!" he whispered furiously, agitated at taehyung's refusal to comply. it wasn't upside down! how absurd! and how dare he call him a 'kitten'?!

"just turn it around and it'll make sense." taehyung smirked- oh it was a ruthless thing.

jeongguk did turn it around. it turned into something that he wasn't quite expecting, really. the heart made sense now- not that it didn't before its just that jeongguk had a particularly deformed looking piece of meat (the heart, that was.) the positioning of the labels seemed to make more sense now- the atria where slightly smaller and the ventricles slightly larger. taehyung had labeled the aorta and the valves and the arteries and veins all correctly- much to jeongguk's dismay.

but he wasn't going to give up so quickly.

"it isn't! i'm calling mrs thomas!" the smaller shouted, furiously looking around for his teacher who just so happened to be right behind him the whole time.

"m-mrs thomas! t-taehyung labelled the heart wrong and now he's trying to blame it on me!" jeongguk didn't exactly know where he'd grown a pair of balls and mustered up enough courage to snitch on the older, but boy did it feel good. until he saw kate giving him an incredulous look from over the teacher's shoulder and then and only then did he realize who this actually was.

this was kim fucking taehyung.

"but it's labelled correctly, sweetheart, are you feeling alright jeongguk, you're usually the first to finish at these small tasks, honey." mrs thomas gave the teen a worried glance before going back to her desk.

jeongguk's chubby cheeks tainted red with fury.

"b-but-"

"you heard what she said 'honey'; it's labelled correctly." taehyung sang, ripping off his gloves, running a perfect hand through his perfectly long hair and sighing before bracing them at the back of his head.

"n-no- i-"

"you're kind of cute when you're angry." taehyung whispered lowly, just loud enough for jeongguk to hear and furrow his eyebrows in annoyance. cute? since when was he cute?!

"i'd appreciate if you didn't say that- it's a major insult to my masculinity." the smaller mumbled, cleaning up the station. by the time he came back, taehyung was sat normally in his chair, red lip captured between his pearly teeth, as if he was trying not to laugh. suddenly, jeongguk wishes that he hadn't said a thing.

"what masculinity?"

i hate you, kim taehyung.

___

oof I'm so sorry I haven't updated in years lmfaoooo

I've made Kookie such a babie in this book uwu 🐰🍼