Of course Jeongguk's glad to see Jimin the next day at school; however, it worries him. And it's just as he suspected of himself, Jeongguk can't shake the memory of his brief talk with Hoseok yesterday.

The saddening reality of what could have been just a harmless expression of style. But no, Jimin's simply hiding his stomach.

As he approaches the boy that morning at the lockers, Jeongguk wants nothing more than to walk up to Jimin and give him the biggest hug.

"Morning, Jimin."

He smiles big and bright as usual, hoping he'll get the same reaction in return. Jimin nods in greeting.

"Good morning."

"I love your shirt."

"Oh." Seeming shocked, the boy looks down at his shirt, then back up at Jeongguk, an innocent and somewhat happy gleam in his eye. "You do?"

"Yeah, it's really cute."

"Oh. Thank you."

A shy but genuine response. At least it seems to be. At least Jeongguk hopes it is. It's hard to tell when Jimin's shy nature urges him to avoid eye contact.

"So you're feeling better today?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." He crosses his arms over his chest. "Sorry if I worried you. I don't like to..."

"It's okay, Jimin, I don't want you to feel bad about worrying us," Jeongguk says softly. He scarcely holds back from putting his hand on Jimin's shoulder. "Just...try to take care of yourself more, okay? If not, then let us."

The boy tenses for a moment as he gazes at Jeongguk. Their eyes lock for a few long seconds, and then slowly, Jimin begins to nod, drawing a smile from the other.

The two walk to class together. And just like yesterday, Taehyung sneaks up from behind, probably thinking he's being subtle, Jeongguk guesses, but failing miserably. This time however Jeongguk chooses to say nothing and simply allows his friend to live out his super-spy fantasies.

Classes for the day go by as usual. Nothing exciting or out the ordinary occurs, classwork and lectures and preparations for upcoming exams, the such like. Jeongguk can't complain. Well, he can, but he doesn't - Taehyung does, though, because he's good at that and Jeongguk would never dream of trying to outshine his best friend in what he does best.

As a result of the somewhat boring but tolerable routines that entail, it's a long day, so by the end Jeongguk is looking forward to going home just as much as everyone else. To get his homework over and done with, to possibly have the chance to talk with Jimin, maybe play Pokémon or Mario Kart with him if he's not too busy.

A smile on his face, Jeongguk makes his way over to his locker to put away his things so he can go home.

He puts in his locker combination, pops it open, and is about to set his books inside when he spots something. A folded piece of paper he doesn't remember leaving in there. Most people would probably shrug it off, but Jeongguk tends to keep his locker fairly tidy, certainly much tidier than his room, so he picks up the folded paper to see what it is. Maybe it fell out of one of his books or folders, he thinks, could be important - doubtful, but possible.

He opens the piece of paper to reveal a message written on the inside.

jeongguk just open
your d̶̖̯͂̃̽̿̊̉͂̐̃̆͛̓̌̀̑̽̈́̿̓͒̅̉͐̅͋̋̑̑̌̆̀͘ą̴̨͔̗̫͍̫̪̰͎̯͙̪̳̫̻͔̫̇̒͛͋̓̓̀̉͑̓̾̆̆̍́͠͝͠͝͝ṁ̶̡̗̭͖͕͓͎͉̳͈̞͚̼̾̑̐̉́̅́̃͑̍̏̍̇͌͒̅͌̃̿̃̕̚͘͠͝ń̵̢̛͓͉̻̘͖̜̙̺̦̜̫̼͓̩̗̖͇͙̺̭̭̂̈́̄̒̏͗̎͌̽͌̋̉͘͘͝ eyes alread̸̛͓͌̎̆̌͛̂͐̋̓̊̈́̉̎͑̉̿̾͒̈́̏͑̈́̂̕̕y̸̨̡̪͓̱̼̞̳͕̼͎̌̊̽͜͝

His stomach twists into knots. It would be bizarre enough if his name weren't written on the note, but it is, and that simple factor only exponentiates the uneasiness quelling inside him. Borderline nausea, and Jeongguk feels if he stares at the message any longer, he will start to feel nauseous. And tragically he can't turn his eyes away from it.

It could be a prank. It could very easily be a prank, but oddly enough Jeongguk can't seem to digest that and find any comfort from it.

He glances around him at the people passing by in the halls - just minding their own business, many of whom seem to have nothing on their minds but going home after a long day. That was supposed to be Jeongguk's plan, too, but this stupid note is serving to be a ridiculously persuasive stopping block.

"Tae."

He blurts out his friend's name as the boy is in the process of walking by him. Taehyung stops in his tracks right away and walks over to him. "Sup."

"Look at this."

"At what?"

"This-"

Jeongguk looks down at his hands - specifically, the hand that was holding the note.

Which is blank.

The piece of paper is completely blank.

"Paper. Nice." Taehyung purses his lips and nods. "I choose scissors. I win. I get to drive your car."

"Tae, no, I-..."

Jeongguk loses his breath for a moment. His eyes frantically scan the paper, he flips it over, scans the other side as well. Empty. Blank. There's nothing. "No, no, it was here, what?"

"You okay, Guk?"

"Tae, I swear, there was something on here. Creepy writing." He lets out a somewhat shaky breath of air, refolding and unfolding the paper again. If the message itself didn't make him feel unsettled, this certainly did. "I'm not kidding, it was here. This is freaking me out now."

"Whoa, whoa, okay, calm down." Draping his arm around his friend's shoulders, Taehyung gives Jeongguk's chest a couple pats to get his attention. It takes a moment but Jeongguk feels the urge to throw the paper back in his locker in hopes it would help him to push the thought out of his mind. "Guk, c'mon, you're never like this. School got you stressed? That's not really like you, either. Tell you what, we should go get ice cream. My treat. But, I still wanna drive."

Jeongguk's disbelieving eyes drift back to his locker. Taehyung seems to notice, because he outstretches one hand to close it.

"Get your mind off school, buddy, it's not worth it." He pats his friend's chest again. "Does ice cream sound good?"

"...yeah." Tae's right. Maybe I'm just stressed and I don't realize it. "You'd really treat me?"

"Dude, of course. And you know what? I've got some super duper exciting news."

"You're pregnant."

"Close."

Jeongguk snorts at the immediate response. "What's the news?"

"It's a surprise, c'mon."

"You're so lame..."

He's grateful for Taehyung. His friend's simultaneous carefree but caring attitude is the most effective thing for him right now.

Just brush it off, he tells himself. You'll forget about it by tomorrow.

Thanks to Taehyung's encouragement and childlike enthusiasm, Jeongguk soon finds himself climbing into his car, but not on the driver's side this time, and being driven to an ice cream parlor near both their houses. They waltz in and take their seats at the front counter.

"I'll be right with you two," the man working behind the counter says with a smile. Taehyung waves.

"So what's the 'big news'?"

"Hm? Oh. Guess."

Jeongguk rolls his eyes. "We're not playing this game. Just tell me."

"Pfft. And you say I'm lame."

"Go on."

"I won something."

"Free iPhone? It's probably a scam, Tae. Did you have to give your credit card number?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not that dumb."

"You have your moments."

Taehyung gives his friend a joking shove, almost knocking him off the stool as the employee from earlier approaches them again.

"Double chocolate-chip sundae, please," Taehyung says. He nudges Jeongguk who's still laughing.

"Dude, cut it out...uuhm...you know what, I'll just get the same thing."

"Alright, two double chocolate-chip sundaes coming right up."

They both thank the man, then turn their eyes to each other again. Jeongguk clears his throat, eyebrows raised impatiently.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Taehyung also clears his throat. "I won something."

"You mentioned."

"Two somethings."

"I don't need another Nintendo Switch, Tae."

"No, dude, I won tickets to Everland. Like, the amusement park? You know what I'm talking about."

"You had to give your card number, didn't you?"

"No, but I did have to make roughly two hundred different email accounts," Taehyung holds up two fingers proudly, then lowers one, "and one of them worked. So I've got two digital, one hundred percent legitimate tickets in my inbox."

In spite of Taehyung's typical dramatics and habit of fabricating stories, Jeongguk can tell he's being serious, not to mention the large grin stretching across his face is pretty convincing.

"Tae, that's amazing." He returns the smile in full. "So are you gonna take Hoseok?"

"Haha, really funny, Guk." Taehyung taps his friend's shoulder. "I'm gonna give you the other one, of course. But, I was also gonna say, we could invite Jimin and Hoseok, and I was gonna ask Yoongi, too. You know, fun little group hangout this weekend. Obviously, they'd have to pay for their own tickets, but compared to Disney World the price of the tickets aren't too bad."

"What's with you and having good ideas lately?" Jeongguk asks with a grin and furrowed brow. "I'm seeing something wrong with this picture..."

"Yeah, well maybe you just need to open your damn eyes already, Jeongguk, 'cus I'm chock full of them."

His heart drops to his stomach. "What?"

"Ooh, our ice cream is here." Taehyung rubs his hands together furiously, toothy smile showing itself as he reaches for his spoon. His eyes turn curiously to his friend. "Guk? Ice cream's here. If you don't eat it, I will."

"No, it's mine..."

"Correct. Now consume. Whoever eats all theirs first has to pay."

"But you said you'd treat??"

"Change of plans. This is war."

He shovels his thoughts aside best he can and picks up the spoon buried in chocolate ice cream.

You're just stressed, that's all. 'Cus of what Hoseok said. Yeah, that's it. It's just stress.

"Halfway done."

"Tae, you're disgusting."

"And you're a bully."

—