At a quarter of eight the next morning, Taehyung awoke to his alarm, immediately noticing a difference in his physical strength. The majority of the fatigue from his dizzy spell and headache was gone, and he could stand on his own two feet without wobbling like a newborn deer.

Taehyung took a moment to stretch before checking his phone.

You have (1) new message from Blue

Blue
Good morning, Kim Taehyung!

Why does he keep using my full name...

Purple
please just call me taehyung

Purple
you sound like a robot or something i swear

Blue
Haha! Should I speak less formally with you? I'm sorry, it has become a habit, I suppose.

Purple
right, well please stop

Blue
using lowercase is informal, right?

Blue
should i ditch the punctuation as well

Purple
okay forget it you're trying too hard i'm not teaching you how to text informally...

Blue
how are you this morning, taehyung?

Purple
better than yesterday

Blue
great news :)

Purple
yeah

Purple
i have class this morning so bye

Blue
okay! have a good day taehyung

Letting out a sleepy sigh, Taehyung tossed his phone aside and decided it would be best to get ready for the day. He walked to his room and changed into a pair of jeans and a plain shirt, then prepared himself a quick breakfast before leaving the apartment.

He wasn't really in the mood for classes right now. Looking back, Taehyung wished he had thought to sign up for an online course, but at the same time for the course he was majoring, in-person teaching and learning showed better results.

Twenty minutes later and Taehyung was parking his car, soon to moderately speed-walk into class as he had been doing a lot lately. No one had anything good to say to him and he knew that, so there was no reason to stop to even fake a hello.

No one, of course, except Jungkook, and oddly enough, Seokjin.

"Hey, Tae, how's it going, man?"

Sliding into the seat next to the boy, Seokjin greeted Taehyung in a soft voice to avoid startling him. Once tentative eye contact was made he smiled through pursed lips.

"I can't tell if you're looking better or worse," Seokjin joked. His laugh was nervous, as though afraid to upset the other. "Won't you talk to me anymore?"

Taehyung twiddled his thumbs. Honestly, it wasn't that he wanted to ignore Seokjin, rather that he didn't quite know what to say.

"I promise I won't ask for your homework anymore. So can I get a good morning or something?"

He sounded genuine. At least enough that Taehyung didn't feel the need to roll his eyes or shrink even more into his shell. Biting his inner lip, he uttered in a quiet voice, "Morning."

This earned a genuine smile from Seokjin. "There we go!" He said cheerfully. "You feelin' alright?"

"I guess..."

"Better than a definite no. I'm glad to hear it."

There it was again. That odd, scratching feeling from the inside of his chest. Taehyung tensed for a moment. As much as he hated to trust people, he hated wrongly accusing them as well, but perhaps the former held a strong enough position in his mind that it often prevailed over the latter.

Additionally, the accusatory voices were terribly loud.

What if he's Blue?

"Ah, Seokjin-"

"Yeeees?"

A bright, eager smile on his face, Seokjin fluttered his eyelashes at the boy, evidently pleased to have heard his name spoken by the other. Tae had to resist rolling his eyes this time.

"Are you..."

He drew in a shallow breath.

"Are you...Blue?"

"Blue?"

Puzzlement. Taehyung scanned the boy's expression in the same way he had when asking Jungkook this question the previous day. No suspicious reaction in the eyes.

"Not sure what you mean by that," Seokjin said with a chuckle, patting Tae's back. "If you mean sad, no, can't say that I am. Are you blue?"

"I'm p-" Was I seriously about to say 'I'm purple'? "No, I'm not. Forget I asked. Sorry."

"Oh, you don't have to apologize, Tae, I was just wondering what you meant, that's all—oh, hey, Jungkook."

At the mention of the name, Taehyung shifted his attention instinctively to his left, looking up at the dark-haired boy now sitting next to him. He smiled at Tae and offered a friendly wave.

"Morning, Taehyung."

"...morning..."

"You feeling better?"

"Physically."

"Better than nothing."

"Hey, that's kinda what I said!" Seokjin added, beaming. "Positivity, gotta share it."

They're too optimistic...

It's what he needed. Even if he, himself, were slow to accept it, he needed the positivity, the optimism. Yoongi, as his best friend, had always been his own personal, emotional and motivational coach, but there was only so much text messages and phone calls could do sometimes. Not that he didn't appreciate them. Taehyung swore he'd die without them.

*

Another fortunate day of surviving classes. As usual, though, Taehyung wasn't too keen on sticking around for the risk of someone talking to him, so he gathered his things and hurried out as soon as his second class was over. Jungkook, on the other hand, had been stopped momentarily by someone asking him about something their professor had said, because they happened to notice Jungkook was a prolific note-taker. This, naturally, deterred the boy from walking out of class with Taehyung. Disappointing, but he wasn't so rude as to ignore a simple request from someone who hadn't done him wrong.

At the same time, he didn't expect Taehyung to be in such a hurry. He knew the boy wasn't fond of staying behind any longer than he needed, but regardless, he moved faster than normal. And Jungkook preferred to talk in person rather than over text. It was becoming easier, anyway, with Taehyung gradually beginning to warm up to him. Jungkook didn't want to ruin it for himself, but rather build on it.

That being said, he hoped to catch Taehyung before the boy made a retreat to his car.

Luckily for him, he did manage to catch Taehyung. But only because of someone else happening to catch him first.

It occurred suddenly. An unexpected crossing of paths. Taehyung himself might have noticed it, as he had fallen into the habit of keeping his head turned towards the ground, but the other person reacted strongly enough that Tae couldn't ignore it.

"Taehyung! Long time no see, buddy!"

Like a harpoon to his chest. Taehyung's entire body froze up at the sound of the voice - a bit deeper than he remembered, but familiar nonetheless. And not the good kind of familiar. Not the pleasant, 'happy to see you again' kind of familiar. No, it was the bone-chilling, hateful nostalgia, trauma-inducing kind of familiar.

Regrettably lifting his head, Taehyung soon found himself eye to eye with Choi Daewon.

The same boy who essentially ruined the majority of his high school career by spreading rumors and gossip about Taehyung and his condition.

And now here he stood before him again, taller, more built, but with that same despicable grin which struck that unshakeable fear in Taehyung's heart.

"Dae...Daewon..."

"You haven't changed much at all, I see," the taller boy said in a cheery tone of voice, which was honestly even more terrifying to Tae. "I've been hearing about some kid hearing with odd colored blood and thought, 'man, could Taehyung really be here, too?' What are the odds, huh?"

He couldn't speak. On the verge of a panic attack, all Tae could really do was tremble and stare as Daewon spoke to him like the two were old friends. He silently, internally begged and pleaded for the boy to just go away, to leave him alone, but even if he could speak, it wouldn't work, it never worked.

"So did Yoongi move here with you?" Daewon asked, eyeing the ever-paling expression of the other. "You guys were inseparable in high school. Still talk to each other?"

His responses were limited to anxious head movements. In front of him, Taehyung clenched one hand with the other. He could feel how much he was sweating, how frantic his heart was beating, crying for a breath of peace, just a breath, just to breathe, he needed to breathe, but not like how he was breathing now, shaky, trembling.

Out of nowhere he felt another hand grab his own. And it pulled at him, forcefully enough to snap him from the daze he slipped into, enough to push his feet in the same direction that person ran.

"J-Jungkook-"

The name fell from his mouth as a tearful, unsteady whisper that scarcely managed to reach Jungkook, who cut him off with an urgent question of his own.

"Where's your car?"

Again, he couldn't bring himself to answer. Not with how weak his body felt right now, the collapse he predicted would approach soon if he didn't sit down or drink water or something.

A hazy minute passed and Taehyung was sitting on the ground outside, back against the wall. Jungkook sat beside him.

"...you...looked like you were about to have a nervous breakdown."

His breathing steadied after a long while. As did his vision, his hearing. However, still not fully able to shake the effects of the encounter, he turned to Jungkook, no more color in his complexion than before. He found Jungkook staring intently, wide-eyed, tender gaze fixed in place, even as Taehyung looked away again.

He felt like he was choking on his own emotions. Distressing memories he wished he could suppress, the bitter aftertaste of days he never wanted to relive, not even in his mind. His tears welled, throat clenching. Jungkook placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Taehyung...Tae...Taehyung, please, look at me."

Desperation, while still somehow maintaining that gentleness that demanded even more attention that shouting could.

"Taehyung, it's okay, he's gone, look at me, please, it's okay..."

It worked, though to the smallest degree. Taehyung looked at him again.

"Choi...Choi Daewon," he choked out. "He...he spread the rumors, he made them all think I'm a freak. No, what am I saying...I am one, I am a freak, he's only right, I am a freak, I am-"

"Taehyung, shut up."

The unanticipated rigidness of Jungkook's voice took Taehyung aback, so much that he flinched and a tear balancing on the tip of his eyelid spilled over. It was going to fall soon anyway but for some reason Jungkook felt responsible for it.

"You're not a freak."

Taehyung's tears almost brought his own to surface. It hurt. To stare into those eyes. To even say these words to Taehyung, regardless of how deeply he meant them.

"You're not a freak, Taehyung. And there's nothing you can say that will ever convince me otherwise."

He wanted to hug him. Jungkook's arms started to move on their own, and to his immense relief, Taehyung reciprocated the action by extending his own arms.

He needed a shoulder to cry on and Jungkook knew that.

He'd be Taehyung's shoulder forever if he had to.

*
*
*

end of chapter eleven.