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taehyung woke up, confused. he remembered falling asleep at jimin's place but he didn't remember coming home.

he checked the time, luckily it was early and he wouldn't be late for school.

as he made his way downstairs, he heard quiet chatter and giggling from his older brother. jin was in the kitchen, on the phone with someone.

jin noticed taehyung walk in, telling the person he was talking to to wait for a second.

"good morning! how'd you sleep?" he asked, watching a sleepy taehyung open the fridge to retrieve the milk.

"good, how'd i get home last night?" he asked, grabbing the cereal box from the cupboard as well as a bowl, dumping it into the bowl and then adding the milk.

"oh, that handsome friend of yours carried you home. it was so sweet and romantic, you should've seen how cute you guys were!!" jin said, squealing.

"j-jeongguk carried me home??" he asked, blushing deeply.

jin nodded as a reply.

dang it, he didn't have to do that! why didn't he just wake me up? taehyung thought, sighing and feeling queasy from embarrassment.

"who are you talking to?" taehyung asked, jumping up onto the counter and sitting with his cereal in his lap.

"uh, no one." jin said, looking away.

"is it namjoonie??" he questioned.

"pfft!! why would you think it's namjoon! that's crazy..." jin said, laughing a little too loudly.

taehyung smiled, poking jin's shoulder. "it is!!" he said, snatching the phone from jin's hands and putting it up to his ear.

"hi joonie!"

a deep chuckle was heard, and then a sigh. "hi, taehyung. how are you?" namjoon's voice asked through the speaker.

"i'm good, how are you??" taehyung asked, jin waiting impatiently with his arms crossed.

"i'm pretty good. just getting my things ready for classes today." he explained.

"oh, well have fun! i'll give you back to jinnie now." he said, handing over the phone.

jin tsked and walked away, continuing his conversation with namjoon.

taehyung finished his cereal and ran upstairs to get ready for school, wearing one of his new sweaters with some skinny jeans.

he wouldn't dare wear the skirt to school, only on weekends or outside of school. he knew he would be made fun of.

he really wanted to at the same time, though. he thought it was the prettiest thing and wanted to show it off to the world and feel pretty in it but because of society, he couldn't.

he didn't understand why it was so bad for men to wear women's clothing and vice versa. it's just clothing. there shouldn't be an assigned gender to a piece of fabric and some thread.

after brushing his teeth and doing his hair, he was ready for another day of high school. he slung his bag over his shoulder, smiling when he heard the soft jingle of his keychains.

he loved his keychains. they were cute and he liked to collect them.

"bye hyungie, i'm going to walk to school with jiminie. i love you!" taehyung said, approaching his brother.

"bye taehyung, have a good day at school." jin said with a smile, giving his younger brother a hug before letting him go.

knock knock knock!

taehyung waited patiently outside jimin's door, sighing when the boy didn't answer. knowing his best friend, he was probably still asleep so he found the spare key in a fake rock underneath their flower bush, where it's always been, and unlocked the door, walking inside.

he made his way up to jimin's bedroom, opening the door but immediately regretting it when he saw jimin and his two boyfriends all cuddled together, jimin's shirtless chest covered in hickeys and bite marks.

taehyung squeaked in surprise and quickly closed the door.

"m-maybe i'll just walk to school by myself.."

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"taetae!"

said boy turned around to see jimin running up to him with a wide smile, hickeys peeking out from the collar of his shirt and some very obvious on his jaw.

"hi jiminie. have fun last night?" taehyung asked, pointing to his hickeys. the older of the two blushed deeply, shoving taehyung gently.

"is it that noticeable??" he questioned.

"yes, it's very noticeable. you're lucky i have makeup in my bag! come on." he said, tugging on jimin's hand and leading him into the male bathrooms.

they stood in front of the mirror as taehyung found his makeup bag. "i came to your house this morning to wake you up so we could walk to school together but instead i just found you and your boyfriends all covered in hickeys." taehyung explained, snickering.

jimin blushed sheepishly, eyes widening. "really? taehyungie i'm sorry." he said.

"no it's okay, you don't have to be ashamed of it. there's nothing wrong with having sex with your partner/partners." taehyung said, dabbing some foundation over jimin's hickeys.

jimin smirked, narrowing his eyes. "how'd you know we had sex?" he questioned.

"i mean, it's kind of obvious. and i saw an open bottle of lube on the nightstand." he added nonchalantly.

"oh." jimin muttered, blushing again. taehyung giggled before blending out the foundation, his hickeys covered perfectly.

"there!" he said, smiling.

jimin looked in the mirror, surprised at how well it covered up. "thank you taehyungie! you're a lifesaver." jimin said, pulling his best friend in for a hug.

taehyung gladly accepted the hug, smiling widely. "you're welcome! i'm always here if you need anything." he said.

"you're too sweet for this world." jimin said, pulling away. he gave taehyung a kiss on the cheek, thanking him again. "i love you! i'll see you in math!" jimin had said before running out of the bathroom.

taehyung packed up all of his makeup, leaving the bathroom and heading to his locker. he was used to the stares he got as he walked down the hall, but it didn't mean they didn't bother him.

he always felt self conscious and small under everyone's gaze. he could hear what they said about him. this whole school was so basic and conservative and they didn't like it when someone was different or there was change.

so when someone who was openly gay or a boy who looked feminine or a girl who looked masculine, it upset everyone and made it their duty to bring those people down for obstructing the norms of the school.

taehyung gathered his things, walking down the hall to literature as he hugged his books tightly to his chest.

his heartbeat picked up when he saw some of the football guys approaching from the other end of the hallway, their eyes landing on him and smirking, ready to tease and mock taehyung.

but before they could reach him, an arm wrapped around his waist. he turned to see jeongguk standing there, glaring ahead at the bullies. they backed off when they noticed taehyung wasn't alone and vulnerable anymore, quickly just passing by instead of bumping into him or shoving him around or calling him names.

jeongguk's arm didn't leave his waist, instead it tightened its grip and pulled him closer. taehyung was a blushing mess, his heart racing for another reason now.

once they arrived in front of namjoon's class, jeongguk let go of him.

"t-thank you." taehyung squeaked, staring down at his feet.

jeongguk smiled, ruffling his hair. "you're welcome. i'll meet you at your locker every morning and walk you to your class so they'll leave you alone. how does that sound?" jeongguk asked, his eyes studying taehyung's pretty face.

"you'd really do that for me?" taehyung asked, his heart fluttering as he made eye contact with the older.

"of course." he replied. it was also just a clever excuse to spend more time with the younger, but he wouldn't say that out loud.

"thank you ggukie." he said softly, the nickname making jeongguk blush.

the bell had rung, taehyung gasping and quickly leaning up, pecking jeongguk's cheek before running into his class.

jeongguk's eyes widened at the action, his fingers lifting up to his cheek as he felt fluttery tingles spread throughout his face. he pulled out his phone, looking in the camera to see a rosy lipstick print on his cheek.

he snapped a picture of it, feeling giddy before quickly walking off to his class.

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i know this chapter is kind of short but i thought it would be cute to leave it off here.

jungoo is just a cute lil baby who gets just as excited and flustered as taehyungie uwu

- nat <3

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