Through the Glass k.th [HYYH pt.1]

22

So Jin continued with his puns the rest of the lesson. He'd decided Jin wasn't that bad by the end of the lesson, he was babying him the way he was teaching him, but Taehyung wondered if he just did that with everybody.

As Jin was neatly stacking the text books and getting ready to leave, Jimin poked Taehyung's shoulder, a mischievous look on his face. "Let's dye your hair."

Taehyung hadn't meant to at all, but he looked at Jimin like he was speaking Romanian all of a sudden. Then he frowned. "Why...?"

Jimin pouted, "You're telling me you don't think that would complete the look? Dude, right now, sure, you're sexy, but you're also what girls would consider 'cute', right?" Jimin took a tuft of Taehyung's brown hair between his fingers. "This is about Hana, this is about proving that you don't care what Jae-hwa says, and I think you could scare her if you appear confident, and the most confident you could look is with your hair some crazy color."

Hana... Taehyung chewed his lip. He didn't want that b*tch to touch her, he couldn't threaten Jae-hwa, and he really didn't want to. She'll make them take me back to that room, they'll put me in a straight jacket again. He needed something passive aggressive, Jimin's idea wasn't bad for the purpose. But he didn't think he could do it. He wasn't mean, had never hurt anyone except...Appa. And he didn't want to even act like he was going to hurt anyone else. Not after what happened, not after the blood, and the screaming and that terrible cold feeling. I don't want anyone to be scared of me, I just want them to accept me, I just want someone to love me.

"Which color?" Taehyung asked tentatively.

"Like I said, something crazy." Jimin said with a wink.

Crazy. I don't want to be crazy. Taehyung looked down at his hands as they gripped his pant legs tightly. Please, not crazy. I'm not crazy, I don't want anyone to think I'm crazy.

Jimin rubbed Taehyung's shoulder. "Chill, dude, I didn't mean it like that." He said, apparently realizing what he'd said. "You know I wouldn't ever mean it like that."

Taehyung sucked in a deep breath, and Marshmallow came strutting up to him, jumping up on his lap. No, I don't know, Jimin. You haven't gone through hell because of people who said the same thing.

Jimin took out his phone when it buzzed. Looking at the screen, the first thing he said was, "Sh*t." Then he sighed, handing Taehyung the phone. "You're not going to like this."

He knew he wasn't, but he looked anyway. It wasn't a picture, at the very least it wasn't a picture. It was a few texts from Jungkook, each one in rapid succession of the last.

Jimin, I don't what to do, Hana's crying.

She's locked herself in the girl's bathroom, I don't know what's wrong with her...

I think everyone's been picking on her about the pic...

It's been like 5 minutes, she's still not coming out.

Girls keep coming out and laughing.

Taehyung swallowed. Hana-ssi. He couldn't imagine her crying, but that had settled it. If Jae-hwa was going to make her cry like that, he'd do this, he'd protect her. "Jimin...I'll do it..." He said quietly. Hana's more important. I won't let you mess up her life like you messed up mine.

~~~

Saturday, a nurse from the mental hospital stopped by with files. Taehyung honestly didn't like how she tried to get in the house when Mrs. Park answered the door, she pushed her way past her, going straight to Taehyung, who was sitting on the floor, playing with Marshmallow. The dog barked when she came close.