Brighter Days || Taekook

Part 7

Only when he stops feeling his ears anymore from the cold does Taehyung start to make his way back to the dorm. He catches a glimpse of himself in the display of a store. His nose is red (another casualty to the cold) and there's a smudge of dry chocolate ice cream in the corner of his lips. Taehyung licks it away absentmindedly.

He slips into the dorm as quietly as he can, and finds that the others are all already sleeping - which doesn't come as a surprise. After taking a shower and brushing his teeth (with his own toothpaste, because Taehyung never makes the same mistake twice) he beelines to the couch. He grabs for the brown fuzzy blanket and makes himself comfortable.

"We have a perfectly good bed just in the next room, you know?"

Taehyung almost falls from the couch. He hadn't heard anyone approach, but when he looks around, he sees Yoongi leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen, an almost empty glass of milk in his hand.

"I didn't want to wake anyone up," Taehyung answers. It's a lie. He just can't bring himself to sleep in the same room as four other boys; when he sleeps, he's at his most vulnerable.

To be honest he doesn't even know if he would be able to fall asleep sharing a room with the others, because to sleep means to let his guard down and he doesn't think he can do that.

He snorts, "All of them sleep like rocks, waking them up is almost impossible." Yoongi empties the glass with three more gulps, and retreats to the kitchen. Taehyung can hear him place his glass on the counter, before he returns, turns off the light behind him and dictates Taehyung with a nod in the direction of the bedroom.

Taehyung doesn't really have a choice. He's not sure how he could tell Yoongi that he'd rather sleep on the couch, so he follows with drooping shoulders and heavy footsteps.

"Goodnight," Yoongi whispers to him, before the boy watches Yoongi climb into the bottom of a bunk that has Hoseok on top. There are three bunkbeds and one mattress on the floor. Namjoon has the second bottom bunk and Taehyung knows that when Jin sleeps there, he usually takes the top one. Jungkook uses the mattress on the floor. There's a blanket and a few pillows and it looks actually rather cozy in that corner of the room.

That leaves the third bunkbed for Taehyung with the choice to make on whether he would want to sleep top or bottom. It's not a hard decision really, and he struggles to get up on the top bunk in the dark.

When he's made it up and wrapped himself up tight in the blanket that smells like detergent (good, but really foreign to him) he doesn't dare move anymore, let alone breathe too deeply to risk someone else hearing him.

With bated breath he listens to the sounds of the others. There's some rustling and light snoring. He falls asleep eventually - when his body and mind are too exhausted to keep alert anymore - but when he gets woken up the next morning, he still feels like he hasn't slept at all.

Furthermore, most of his muscles hurt. Every step is agonizing since Taehyung is just not used to the dancing and stretching and exercise. Hoseok assures him that it will get better with time.

Because they have mercy on him, Taehyung gets sent to another vocal lesson while the others are herded into a studio. He can't concentrate at all on his lessons though, because as he had been shooed away from the rest, he had heard the words "meeting right now" fleetingly. Is this the moment they are going to decide that he's not good enough for the group? He hasn't even managed to be with them for an entire week. Is he really already going to be kicked out? Why else would there be a meeting about Bangtan Sonyeondan that doesn't include him, even if he's not a fixture in the group yet?

Taehyung eats a late lunch on his own again today, because he has no idea where the other boys are, until he's suddenly not alone at the table anymore. He's in the middle of biting into a sandwich when Jimin plops down next to him.

"I'm glad to see you eating something, you're scarily thin."

"It's nice to see you too," Taehyung mutters, wiping away at a bit of mayonnaise at the corner of his mouth with the tip of his thumb. He sounds sarcastic, but he means it. He's been the only person occupying a table on his own, and of course he's always been aware of the eyes on him.

What was it that Jimin had said last night? All that trainees ever do is train and gossip... or something like that. He can feel the hostility some of them harbour against him for not only slipping into the company but also into an idol group from the sidelines.

Now with Jimin by his side, he feels like he has a shield to protect him from harsh stares. Jimin's just come from school straight to the company for English classes in the late afternoon. He's munching on an apple as he tells Taehyung about his day.

"English classes?" Taehyung asks. Why would the company make Jimin learn English?

"You really got thrown into the deep end," Jimin says in astonishment. "English, Chinese and Japanese classes, they're mandatory for trainees that want to debut. So you can somewhat communicate with your fans."

"Oh," is all that Taehyung can think of to answer, because he didn't know about that. He actually knows pretty much nothing. Everyone's kept him in the dark on everything so far. He suspects that it's because he's not an official trainee. Still, it hurts to not be included like that. He feels stupid whenever Jimin has to explain something to him about being a trainee that he's obviously supposed to know.

"You should be happy they don't make you take them. They're boring and you don't learn much really."

Taehyung would love to take classes on languages though. He likes languages. English was his favourite subject in school... back when he still went to school. He wasn't good at it, but he liked it nonetheless. It's been so long since he's had the chance to actually learn something.

Jimin changes the topic from school and classes to his pet dog, because his mother had sent him a picture earlier this day. He shows it to Taehyung and gushes about the ball of fur pictured in it.

"My family and my dog are the only two things I miss about Busan," he sighs, before finishing off the apple he'd been eating and wraps the core into a napkin to throw away later.

Taehyung hums, but he can't relate. There's nothing he misses about Daegu, at least not anymore. He used to wish himself back to his grandmother's house when he first ran away to Seoul, shortly after she passed away, but those thoughts lie in the past. Nothing about Daegu seems remotely attractive to him nowadays.

He spots Namjoon at the entrance to the dining room, and as soon as their eyes meet, the older male comes over. He greets Jimin with a nod, before turning to Taehyung.

"Are you almost done eating? I wanted to ask if you could join me in the studio for a talk."

Taehyung wasn't actually done eating, but he's sure that he won't be able to swallow what's left of his sandwich now.

A talk. After the meeting. This can't be good.

"I'm done," Taehyung assures him. He takes the napkin-wrapped apple core from Jimin. It's going to land in the trash with the three bites of the sandwich left. It hurts Taehyung to have to throw perfectly good food away, but there's no way he could finish now.

"If you want to practice again tonight, you know where to find me!" Jimin offers and Taehyung acknowledges it with a nod. If he's still a trainee under Big Hit Entertainment after this talk, he'll definitely stop by.

Before they're out of the cafeteria, Namjoon throws a final glance back at Jimin.

"Did you make a friend?" he asks conversationally, but Taehyung can tell that there's a deeper meaning hidden behind these five words.

"I guess I did."