Weightless| Vkook 💜

Bystanders| 4

Taehyung saunters along, taking all the time that he needs to pick up his rucksack and to go over to grab his bike.

Just as he's about to climb onto his bike, some people clapping advert his attention. Behind him stands two boys, not much older than himself. They are clapping with awestruck faces.

"damn that was awesome! Dude you need to teach me parkour" the shorter and younger looking male says whilst looking directly at Taehyung.

Taehyung looks around to see who this chirpy chap is talking to, but when he sees that he's the only person there, his whole face heats up into a blush.

"OH SHIT!" the bubbly boy exclaims.

The loud noise makes Taehyung flinch and a small inaudible whimper escape his throat. Luckily neither of the males hears him.

"I forgot to tell you my name" He says in an alot calmer voice. "I'm Park Jimin, your new best friend"

Inside Taehyung grimaces. The words just sound so ugly.

When he looks across to the taller male, he can't help but pray this guy won't be quite so loud.

'please be calm'

'please be calm'

'please be calm'

'please b-'

"OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE SO CUTE!" he squeals like a little girl.

Taehyung flinches once again and his hands quickly move up to cover his ears.

"oops sorry" he says with a smile.

Taehyung watches as Jimin giggles whilst looking up at the other male.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm your hope, you're my hope, I'm Jhope!" He says as if he's rehearsed it a thousand times.

Somehow Taehyung finds that he likes this pair. There's something about them, despite the noise is rather calm.

He wouldn't ever admit it out loud, but he's petrified. Deep inside he wants to make friends and to get along with everyone despite his major trust issues.

"Sorry about the introductions" Jimin says. "It's just that you look really cool and everyone at school is going to love you!"

On the inside, Taehyung cringes but on the outside he flashes them a small smile. Probably that was his queue to introduce himself, but his social anxiety won't allow him to make a sound. Clearly Jimin and Jhope are disappointed in his lack of response.

"what's your name" Jimin asks.

Taehyung fiddles with the elastic band on his wrist. He's too petrified to even speak. All the judgemental thoughts buzz through his brain causing him to feel nauseous.

When he's nervous he either makes a rude comment or stutters alot. Even sometimes he makes a joke.

But none of those coping mechanisms work in this situation and it's not like he can slit his wrists right now either. He's stuck in the awkward situation where you could quite possibly cut the air as the tensions so high.

Jhope awkwardly coughs.

"people often call me Hoseok or Hobi" he says trying to advert the attention off of Taehyung who's clearly suffocating in it.

Taehyung gives him a small smile and a nervous nod.

At least it's an improvement.

"I hope you're more chatty in class as you're going to be bullied so much otherwise" Jimin says notulantly.

"Jimin!" Hoseok scolds.

"What? It's a little rude of him not to say anything. Can you even speak?"

Hesitantly Taehyung nods. You could be lead to believe that he has selective mutism, however he's just got really bad anxiety.

"then it's pretty rude that you're not saying anything" Jimin scoffs.

"Yah Jimin that's enough! The poor boy looks petrified. Give him space to breath" Hoseok scolds.

Taehyung's mildly greatful for Hoseok's input. He seems to understand that Taehyung isn't comfortable and can vividly see the lack of trust in the shortest males eyes. It saddens him to think of the reasons why the male looks so wary and anxious.

Part of Taehyung is scared that his parents will hear the noise and will come out to give him a good beating.

The other part is petrified that they know where he lives. Your location is the most important part of your privacy along with your name. Protect that, and you're safe. Give it away, and your enemy can find you no matter how far you run.

Perhaps that's the reason why Taehyung hasn't ever bothered running away. His father used to be in the Army and told him when he was little about how to never be free from the enemy once they know your name.

And perhaps that's why he's never told anyone about his father's abusive nature and his mother's sickening illness.

Part of him knew it wasn't normal to be hit everyday from the people that loved him, only when he went to school at the age of 8 did he find out that was the case. This is why he's always struggled in school and loathed maths.

But what he loathed more was being hurt. It was like they were punching love into him but draining him of his own love.

It's all sick and twisted.

But that's just who Taehyung is.

So when the two males who he's known less than 5 minutes are demanding his name, he goes into fight or flight mode.

Or in other words get up onto his bike and ride away, or actually engage in a conversation. Either way he's going to feel like a failure and both boys are going to think he's a weirdo.

'nice job Taehyung. You haven't even made it to school and you're already a freak'

'I bet they think I'm some sort of alien'

'I should've killed myself already'

Taehyung looks up from the ground that he was staring at, to look at the bystanders that watched him climb out of his window.

Looking at their casual clothes suddenly makes Taehyung feel overdressed. Though thankfully he has a black hoodie in his bag that he can cover himself up with.

"I'm Taehyung" He whispers in his deep husky voice.

And before they can utter a word, he's gone!