"My mood is like a vast wilderness. People don't understand me, So I just want to lose it without even knowing..."
~Sober-BigBang
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It was raining the next day, the rain hitting the windows hard, a steady pitter-patter filling the house like the sound of distant drums. A drum that mimicked his heart. He was nervous to meet the tutor. Somewhere inside, he hoped he wouldn't come because of the rain, that he'd call and say he couldn't make it.
Taehyung sat on the couch, just waiting for the tutor or his call, he'd set the text books out on the coffee table, and he'd dressed himself in something he'd picked out, just a plain black tee-shirt and checkered shorts. It was kind of cold for shorts, but they were comfortable, so he just pulled a blanket up over himself, sitting cross-legged, Marshmallow sitting in his lap.
The rain was coming down harder, and thunder boomed outside, lightning lighting up the windows. It scared the poodle, Marshmallow whimpered and barked at the noise, and Taehyung gently rubbed the dog's paws and back. Marshmallow was very soft, his curly fur like silk between his fingers.
"It's alright, puppy, don't be scared, Ah?" He said, leaning down to find Marshmallow's eyes.
The little black orbs met his eyes for a second, then the dog whimpered more and licked Taehyung's face.
"I'm scared too, puppy." Taehyung said softly.
Mrs. Park had left to go to work a little while ago, maybe an hour ago after she made sure Jimin and Kyung-mi got on the bus. It was only 8:00AM, but she'd said the tutor would be there in thirty minutes when she'd left. He was late.
Taehyung was starting to get hungry, he hadn't had anything for breakfast, because he'd insisted he wasn't hungry that morning, and he wasn't at the time. Mrs. Park had said there was cereal, and a pizza in the freezer. Why do you trust me with the oven? You remember where I came from, don't you?
He lifted Marshmallow off of his lap, the dog immediately scurrying away to try to squeeze under the low coffee table. Then Taehyung stood up and took the blanket and wrapped it around himself, putting part of it over his head like a hood. The rain was making it especially cold.
He shuffled into the kitchen, opening the swinging door by walking through it backwards. He went straight over to the fridge, opening the freezer door. He took the pizza box out, looking over it. She must have said that by accident, she wouldn't just let me operate an oven. He turned the box over, reading the instructions. She must have meant when the tutor comes.
But what if he doesn't come? Will she get mad if I do it myself?
Taehyung chewed his lip. He didn't want Mrs. Park to be upset, he didn't want her to change her mind and take him back to the mental hospital. I don't want to be dragged away again.
Then he heard a series of hard knocks on the front door, along with a series of doorbell rings, then a combination of the two, along with Marshmallow barking. He'd never heard Marshmallow bark before, maybe it was the rain scaring the poodle.
Taehyung set the pizza box down on the counter, then shuffled back into the living room, biting his lip. It was probably the tutor, it was raining too hard for anyone else to be out.
Taehyung went over to the door and slowly unlocked it and opened it. He'd had terrible nightmares for the last few nights, last night especially, he'd dreamed that he'd answered the door, and there was the doctor standing there, with his dead Appa--pale and his shirt bloodied, and a nurse, and the doctor would smile wide, looking over his glasses, straight jacket in hand, saying, 'You've been a bad boy, this is for your own safety, it's time to go back home.'. He'd woken up drenched in sweat. No, I want to stay, I want to stay, don't take me away.
Taehyung peeked around the door slowly, his heart pounding just in case he saw what he'd dreamt.
Outside, he saw someone with a blazer over their head, shielding them from the rain, he couldn't tell who is was. But before he could, the person rushed in, past him. Standing on the front mat, marching in place.
"Cl-close the door! It's freezing!" He said, shivering as he continued his march in place.
Taehyung closed the door behind him. He's not a doctor, he doesn't look dangerous. "Who are you?" Taehyung asked, pulling the blanket he still had wrapped around himself tighter.
The guy stopped marching in place for a second, lifting the blazer off his head and looking at Taehyung. His brown hair was soaking wet, bangs dripping water down his cheeks, water running down his face and dripping off his chin. "Oh, r-right." He said, then shivered. "I p-probably look like some k-kind of creep the way I barged in... I'm Kim S-Seokjin. Are you Taehyung?"
Taehyung nodded. This was the tutor? Please don't look at me with pity, please don't. But what were the chances that Mrs. Park hadn't told him? Just in case something happened or something? I'd never do anything like that. But she'd told the teachers hadn't she? She'd tell the tutor.
"Can I have a t-towel?" Seokjin asked, looking down at Marshmallow, who was jumping up in his legs, then running around his legs, barking the entire time.
"Yeah..." Taehyung said.
Then he went off to the laundry room, finding a stack of clean clothes and in the pile on top of the dryer, along with a white towel. While he was there, he tried to tell himself that it was okay, that maybe Seokjin wouldn't say anything about him being crazy, or at least, he wouldn't look at him with pity. But he will, because everyone does, I'm just a sick dog, just a sad little charity.
He made his way back to the living room, Seokjin hadn't moved from his spot, just having taken the blazer off his head and slipped off his soaked, muddy shoes. He grumbled to himself about how he'd have to clean them, then, seeing Taehyung walk into the room looked up and smiled. Taehyung handed him the towel.
Seokjin put the towel on his head and rubbed at his hair to dry it. "How l-long have you been waiting by yourself? Jeez, I've got to be an hour late or s-something...And I didn't even call."
"It's okay..." Taehyung said. I wish you didn't come at all. I'm scared of what you'll say.
"Not okay at all, you mean." Seokjin sat on the couch, then patted the empty seat next to him. "What if the power went out? What if a tree fell on the house? What if a burglar came in?"
Taehyung sat next to him, setting the blanket back on his lap and bitting his lip. I'm not stupid. I'm not helpless. She told you, didn't she?
Seokjin was going to be like everyone else, he was going to pity him, treat him like he didn't understand, it would all be the same all over again. I don't know why I expected different.
"Well, I'm already late, so let's start on that biology, huh?" Seokjin said, giving Taehyung a tightlipped smile. Taehyung couldn't read that, it felt like he was keeping something from Taehyung in a way.
But he picked up the biology book and handed it to Seokjin anyway. The older boy looked through the book, flipping through the pages.
"How far have you gotten in this?" He asked, still flipping through the pages.
Taehyung hadn't gotten far at all. He'd only barely looked through it, just to see what was in it, he read a little of it, the first part of it he already knew, but he doubted Seokjin would believe him if he said he'd already studied the first part. "I haven't really looked..."
"Okay, that's fine. We can start from the beginning of the book, I'll read the introduction." Seokjin said, absently drying his hair with one hand as the other flipped pages.
Then Seokjin started reading at a decent pace, it felt a little slow, and Taehyung was sure that was because he thought he was crazy or stupid or something. And he asked Taehyung questions every once in a while, just asking about something he'd just read to see if Taehyung was paying attention. And Taehyung could tell he was trying to make it exciting, like a mom trying to convince a child to eat their vegetables. You don't have to speak so slow, They said I was crazy, not stupid.
He paused for a second at the beginning of chapter one, "And that concludes a very boring introduction." He said. "But you understood all of it, so you're doing really good. Can you show me the homework they gave you? I want to see how much of it you can get done."
Taehyung nodded, but before getting up to go get it, his stomach growled, kind of loud. He probably should have at least gotten an apple or something.
Seokjin looked over at him, Just blinking for a moment. "Are you hungry?"
"Y-yeah." Taehyung said, about to go get the homework.
"Thank goodness! I'm starving! I skipped breakfast trying to get here on time." Seokjin said standing up. "You won't mind if we get a snack before we start do you?" He pointed to the kitchen door. "That's the kitchen right?"
Taehyung nodded. And as soon as he did, Seokjin went into the kitchen. Taehyung frowned. He looked from the text books on the coffee table, to Marshmallow trying to dig himself under the couch. Was this okay? Were tutors usually like this? Mrs. Park had said he was a college student, but...
Seokjin swung the door open and leaned out holding onto the door frame. "Come on, you're hungry, right?" He smiled. "I'll make you something."
Taehyung swallowed, he was hungry, very hungry. "Ah...But...we're supposed to be--."
"Taehyung, you can't think straight on an empty stomach." Seokjin said, then opened the door wider, "Come on, it'll only take a second."
He didn't want to sit there and deny that, even if Seokjin knew about him being 'crazy', he still wanted Seokjin to not think he was crazy. There was a small difference between being informed and actually thinking the information was true, and Taehyung didn't want to be talked to like a child, he wanted to be talked to like his actual age, not like a little dog found on the side of the road.
He got up, leaving the blanket on the couch and going through the door to the kitchen. Seokjin smiled when he went past him, then followed him into the kitchen. Taehyung found a seat by the dining table.
Seokjin went around the kitchen, looking through cabinets, "You like salad? Maybe if we had something to go with it..." He walked over to the fruit bowl and took out an orange, tossing up into the air and catching it before putting it back. "Maybe with fruit and..." He walked around the kitchen more, mumbling to himself, then stopped abruptly by the counter. "Taehyung, did you want this?" He asked, holding up the pizza box.
Taehyung shrugged. "...Whatever you want to do, Seokjin-ssi."
"Jin. Just call me Jin." He said, putting the box down and pulling open a few drawers and taking out a knife. he went over to Taehyung and handed him a couple oranges, then he flipped the knife around, holding the dull back of it, with the handle toward Taehyung. "Peel these for me? And cut them into slices?"
Taehyung's breath hitched. A knife. A knife. Razor sharp. Appa... It wasn't a bottle, but it didn't matter, it was sharp, it was sharp, and Jin was handing it right to him. Maybe he doesn't know everything... He tentatively took the knife.
Seokjin smiled, then went off to the fridge, taking out a bowl of salad left over from last night's dinner.
Taehyung felt the handle of the knife in his hand, rubbing his thumb across it. His hand was shaking. He wished it didn't bother him so much, he wished he could just look at it and not see what he'd done, wished he could hold it steady enough to peel an orange at the very least.
He licked his lips, taking an orange in one hand, the knife in the other. Then he slowly put the knife to the skin of the orange, cutting into the peel, releasing a small mist of juice, making the air smell like citrus.
"Ah!" Even cutting slowly, he shook so much, he managed to cut himself. He dropped the knife and the orange on the table, blood starting to pool in his palm.
Jin came over and leaned over him. "Ouch. You nicked yourself pretty bad." He said, then pulled Taehyung up and over to the sink.
Jin left him by the sink while he went looking for a first aid kit, finding the red box on top of the fridge. Then he went back over to Taehyung, Taking his hand and turning on the water and rinsing the blood off. Even just the water stung, but then the disinfectant stung more.
"Ow!" He exclaimed as Jin dabbed disinfectant on his hand with a cotton swab. He wished he hadn't made the noise as soon as it left his mouth. It wasn't so much what he said as it was how he said it, because for whatever reason, it had sounded bubbly, the tone had jumped around. He'll think I'm weird.
After Jin was done, he put a Band-Aid over the cut. "There you go, sorry for just pulling you around, couldn't help it, you looked like you were terrified. It's just a cut, you know? Living things bleed, you'll be okay." Jin washed his hands. "We can just have salad, you don't have to bother, I put the pizza in the oven anyway."
Taehyung nodded then watched as Jin sprayed disinfectant in the sink before getting a set of bowls, and a pair of tongs and evenly distributing the salad between the two bowls, then handed Taehyung a bowl.
Jin wasn't how he expected at all. It was strange to think, but Jin reminded him of how he thought a mom might be, just in the way that he cared. Odder then that, he'd never met Jin before, why did he care?
Jin didn't even wait to sit down, stuffing a big mouthful of salad in his mouth standing by the counter. He looks like a chipmunk. Taehyung grinned when Jin looked at him, he couldn't stop it.
Jin swallowed. "What are you laughing at, mm?" Then he lightly hit Taehyung over the head. "Bet you eat the same way."
Taehyung let out a deep giggle. "Eomma...!"
He covered his mouth with his hand. Jin raised his eyebrows. What did I just...? Please don't stuff me with pills, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it! He wanted anything but more of those pills, and Jin must know about them, there was no way he didn't. He's going to be upset.
Jin tilted his head and smiled. "Who told you? My friends call me that too." He stuffed more salad in his mouth. "Guess I must kind of act like that, huh?"
Taehyung's hand dropped away from his mouth. He hadn't done anything. He almost sighed in relief. No pills, I don't have to take any pills.
Jin stopped chewing for a second. "What's that?" He asked, pointing out the window behind Taehyung.
He turned and looked to find red and blue light dancing against the window through the raindrops that were still hitting the window hard. Police. But Taehyung couldn't hear the siren on. Even over the rain, he should have been able to hear it, right?
Then the doorbell rang. And Taehyung jumped a little. Jin frowned, then headed out of the kitchen, and Taehyung followed closely. He wanted to hide, but he wanted to know why they were here.
When Jin opened the door, Taehyung stood behind him, peeking around Jin's broad shoulders. He wasn't surprised to see a policeman standing there, what surprised him, was who the policeman was leading by the shoulders.
"I punched her, she called her boyfriend, then the police." Jimin said, his hand over his eye, his lip split and his voice flat, his eyes focusing down at his feet.
Why did you do that?
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A/N: There are no short chapters when Jin's involved XD
WAH~ This is dedicated to Miss onedaye_ Sensei, Because Jin Biased~ ^V^ (You're slowly killing me with with your profpics sdfghjkl. And your comments are like usually the most calm xD) Also her stuff is awesome so check it if you haven't hmm? :) hMMM? Yes, you will~ *USES MAGIC*
If I could dedicate like a bunch of peeps at once, I'd dedicate this to everyone who loves Jin-Eomma~ SO THERE WE ARE ^V^
ALSO, somedays my playlist is deep, which is to say, whatever song I'm listening to when I write this, I take a quote from it that fits and put it at the top ^-^ But then sometimes it's not deep and it's just, "I BEEN A GOOD BOY~ AY LADY~ AY BABY~" xD
I'll stop derping now ;)
~Neri calls Jin "Eomma" on a regular basis xD