When the day of submission approached, Taehyung masterfully created an illusion of being insanely sick. The way Hoseok described it, "Goodness, Miss. Prisms, he looks wrecked! His body is all red and yellow, like fries devoured by ketchup, and his face is bloated like a marshmallow and he coughs like a tuberculosis patient and his body seems to have gone thinner than a candy cane! He looks like a dried leaf, Miss. Prisms, if I were to touch him-he'll crumple Miss. Prisms!" and then Hoseok had wailed out so loud that Jeongguk and Jimin visibly cringed while the others had hints of tears forming in their eyes.
Way to go Hoseok, you son of a Literature Professor!
And Miss. Prisms would have let him go if Principal Lissy was not on rounds and happened to overhear the conversation.
"No student of mine will be left unattended in the moment of sickness!" she had dramatically announced her presence, fingers wiping away the tears on Hoseok's face. "We the students of Merlin always stand by each other's side in sickness and in health, in sadness and in happiness, in gloom and in glee, in misery and in mirth in..."
"She's repeating the same damn thing with different words," Taehyun scowled in Jeongguk's ear. The senior nodded, "Sounds less of a school motto and more of wedding vows to me." The duo snickered.
And suddenly they were all following Principal Lissy towards Taehyung's dorm room.
Oh Merlin's baggy pants! What now-?!
Jimin and Hoseok shared a traumatized look while Jeongguk just lazily lagged behind the group. Something was wrong with him, Jimin thought because whenever Jeongguk was near him, his mind would be playing 'wrecking ball' on repeat. And he was at the scene of crime when Taehyung's project was destroyed...is it possible...?
No, Jeongguk loves Taehyung...he wouldn't!
Jimin shook these outrageous thoughts out of his head but then Hoseok whispered, "I think Jeongguk knows something. He looks way too relaxed and smirking for someone who would be literally out for blood if someone were to make Taehyung sad..."
Principal Lissy was a magic sniffer. She could tell if magic was being used or not and by the way she was constantly sniffing since the moment they entered the lobby that led to V-5, Miss. Prisms knew magic was involved.
Taehyung was busy dancing to Exid's 'Up and Down', butt jiggling, hands flapping, lame attempts at body rolls and all that, when the door flung open. Thankfully to rest of the students and Miss. Prisms, Taehyung looked like a sad French fry rolled up in white mayonnaises that were his bed sheets but Principal Lissy saw right through it.
Kim Taehyung's jiggling butt covered in Pokémon pajamas in front of the door. The audacity of that child! Principal Lissy's temper flared to quite some degrees by the time Jimin and Hoseok caught up with the crowd. "Kim Taehyung," her voice was cold and sent chills up Taehyung's spine. Taehyung dreaded the moment of turning around and gave her a sheepish wave; "Hey..." he dragged out and before Jimin could utter a single word, Principal Lissy screeched, "DETENTION!" at least it wasn't expulsion or suspension...
The illusion shattered to purple mist and the students gasped. Miss. Prisms looked like she had been cheated on and Taehyung's lower lip quivered in fear. "Miss. Prisms, I-" Taehyung began, but was cut off with Jimin's small hand coming in between his and Principal Lissy's face.
"Principal Lissy, Miss. Prisms, with all due respect, I'd like to say that Taehyung is not guilty," Jimin announced and back there, he was sure, Jeongguk went pale and was biting his lip in impending doom.
"What do you mean Jimin, we clearly saw Taehyung faking it," Miss. Prisms deadpanned.
"I accept that he did wrong by faking his sickness, it is punishable on his part," Taehyung sucked in a breath and thought loudly, 'If you are fighting my case, might as well let me off without any charges!' Jimin scowled, "But! I'm sure at least one of you had seen Taehyung working on his project, right?" there was a murmur of agreement.
H.Kai, Soobin, Yeonjun, Taehyun, Beomgyu, Jieun and many others nodded in agreement, vouching for an innocent Kim Taehyung.
"Then what happened?" Principal Lissy questioned with a chill.
"His project was destroyed," Jimin spoke out and there were collective gasps. "By Jeon Jeongguk!" he turned in slow motion as the crowd parted and pointed an accusing index finger at Jeon Jeongguk's partially bewildered and partially guilty form standing at the very end of the corridor.
And henceforth Jeongguk found himself scrubbing the awfully dirty tiles of the girl's bathroom with a freaking toothbrush and having to listen to Kim Taehyung's obnoxious rant as he kept ordering him around.
"You know that it is a shared punishment, right?" Jeongguk announced, clearly fed up.
Taehyung pouted and Jeongguk cursed himself for being such a goner for Taehyung's puppy face.
"Yeah, but it's your fault we got here in first place. So it's all on you!" Taehyung drawled out. Guilt tripping always worked.
"Maybe I did plan to ruin your project, but at least I didn't make mine as well so that we'd fail together and you would not have to be sad and alone in detention! And it's certainly not my fault for wanting to take revenge on you after you made me viral as 'Bugs Bunny reincarnated!' like seriously, did you know how many people were talking behind my back and did shit like comparing me to other animals and making fun of my teeth?! Do you know how insecure you made me? And how sad and alone I felt, thinking I was the weird one? No, because you were too busy being chummy with Jieun Unnie! So, get a move on and jump off that cabinet before it topples under the weight of your self-centered arse and scrub these tiles!" Jeongguk snapped and Taehyung's past flashed in front of his grey orbs.
There was a momentary silence as moonlight pooled in from the open windows, encircling Taehyung, who was sitting right in front of it, like the silver aura of an angel. His eyes were wide, unfocused, and lips in an 'o' shape. Jeongguk cursed under his breath and focused his attention back on scrubbing these weird red stains.
What do girls do in bathrooms, fight death battles?!
"I'm sorry," Taehyung muttered so feebly that if it wasn't 1 P.M. in a silent night, he would have never heard it. Jeongguk looked up to see Taehyung jumping down and squatting beside him. "I'm sorry I didn't see you suffering. I'm sorry, really, I never meant for you to be treated that way. I'm sorry I was not there for you. I-" Taehyung abruptly stopped and hugged Jeongguk with such warmth and affection that Jeongguk almost cried, but men never cry. A strong sense of déjà vu overcame him.
Taehyung was so near, his long arms entrapping Jeongguk's neck, face cradled in the crook of the brunette's neck as he exhaled warmly over it and Jeongguk wanted nothing more than to just pull him close and hug the living daylights out of the living fluff ball. Taehyung attracted Jeongguk like a moth to fire, like a bee to honey, like a butterfly to a flower and it was insane because his scent, those sweet strawberries with a faint hint of mint, roses and chocolates, it was fresh, captivating and alluring in such a maniacal way that it drove Jeongguk crazy. It was abnormal but Jeongguk fucking loved it and wanted to embrace it-but before he could make a move, Taehyung pulled away.
"Don't ever be insecure, gukkie," Jeongguk nearly choked himself on thin air when that childhood nickname came back, "I love your bunny teeth and they are the most adorable part of you. Love yourself for the way you are, gukkie. And I'm kinda thankful that you ruined my project, it was trash anyway. I would have failed if I showed up with that, at least Miss. Prisms will now give me an average grade."
And with that, he was gone, to the other end of the bathroom and scrubbing so intently as if this moment between them never happened.
Jeongguk sighed breathily, did he affect Taehyung the same way Taehyung affected him? Oh how he wished for that to be true...but little did he know that Kim Taehyung's heart was ready to jump out of his mouth and body ready to burst open with the ridiculous amount of blood rush occurring all over. Holy Merlin's sleazy skin what the heaven was happening to him?!
And they scrubbed the night away, admiring each other's backs (secretly) and when Taehyung's arms were practically burning with pain due to intense exertion, he sat down with his back to the walls and let the exhaustion consume him.
In 14 years of being alive, Taehyung had many surprises upon waking up but waking up with his head cradled on Jeongguk's shoulder and fingers intertwined together, might just be his favorite one.
<3<3<3