Title: "UNTITLED"

Pairing: TaeKook

Description: taekook in a student-teacher relationship

"A Series of Unfortunate Events (2/2)"

"H-Hyung, what's—what's wrong?" Taehyung goes down to kneel in front of him but Jungkook stops him and stands up.

"Do you have any important tests today?" Jungkook asks (and Taehyung can't ignore how his voice cracks, no matter how subtle it is).

Taehyung shakes his head.

"Go wait for me at the fifth spot. We're going home," Jungkook says.

Taehyung nods and immediately jogs away. This is standard procedure for whenever they go home together. The fifth spot is the corner at the fifth left turn outside the school. It's in the general direction of the high-rise (and expensive, Taehyung adds) residences – where Jungkook lives and, conveniently, where many, if not all, of the students do not live. (Taehyung's cheap ass dorm, which he barely even visits but still lets his mom pay for – because there will be serious questions asked if he says he doesn't even sleep there anymore – is located in the opposite direction along with other cheap ass student dorms.) It isn't a long walk, but it does take some time to get there so Taehyung breaks out into a run once he is outside the gate.

Jungkook's car stops in front of him three minutes later and Taehyung climbs in without a word. The entire car ride is silent, and so is the elevator ride. Taehyung stares intently at Jungkook while he enters the passcode to unlock the door.

Once they're inside, Jungkook breaks down.

And he takes Taehyung by surprise when he pulls the boy by the wrist, presses him to his chest, buries his nose into the curve of his neck, and just cries.

Taehyung wants to ask what's wrong, why are you crying, but he lets Jungkook's tears soak his shirt instead. Jungkook hiccups through his sobs and that sound fills Taehyung's ears and his heart with dread.

Taehyung rubs soothing circles across Jungkook's back and guides him to the couch, where they sit down, still entangled in each other's arms. Taehyung has never seen Jungkook look so weak before and, more than anything, it makes him feel scared because what could possibly happen to reduce Jungkook into this crying mess?

Taehyung decides to save his questions for later and just focuses on telling Jungkook things that will calm him down, make him feel safe – because Jungkook has done this for him so many times before, and it's only beginning to dawn on Taehyung how hard it is to be strong for someone when you don't even know why they're crying rivers on your chest.

"God, sorry," Jungkook sniffs after what seems like hours of being ensconced in Taehyung's warm embrace and lulling whispers. "Sorry for breaking down on you like that. That was so stupid."

Taehyung vehemently shakes his head. "It's okay. I mean, it's okay to cry sometimes. But, um, why were you... why did you..."

"More like why wouldn't I break down." Jungkook exhales sharply through his nose. He leans back into Taehyung and lightly nips at his collarbone. "I just had a bad day."

"I had tons of bad days," Taehyung counters. "but I've never cried that hard over one."

Jungkook lightly flicks his forehead. "Different people react differently," Jungkook says. "Everything just went wrong today, that's all, and I couldn't handle it."

Taehyung mutters a "why" into Jungkook's (remarkably) soft hair.

"Just... an accumulation of all the little bad things today," Jungkook sighs. "Are you sure you want to hear this? This will be really long and whiny and lame."

"Of course I do!" Taehyung laces their fingers together and squeezes. "You were freakin' crying so hard. We can't just sweep that under the rug and forget it."

"Okay, mature one," Jungkook sighs as he shifts to make himself more comfortable against Taehyung's chest. "It's just... this one minor thing happened... then another, then another until I couldn't handle it anymore because nothing was going right and it's like someone was playing a joke on me."

"I really won't get what you're talking about unless you're willing to do more elaboration," Taehyung teases him. Jungkook bites down on his collarbone harder than necessary in retaliation.

"Ow!" Taehyung gasps and slaps Jungkook's arm.

"Do you want me to tell you or not?" Jungkook asks.

"Of course I want you to," Taehyung mumbles.

"Then stop being a smartass," Jungkook laughs softly. "Come on, my back hurts, let's relocate to the bedroom." They untangle themselves from each other (not quite an easy feat) only to link their limbs again on the much softer surface that is Jungkook's bed.

"So what happened, hyung?" Taehyung asks eagerly.

"You seem questionably excited to hear about my bad luck," Jungkook clicks his tongue.

Taehyung just lets out a long, frustrated sigh because he is so done with all of Jungkook's preludes.

"Fine. Let me tell you about my story—"

"What story— a bedtime story? Is that it? Are you tucking me in? To sleep?"

"It called A Series of Unfortunate Events," Jungkook says, ignoring Taehyung.

"You can't use that title. That's plagiarism."

"Glad to know you've been studying."

"Please get on with the story. Please."

"You really want to hear me suffer?"

At this point, Taehyung clenches his fist and lets out a huge breath. "You're almost worse that Minnie, hyung."

"Who the fuck is Minnie?" (Taehyung would not admit that hearing Jungkook say "fuck" in any kind of hostile tone makes him flinch because he's still not quite used Junkook swearing.)

"My friend! Jiminnie..."

"Oh... oh-kay."

"What's with that tone, hyung?" Taehyung frowns at him.

"You made matching nicknames for each other?" Jungkook asks. "Taehyungie and Jiminnie?"

"Hyung, you know it's not like that," Taehyung whines, letting a hint of his usual childishness slip through (or is it really him that is being childish?).

"Ah, why are you getting all defensive—"

"Hyung, the story!!!"

"Okay, okay.... You impatient little..." Jungkook clears his throat. "Remember this morning, I couldn't find my other shoe?"

"Yeah. You were going ballistic."

"That's exaggerated— I was not. It was just some little stupid thing that happened, but now I feel that it was some sort of warning. Like a 'shitty day ahead' sign."

"Oh, I know this one—it's foreshadowing!" Taehyung bounces excitedly.

"Very good," Jungkook pecks Taehyung's nose. "And then, after I did find my other shoe – which was, by the way, in the bathroom for some strange reason – I couldn't find the car keys. Which is just stupid because I always place it beside my wallet but, for some reason, I didn't do that last night."

"Oooh, sign," Taehyung nods.

"And actually, after I found my keys and drove us to school, I realized I forgot my laptop so I had to drive back home. It was so awful because we had this brief faculty meeting that none of my colleagues thought to inform me about."

"Hah! Wow, hyung, you're really unpopular among your coworkers. They all hate you," Taehyung laughs.

"Oh, now you have the nerve to talk to me like that? If we were in class, I'll make sure you stay behind—"

"To check papers for you," Taehyung rolls his eyes.

"No. To fuck you on the desk," Jungkook says with a perfectly controlled blank face, and Taehyung is mere seconds away from either turning into a tomato or combusting.

Jungkook clears his throat. "Anyway, when I finally got back to the office, the meeting was over and I got— Well, I got reprimanded for being late."

Taehyung cannot help but snicker because it's so laughably ironic. One of the things Jungkook can't tolerate is tardiness. He hates it so much that every time Taehyung arrives just a little bit late for their after-school dates, Jungkook gets all grumpy until Taehyung smothers him with kisses. And it's not any different when it comes to his students. Once Jungkook steps inside his class, he no longer accepts students who come after him.

"Funny, I know," Jungkook scoffs and rolls his eyes. "So, usually, in the mornings, I organize the papers on my desk into three categories."

"I know, I know! Papers to check, papers to record, and papers to return," Taehyung recites solemnly and Jungkook smiles and ruffles Taehyung's hair.

"But the thing is," Jungkook continues. "The papers for your class were missing. I looked all over my desk and drawers and I even went back to my car and checked my fucking trunk."

"But, hyung," Taehyung interjects. "You brought those home yesterday, and you checked them already."

Jungkook sighs. "I know, but I was too dumb at the time to remember that. So I still looked everywhere and then I looked at my watch and realized I was late for class."

"Oh, that's why," Taehyung nods. "Is that why you were in a bad mood in class, hyung?"

Suddenly, Jungkook glares at him. "No. That was because of you."

"Me? Why me?" Taehyung squeaks. "I didn't do anything!"

"You kept on texting and smiling at your phone like some kind of idiot," Jungkook frowns. "Who were you texting?"

"Minnie," Taehyung shrugs as nonchalantly as he can. "And I told him you were in a mood and he said something weird, like, he said you were probably jealous because I was texting him."

Jungkook looks at Taehyung and, after a few seconds, kisses both of is eyelids. "And? Did you believe him?"

"Of course not! I told him that that's impossible."

Jungkook pinches the bridge of his nose. "Your friend is smarter than you."

"What—you mean it's true?" Taehyung almost hits Jungkook's chin as he suddenly sits up, and Jungkook just nods with his eyes closed.

"You were jealous? Over Jimin?" Taehyung groans and rubs his face into Jungkook's neck. "And you cried... I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Jungkook says. "I was just emotional," he snorts. "Guess I'm still young if I'm still qualified enough to go through these things, huh?" Taehyung just laughs.

*

They just lie – like some kind of human knot – under the blankets for half an hour. Jungkook runs his fingers through Taehyung's abnormally chocolate-smelling hair. Taehyung breathes into the space between the pillow (Jungkook mentioned a thread count before but Taehyung promptly forgot what it even was) and Jungkook's neck. Then, Jungkook ruins the moment.

"Don't you have homework to do?"

Taehyung rolls his eyes because he knows Jungkook can't see him. "I cut classes, hyung, remember? Because my precious wittle baby had a bad day, and I must make him feel better." Taehyung tightens his arms around Jungkook's neck and smothers his cheeks with cute baby kisses.

"You and your classmates are going to have to make another essay. And you know it will be your fault, right?"

"Don't you get tired of reading those? We just write complete bullshit," Taehyung whines. "It would make the trees better if we would stop using them to print essays with content equivalent to ass wipes."

"The fact that you can even think of a comparison like that is proof that you've improved," Jungkook comments. "You were really shitty the first time but... now, you're slightly less so."

Taehyung snorts. "That's because you proofread my papers, sir."

"But you wrote everything."

"Hey, isn't it my turn to make you feel better? Stop making me feel better!"

"I'm already better because of you."

"Ew, so cheesy."

"Shush, I'm still young enough to be cheesy."