Nurse Kim arrives, the quiet click of her high heels preceding the squeaking door handle. There are rumours that she occasionally gives out sweets to the students she likes. If she's friends with Minjun's sister, she won't be considering Taehyeon on that list. He will have to find something else to cleanse away the acidic burn of this moment.
"My throat is hurting a lot. I should try to get some sleep," Taehyeon hints. Minjun, for all his fabled ignorance, picks up on that meaning.
After wriggling his way off the bed, Minjun closes the flimsy curtain, cutting Taehyeon off from the rest of the nurse's office. The reminder of a promise made not too long ago is repeated a few times before Minjun goes to whisper to his sister's friend. Eventually he leaves. Nurse Kim taps rapidly at her computer keyboard and the rain patters steadily against the window.
The ambient noise of the office, the low trundle of a fan, the occasional flipping of pages, and the sounds of lessons leaking through the walls, ooze along with the passing minutes. Nothing is significant enough to mask anything as stupid as Taehyeon's tears. Half-successfully, he holds his frustration back. He won't waste these swirling thoughts.
← Kim Bada
Mo Taehyeon
I'm sorry. You deserve better. I'll fight anyone who wants to hurt you.
14:08
It is a while before he gets a reply.
← Kim Bada
Kim Bada
???????????
Whatever that means, I love you.
14:23
As stupid as it may be, this must be the only thing good about this entire day.
***
For all his emotional threats earlier, Taehyeon doesn't quite understand how the day is continuing as he was told it would.
"You were really cool," Minjun laughs as they're waiting at the bus stop together.
The two of them arrived late and are well out of the cover of the bus shelter. A lot of other students just missed a bus too so Taehyeon knows he'll be lucky to get onto the next bus at all, let alone get a seat. By the time that becomes the present problem, Taehyeon hopes that Minjun might give up on this supervised commute.
"Hearing how loyal boys can be was such a big surprise. You actually made my heart flutter," Minjun says. His smile is so wide that only star sparkles can penetrate through his eyelashes. "I want to be as cool as you are."
Taehyeon doesn't have a clue what is going on. He very clearly disagreed with Minjun and was ready to fight him just a couple of hours ago. If not for the fact Minjun is complimenting him on it right now, Taehyeon would swear he dreamt the whole thing.
"You're already cool."
Several students have already greeted Minjun on the way to the bus stop and asked him to go and hang out. Nobody has ever randomly seen Taehyeon and asked if he wanted to go to karaokeorba PC café.
"I'm not cool," Minjun splutters. He hesitates for a moment, looking oddly expectant. He drops his certainly empty backpack in a puddle and swings his blazer off his shoulders. Standing on tiptoe, he holds his blazer over Taehyeon's head like a very ineffective canopy.
"You don't need to—"
"You're sick," Minjun says sternly. "You might get more sick if you stand around in the rain."
Taehyeon isn't sick, he was barely injured. And then he overreacted so that he could sit out of the afternoon lessons. Then again, he might be sick. Under the cover of Minjun's blazer, out in full view of everyone else, Taehyeon can smell Minjun's deodorant and the odour it is meant to be covering. Taehyeon is a freak. He needs to be thrown in jail immediately because he is enjoying this way too much.
"What's wrong, are you getting wet? Let me make sure you're properly covered."
Minjun makes the problem a lot worse. Taehyeon must look like an old lady with Minjun's blazer wrapped over his head like a shawl. The resemblance goes no further than that. There's no way an old lady would be fighting for her life the way Taehyeon is right now.
He might as well just shove his face in Minjun's armpit if he's going to keep wondering whether this is enough to murder his social standing at this school. Anyone finding out just how much he's enjoying this would be appalled. Taehyeon is appalled with himself too. Minjun is happy to make it all worse.
"I should have worn a coat to school. If I'd worn a coat, you'd be more protected from the rain."
He's pretending not to shiver whilst just wearing his school shirt and the red t-shirt underneath. It's close enough to winter that this is concerning. Of course, Taehyeon doesn't have it in him to be concerned. He's toasty and warm in his coat with Minjun's borderline stinky blazer draped over his head. This doesn't even make sense. It's stupid and weird. And all Taehyeon can do is laugh.
Surprised for just a moment, Minjun laughs too. He grins, his teeth very loudly clattering against each other.
"Actually, I think this was better after all."
There is no way this is the best turn of events. This is so stupid. But Taehyeon can't stop laughing.