"Is that true?" Natsuki pestered him, almost clinging onto the sleeve of his shirt, "Fumiya-kun?!"

"Of course it is true," he turned his head towards her, an exasperated yet gentle sigh leaving his lips.

"It's not that I don't believe you, Fumiya-kun." she quickly changed her tone of voice to a sweeter one sensing the irritation in Fumiya's voice, she smiled once again, "I'm just happy."

"Yeah, yeah, your best friend is coming to visit you after all!" Fumiya was so close to roll his eyes but he suppressed the urge.

"Best friend?" Taehyung couldn't help but chime in. He had been too curious to stay put now.

"Oh, do you remember the cat guy we talked about before? Apparently, he is coming back for a visit soon." Fumiya answered, partly saving Taehyung from his curiosity but, he was still not perfectly satisfied with the answer.

"Fumiya-kun? Are you.... jealous?" Natsuki lowered her eyes, squinting at him.

"Why jealous?" Taehyung exclaimed, his heart doing a funny, unusual thump.

"Because he is my best friend now, and if Yoongi comes back, he is afraid that his place and attention will be snatched away from him," then she turned to Fumiya, "right, Fumiya-kun?" her eyebrows wiggled with mischief.

"What?" Fumiya scoffed, acting cool, "as if I have anything to be afraid of!" he stretched his tongue out at Natsuki, showing her how he didn't care.

"We will see that!" Natsuki giggled, scurrying away towards Taehyung who had been observing their conversation.

"Yukio, do you want to go somewhere with me this weekend?" she suddenly asked, looking up at him, her chin high in the air as she adorned her usual smile on her face.

How could have Taehyung refused such face? So, he agreed. He had nothing else to do anyways. It was the weekend and there were no upcoming exams in near future, that's why he could relax.

Fumiya was watching them all this time, thinking about something as he looked at Natsuki who talked on and on about the most random thing and Taehyung still listened with interest.

"Yukio-kun!!" Natsuki was in the middle of saying something random when Fumiya yelled out, instantly dragging Taehyung away from her. Taehyung was startled yet didn't flinch but Natsuki was the one who gasped.

As soon as she realised what was going on, she clasped Taehyung's other hand, refusing to let go.

"Where are you taking him?" she questioned, putting all her strength in pulling him back.

"Oh gosh! Suki-chan, let him go, I need to talk to him about something." Fumiya refused to back down as well, standing his ground.

"Why? What is so important? And why can't you talk in front of me?" she bombarded him with questions.

"Because it is... it is-" he failed to find words in time and his grip loosened.

"What is it, huh? Now you are so jealous, you're thinking about stealing Yukio from me?"

Silence. Dead silence fell upon them as soon as the words slipped off her tongue.

"I mean-"

But Fumiya didn't listen and continued to drag Taehyung towards the classroom door. Since Natsuki held no chance against Fumiya's strength, she got dragged too.

"Where are you going so suddenly?" she whined, shaking her head in the process.

"To the washroom," Fumiya stopped pulling him and turned around, "do you want to come?" his expressions were serious as he knew Natsuki will not be able to protest anymore.

Her face changed, embarrassed and a little upset as her lips cascaded downward into a pout and she let go of Taehyung's hand.

"Fine!!" and she stomped away, back to her seat.

Meanwhile, Fumiya had already pushed Taehyung inside the washroom, looking side to side as he made sure no one was present besides them.

"Uh, what's the deal?" Taehyung finally let out, watching Fumiya's sudden strange behavior.

"There's something you should know, Yukio-kun." he said with all the seriousness he had in him.

Taehyung nodded nervously, giving him proper attention as he prepared to listen, propping his hands on the basin behind his back, leaning backwards because Fumiya was a bit too close as he tried to keep his voice low.

"So the thing is," he continued after a pause, "this Saturday, I need you," Taehyung's expressions were priceless as his face contorted with horror when Fumiya paused again. His words were a bit.....

"W-what do you m-"

"I need you to come and help me prepare a surprise for Natsuki-chan." Fumiya quickly completed his sentence.

Judging by Taehyung's change of expressions, it was obvious that he was relieved but now he was curious as well.

"Surprise?"

"Yes, it's her birthday!" he exclaimed, smiling again.

"Oh?" Taehyung took a sigh of relief. So it was nothing serious, huh?

"You almost scared me, Fumiya-kun." Taehyung chuckled as the last ounce of nervousness fled from his body.

"Did I?" Fumiya genuinely looked confused as if he didn't have Taehyung cornered in the- supposedly -empty school washroom with his serious face.

"You didn't have to be so secretive," Taehyung laughed, looking around the empty space and that's when Fumiya realized. He backed up to give Taehyung some space to breath.

"Sorry about that," an awkward smile flashed on his face but it soon vanished, "so, you're free to help, aren't you?" he asked, expecting a positive reply.

"Of course! It's her birthday after all."

"Then it's settled! I will text you the details later." he clapped his hands once and the school bell rang. It was time to go back to class.

By the time they entered the classroom, the teacher was already there but it wasn't too late so he let them in and thus, Natsuki couldn't interrogate them. Later, on the way home, she had already forgotten about it all so Taehyung didn't dare bring up anything related to it.

•~•~•

"Can't you slow down?" Fumiya huffed as he put a hand above his eyes, casting a shadow to see in the scorching sunlight.

They were headed towards the train station, situated in the outskirts of the prefecture. It wasn't too far away so they could go by feet. It was bigger than the one in their neighborhood.

"This is not even considered fast." Natsuki replied, excited to welcome her old friend.

"It is for me though," Fumiya complained but Natsuki ignored him.

"Uh, is it really okay for me to be here?" Taehyung was a bit awkward, walking behind them. As he didn't know this Yoongi guy, he felt odd suddenly going to welcome him.

"Of course! Now you're a part of our group too so you must be present." Natsuki turned around in a heartbeat upon listening to his voice, even her steps seemed to halt a little.

"Alright, if you say so." Taehyung smiled at her and her steps slowed down.

She glanced at Fumiya who was walking beside her and said, "Fumiya-kun, here, take this bouquet," she handed the hibiscus flower bouquet to him, "Yukio looks nervous, let me give him some emotional support." she then turned to Taehyung, now matching his pace.

Fumiya blinked in utter surprise at how straightforward she was, but soon got back on track after simply shaking his head. Natauki gave Taehyung a sweet smile as she walked beside him.

"Why am I stuck between these two?" Fumiya sighed as he heard Natsuki giggle behind him, but didn't glance back even once.

The bucket hat on Natsuki's head protected her eyes from the sun as her hair peeked down from the crook of her nape. They swayed slowly in the warm wind, tickling her skin now and then.

Half of her face was hidden in the shadows until and unless she looked up at Taehyung whenever he said something.

"Let's get some ice cream on our way back." Taehyung suggested, fanning himself with his hand.

"Right? It's really needed!" Natsuki agreed, looking back at him.

Now that he had mentioned it, she could see it clearly. He must be so hot, she thought as her eyes scanned his face.

His neck was covered in sweat, his hand did little to nothing in cooling it down but he walked cheerfully without a complaint. His hair were falling over his forehead, tickling his eyelashes which moved once in a while, blinking away the visible heat. His once bouncy hair were now damp and stuck to his skin under the heating sun. Even after all of this, Natsuki thought that the sunlight kissing his skin was so beautiful.

Her eyes lingered there for a moment too much.

"Ah?" Taehyung was startled, stopped dead on his feet as he almost stumbled when Natsuki reached out her hand, ruffling his hair as coolness spreaded all over his forehead. However, his cheeks felt rather hot.

"Uh? Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought," she quickly retreated her hand, staggering for words, "that it might help you cool down a little."

Fumiya was far too ahead of them to listen to them which saved her from another embarrassment.

"It's alright," even if he had looked a bit troubled just a second ago, now he smiled fondly at her, "thank you," his own hand reached up to rest on Natsuki's head, "Suki-chan." he finished with a smile that showed how thankful he was.

"Oh," she laughed, "it's nothing, really!" her eyes were unstable until she finally looked down, the tip of her ears tingling with heat.

The heat, as we all know, was not because of the sun.

The next few minutes were passed in complete silence as Taehyung thought about how Natsuki had to look up to meet his eyes and how she tip-toed to reach up to his face and how she gently ruffled his hair with an innocent look on her face. He found it cute and couldn't help but smile at the fresh memory.

Natsuki, however, was thinking about something else. As they got closer and closer to the train station, her feet also got happier and she almost skipped all the way to the station. She was excited.

They quickly ran up the stairs to the platform. It wasn't too crowded yet but everyone minded their own business, some were even engrossed in their mobile phones while a headphone sat on their head.

When Fumiya put his foot on the platform, one of the trains were already speeding up as it whooshed by without much noise and a swarm of people approached them.

Uh-oh! Seems like it's going to be crowded soon.

Fumiya raised his hand up, protecting the flower bouquet from getting ruined. He didn't have the time to look back and warn the other two before he was already brushing past various people.

"We should have entered through the other gate." Fumiya muttered under his breath as he tried to find his way out of this ruckus.

"Oh.... no!" Natsuki exclaimed as he saw Fumiya disappearing between the crowd.

"Suki, grab onto me or we'll get separated." Taehyung said it to her but didn't wait for her to do as he said, instead, he was already grabbing her wrist and pushing forward, apologizing on his way whenever his shoulders brushed with someone.

He kept Natsuki close to his body, not wanting her to stumble on her feet. Knowing how clumsy she was, even if he had literally picked her up, she'd make both of them trip and fall.

Well, literally or figuratively, doesn't matter.

The footsteps of the crowd slowly grew further and smaller inside their ears as they finally walked out of the swarm of people. It was too hot!

"Here he is-" Fumiya turned around, wanting to tell Natauki but as he did so, she ran past him, jumping and giggling as she yelled out for Yoongi who also wore a big smile on his face, waving his hand from across the platform.

"And there she goes..." Fumiya sighed, standing beside Taehyung who blankly looked at his empty hand, where just a second ago, Natsuki was holding onto. She disappeared like a gush of wind.

Just how special is this Yoongi guy? Taehyung wondered, his sight finally falling onto the said person.

■□■□

Idk where this story is going... 🤷🏻‍♀️
Anyways, vote and comment please! ♡