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Keep hold of my hand

Summary:

Taehyung met Jeongguk when he started at his kindergarten. He grabbed onto Jeongguk's hand and showed him around his tiny world.

12 years later, they are still holding hands. They cling onto one another as life starts to rip them apart, both inside and out.

The only thing they cannot do is let go.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Bag Hooks and Crayons

Chapter Text

The lively sound of chatter fills the classroom.

Two-dozen small children mill about, colouring with bright crayons, stacking Lego and chatting happily. Light shines in through the open windows along the back wall of the room, and dust can be seen lazily drifting down through the sunbeams. Multi-coloured posters line the walls and crude artwork is displayed proudly on Pin-boards. A young woman keeps a watchful eye on her students, helping them adjust their pencil grip and write their names. A young boy is seated cross-legged next to her, his chestnut brown hair is untidy and appears to have numerous twigs caught in it. He grins widely and holds up a piece of paper as if showing it off.

“Miss Park! Look at how well I wrote my name!”

She studies the untidy scrawl, making out a barely legible collection of letters.

“Oh my goodness Taehyung, you have improved so much, have you been practising at home?” She asks, a fond smile on her face.

“Mm-hm, I sure have, Mum makes Tae Tae practice once every single day.” He responds with a nod, his eyes bright with accomplishment. Miss Park chuckles and pats him on the head.

“Well, keep up the good work. Now, go put your pencils away, it’s almost time for Roll call.”

Taehyung nods and clambers to his feet, throwing his pencils and crayons haphazardly into his bag before darting off. He hangs the bag on his hook, above which his name is written in big letters. There’s an empty hook beside his own, and he pauses a second, wondering whose it is. His teacher's bright voice cuts through the chatter,

“Okay, everyone! It’s time for Roll-Call! Can you please pack up your things and come sit on the on the floor”.

The kindergartners scramble to put away the toys they were preoccupied with and find a place to sit at the front of the room. Taehyung sits next to a small girl with bright clips in her hair, Wow… he thinks, amazed at how pretty they are. I wish I could have clips to put in my hair. He decides to ask his older sister if she has any later on. However, his fascination is cut short, when Miss Park takes a seat in the front of the room and starts checking off everyone’s name. When she calls him, he raises his hand enthusiastically and shouts

“HERE!”

to accompany it. When all the children are marked present, she stands up, her long skirt flowing slightly in a breeze from the open windows.

“Okay everyone!”she says, hands clasped in front of her,

“Today is an important day because we have a new student joining us!” Excited gasps echo around the room and the children squirm in excitement. Taehyung grins, I spelled my name right and I get a new friend? What a day! He sits up a little straighter when Miss park goes to the door of the class and opens it. She turns around and gently pulls along a small boy. Taehyung tilts his head to the side to get a better view. He’s small and thin. Dark brown, almost black hair falls down over his eyebrows, he has round cheeks and the most adorable brown eyes. Taehyung can’t look away. This new kid is ADORABLE! He thinks excitedly as the teacher comes to a halt in front of them. The boy clings onto her hand tightly and looks at the floor. Miss Park squeezes his hand comfortingly and speaks to the students,

“Guys, this is our new student, Jeon Jeongguk. He just moved here from Busan.” She looks at the boy and murmurs quietly to him

“Hey, Jeongguk, can you say hello?” He blushes and raises his head minutely.

“H-H-hello… U-Um my name is J-Jeongguk and uh it’s S-so nice to meet all of you.” He says so quietly half the children miss most of his words. The teacher smiles and speaks to the class in a firm voice

“Jeongguk is a little nervous about starting a new school, so please be welcoming to him.” Taehyung is tempted to jump up, this kid seems so cool, He thinks, we’re gonna be friends for sure.

“So I’ve assigned Jeongguk a buddy to show him around the classroom” The kids buzz excitedly about this new kid and who would get to show him around.

“Taehyung, you’ll be helping Jeongguk out for a few weeks okay?”

She says, smiling at Taehyung, who looks absolutely elated. His mind is going a mile a minute, as he grins excitedly. His mind teeming with happiness, YES! Omg YES! I get to show this new kid around and we’re going to become besties instantly! A few kids mutter in disappointment but Miss Park shushes them.

“Alright, calm down, It’s almost 10 o’clock and you all know what time that is!” The children laugh and jump up

“Morning tea!”

They shout rushing towards their backpacks. Miss Park calls out to Taehyung as he stands up, “Taehyung, come and introduce yourself to Jeongguk!” He skips forward happily, grinning. Jeongguk raises his head slightly to look at Taehyung and their eyes catch, his face is still slightly red.

“Heya!” Taehyung says loudly, sticking his hand out to Jeongguk like he’d seen in movies.

“My name is Kim Taehyung and I’m 5 years old. From now on we’re going to be best friends. Kay?” Jeongguk looks startled at the forward introduction but reaches out to shake his hand.

“U-um okay, I’m Jeonggu-“

“I know silly! You told everyone earlier!” Taehyung says, cutting him off mid-sentence. Jeongguk blushes even more and dips his head,

“O-Oh right. Sorry.” Miss Park chuckles at the two’s slightly awkward introduction.

“Alright Tae, show him around for me okay?” He nods at his teacher and grabs Jeongguk’s hand, it’s a bit sweaty but Taehyung decides not to point that out. He yanks him away and they stumble towards the bag hooks.

“This is where we hang our backpacks, that empty hook here can be yours! It’s right next to mine!” Jeongguk nods and hangs his bag up next to Taehyung’s. Tae grabs his hand again, pulling him around the room. He shows Jeongguk the drawing desk, the mat, the whiteboard and the sink. He explains where the bathroom is and how they each have a toilet pass.

“Look! Here’s yours!” He says gesturing towards the pop stick with ‘Jeongguk’ written on it. Jeongguk nods again, hair covering his eyes.

“Why don’t you talk?” Taehyung asks bluntly coming to a halt.

“My Dad says it’s rude to not respond to someone.” Jeongguk squeaks and Taehyung is shocked to see his shoulders begin to shake. Oh no, He thinks why is he crying?

“Jeongguk!”

He says grabbing the boy’s shoulders. Tears are running from his large, doe eyes and his lower lip trembles.

“What’s wrong? Was it what I said? Sorry if I was mean! I just wanna be best friends really badly…”

He sighs and looks down, feeling guilty, I’ve only known him for a bit, but I already made him cry?

“N-no…”

A shaky voice says. He looks up at the speaker who is still crying quietly.

“It’s not you… I-I’m just really scared around new people, a-and I miss my Mum…”

Oh

 Taehyung thinks and grabs the boy in a tight hug.

“It’s okay, I was scared too on my first day, but it’s super fun. Miss Park’s the nicest adult ever and the others will share their crayons!”

Jeongguk slowly wraps his arms around Taehyung, returning his hug, his sniffles dying down.

“Th-Thanks… Sorry for crying…” He mumbles into Tae’s ear. Taehyung let’s go of him and look him right in the eyes.

“Don’t say sorry! You’ve done nothing wrong!” He smiles widely and brushes away a stray tear from his cheek. Jeongguk manages a small smile in return.

“Uh, I would like to be your friend Taehyung…” Tae grins so wide it feels like his cheeks are about to fall off,

“Of course! We’re going to be the best of friends!” Jeongguk smiles wider and laughs slightly. Taehyung pulls him towards their two bag hooks. “Let’s go outside and eat our morning tea! I’m starving!” Jeongguk chuckles and follows. From next to one of the open windows, their teacher watches on quietly, while the children play outside. She smiles gently at the two boys as they skip out the other door to eat, they giggle and grasp the other’s hand tightly.

Neither wanting to let go.

Notes:

Wow... This is my first fanfic and I'm really happy with the 1.5k is has right. now I really want to continue this story and I hope that you all enjoy it! Comments are welcome!
<3