Hatching

Learner's Permit

July 23, 2017

"Alright, are you ready?" Ha Eun asked cheerfully. Dawa looked at her, staring.

"Ready for what?" He was petting Astrid as she sat on his lap. The other boys were somewhere in the house doing who knows what.

Ha Eun sighed at her patient and then realized he was probably so focused on studying, that Dawa forgot why he was studying. Over the short time she had spent with him, she learned that that was the type of person Dawa was; he would do something, a task, an activity, anything, with 110% effort, gives it his all and more that by the end, he would no longer have remembered why he was doing it, just that he had to do his best.

She gave him a smile and shook her head fondly. "To take the test to get your learner's permit. We have to go to the office."

Dawa's face frowned. "Oh, right. Of course, so that I can learn to actually sit behind the wheel. Right." Ha Eun can already see the dark cloud forming in his head. The fear, the anxiety, the traumatic memories.

"Hey, listen. We're taking baby steps here okay? Just think of the next small step. What is the next step?"

"The next step is to pass the test," Dawa answered. "I'll be ready, give me a few minutes." Ha Eun nodded, exiting the room. "I'll be out in the front." She shouted.

Meanwhile, Dawa was running around the house, frantically searching for his shoes, but he only ran into Hobi and Jimin.

"What's up Hyung?"

"Looking for my shoes." He said and then looked out the window only to see Jungkook with Yeobo, wearing his shoes.

"Where are you going? Is your session over?" Hobi questioned. If he remembered correctly, he was still supposed to be in his verbal therapy session.

He was running late, Dawa knew that. "I'm going to take the test, at the office. You know for the learner's permit..."

There was a pause, he didn't expect anything really. Maybe a "good luck" or "you'll do great." What he got was neither of those things. Instead, he got two, "I'll come with you." His eyebrows raised unconsciously.

"Why? You don't have to. It'll probably be really boring and it's going to be a waste of your time. Besides, what if people recognize you?"

"Um, you mean what if people recognize us." Another voice entered the conversation. "You're also an idol, remember?" Yoongi reminded Dawa. "And anyway, I'm sure Ha Eun called the office the other day to get an empty room for you to take the test. We can just hang in there. Do-Hwan should come though, just in case."

"I'll go get him."

~~~~~~~~~~~

And so, Ha Eun had four extra people, unexpectedly, in her car. "It's great that you guys are coming to support him." She chimed as made a turn.

"Yeah, too bad we won't be here for the actual test." Jimin pouted at the thought of not being there for him in the future.

"Who knows, it might take him some years to get used to sitting behind the wheel. So, you might be there." She tried to comfort them. Dawa, however, was not talking. He refused to sit in the passenger seat and instead let Jimin sit there. Yoongi and Hobi didn't care much, and Do-Hwan was too busy looking up the directions that by the time he was about to walk towards the passenger seat, it was too late.

Hobi watched as Dawa picked at the sides of his fingernail beds. He never noticed how damaged they were. 'Had he been doing that every time we were in a car?' Hobi could not recall seeing this detail but he guessed that Dawa had. Hobi kept watching Dawa pick and scratch the sides of his fingernail beds thinking Dawa would stop. He wasn't stopping.

Dawa felt warmth at first. He slowly brought his gaze down and saw where the warmth was coming from. Hobi's hand. Hobi had placed his hand over Dawa's, to prevent him from doing any more damage to his fingers. It stayed there until the car was parked. Dawa was calmer now. Calm enough now that he was on solid ground and knew he had his members. 'Right now, they're more of my best friends than my members.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dawa knew the answer to every question. He knew who got the right of way and when. He knew what the different signs meant, he knew the rules and regulations. He knew everything. He understood how cars coexisted with one another on the road and how they co-exited with pedestrians. It did give him peace of mind knowing all of this. Knowing that there is order was comforting. Passing the written test was fairly easy, considering he had studied for it for about a month.

He got his picture taken for the learner's permit and the boys hollered and hugged as if they had won an award. Really, they were in and out without any complications. No one else was at the office except for the staff and the staff was very professional, even knowing who these people were, they stayed nonchalant in a professional way.

"I think we should get ice cream at that ice cream shop we passed as a celebration," Hobi suggested. They all agreed.

As they ordered and ate their ice cream. Yoongi took a picture of Dawa's Learner's permit and sent it to the group chat.

"The others are proud of you. Jungkook and Taehyung are sad that they didn't come. Jin is mad because 'we're having an "ice cream party" without him and you didn't invite him to come along. Namjoon said he was proud but not surprised that you passed so easily."

"Yoongi, why are telling him this when he can just read it?" Yoongi shrugged.

"Good job," He said and started to walk back off to the car, the others following him.

They were about to get in the car, Jimin in the front, Dawa in the back with the others but Ha Eun stopped. "Dawa, why don't you sit in the front? We're like 5 minutes away." Dawa's breath hitched. He could hear his blood rushing in his ears, and that made him feel a bit queasy. 'Just for 5 minutes. You can do it, lad' He repeated in his head. He nodded and sat in the passenger seat, nonchalantly. But as soon as the engine started, he could no longer hide his fear.

His body reacted on its own, and before he knew it he was out of the car, out of breath. He hadn't even realized how uneven his breathing had gotten. He was on solid ground but his legs felt unstable.

Ha Eun thought for a moment and nodded as if she was having a conversation in her head. 'He's not ready for that. His body responded with flight. I'll try tomorrow.' She looked back at Jimin. "You can sit up front if you want. I'm not going to force him to sit up here." She smiled at Dawa. "It's okay, you can sit in the back. It's good that you tried. We're proud of you."

Dawa nodded and sat gingerly on the leather seat in the back next to Hobi. Without even thinking about it, his thumbs started to etch at the edge of each other, damaging the skin. And again, Hobi placed his hand there, this time, looking at him.

"You did well." The words felt warm. Yoongi noticed this interaction and he nodded in agreement, whilst smiling. It felt like home. 

A/N

Sorry for keeping you guys waiting! I was having writer's block for this story and then I got an idea for a brand new story and decided to make a whole playlist and Pinterest board for it. I hate it when that happens, but motivation hit me so that's good. I hope you enjoyed it!

Question: what country are you from? 

I'm from the U.S. 

Have a great day/night and stay hydrated! 

~ da vinchen

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