There’s a sense of harmony in the air, accompanied by the bright-eyed, glowing faces of his peers as Jimin strides into the cafeteria for lunch. Instead of the usual hum of conversation, everyone sounds more pleasant, more alive. More people are smiling despite being in an educational building.

                 Strange.

                 He figures it’s because midterms are over, or maybe it’s just a nice day out. The answer becomes clear when Hoseok swings by and dumps a load of chocolate (the edible kind) onto their lunch table. “Thank me later yuh bums,” he greets brusquely, sitting down.

                 Taehyung picks one up and blinks at the red-green foil. “What’s the occasion?” he asks. “Don’t tell me you bought all this chocolate for fun. Not that I mind.” He unwraps the foil and pops it into his mouth.

                 “Secret Santa,” Hoseok answers while eating several at once. “We had a group thing in class. I grabbed the biggest thing out of the bag and got all of these beauties.”

                 “Secret Santa?” Jimin plucks one piece out of his lunch. “But it’s only December 1^st.”

                 “Yeah, it’s pretty late.”

                  Taehyung unwraps another one, biting into it. “They taste cheap. What’d you contribute?”

                  “Some tweezers… what?” He frowns when they frown at him. “Do I look like I’m made of money? Somebody could have a use for those!”

                 “Like I said, cheap!” The other boy snorts. “We should do Secret Santa too!”

                 “There’s not much use doing it between four guys…” JImin mutters, stirring his food.

                 “Wait.” Hoseok looks around. “Four guys? Where’s Namjoon?”

                 Taehyung glances at the empty seat in front of him. “Dunno, we were waiting for both of you but I guess he’s hiding somewhere again.”

                 “He’s over there,” he scoffs, pointing across the room. “I’ll be right back, kiddos.” They watch as Hoseok approaches Namjoon, briefly speaking with him before forcibly dragging the robotics leader out of his seat and towards their table. “You belong here, . Sit and stay.”

                 Namjoon nods obediently, waving at the other two. “Hi.”

                 “Hey, buddy!” Taehyung grins and shoves half of the chocolate pile towards him. “Eat up.”

                 “… Okay."

                 “To friendship!” he says, raising a chocolate.

                 “T-To friendship.” Jimin does the same when Taehyung jabs him in the ribs.

                 Namjoon smiles and raises one as well. “To friendship.”

                 They look at Hoseok, who’s caught shoving fifteen pieces into his mouth. “ friendship,” he shouts, “I have chocolate!”

                 They chuck their candy at him.

--

                  “Where’re you going?” Taehyung asks when Jimin rises from his seat.

                  “I’m buying candy grams,” he replies, fishing change from his pocket. “They’re selling them in the atrium.”

                  “Whoa, did you actually listen to the broadcast today?” Hoseok teases as he splits a brownie with Namjoon.

                  “No,” Jimin deadpans. “Someone texted me about them.”

                  “Al-ing-right, mate.”

                 Taehyung starts grinning. “Was it Yoongi who texted you?”

                  “Y-Yeah…?” Jimin utters, uncomfortable with the smirk his friend is giving him. “What about it?”

                  “Nothing, nothing. It’s nothing.” He waves him off. “I’ll be expecting a candy cane from you!”

                  “I want one too!” Hoseok chirps. Namjoon nods vigorously, probably because he’d also like a cute message attached to dollar-brand candy canes delivered to him as Christmas nears.

                  Jimin frowns and points at Taehyung. “If I don’t have enough money for all of you, you’re not getting one.”

                  The guy takes offense. “Hey! I didn’t stick around for twelve years to not get a candy cane!”

                 He laughs while excusing himself. A short walk out of the caf brings him to a table in the main hall. It’s been meticulously decorated with plastic wreaths and tinsel, and students are lined up in front of it to buy candy grams as well. He stands behind a girl to wait, just before noticing that everyone who came to buy a gram are all female. Now he’s self-conscious.

                 A familiar voice rings in his ears, causing him to stiffen at the low sound. Jimin leans to the side to see and sure enough, Yoongi is sitting there with a pair of reindeer antlers attached to his head. He slides back into place and breathes; it’s been a while since they’ve last seen each other.

                  The line moves quick and Yoongi is quick to notice him. “Hey, you.” He waves coolly when Jimin reaches the table.

                  “Hi,” he replies, sliding a couple coins towards him. “I-I know you told me to buy candy grams, b-but I didn’t know you were running the booth too…”

                  “I’m not, technically.” Yoongi takes the money and throws it into a lockbox. “I’m just doing someone a favor. Give him four,” he says to the girl sitting next to him.

                  “Sure.” While she’s reaching into a box to grab some papers, Jimin notes that she must be a student council member (pretentious gold badge on lapel). “Here you go, Jimin.”

                  “Thank you…” He picks up a pen and starts writing on them before pausing, “W-Wait, how did you know my name?”

                 The girl falls back in surprise and starts laughing. “Oh, . I’m sorry, it’s because Yoongi talks about you like, all the time.” She nudges the guy who loses his expression. “We’re in photography together, and he just rambles—!”

                  “THANK YOU DASOM,” Yoongi says loudly. Jimin notes his lack of denial. “Please ignore her.”

                  He doesn’t. “W-What d-d-does he say?” Jimin stammers, feeling his cheeks heat up.

                  Before Dasom opens , Yoongi cuts in with a stern tone. “I told a couple people that you’re the junior I hang around a lot, and I distinguish you by your monolids and stutter.”

                  “Hey wait, at least quote yourself properly,” Dasom says. “You said he has ‘pretty monolids and a cute stutter—!”

                  He presses his hand against her face and gives Jimin a pointed look. “You done writing those messages yet?”

                  “… U-Um, almost…” The younger boy looks down, pressing his lips together. He fidgets. “I-I just don’t know the homeroom teacher for one of them.”

                  “Give it here.” He makes a grab for his grams, but Jimin lifts them out of reach. Yoongi frowns. The tiny bells on his antlers jingle when he moves. “Give it! I’m in Yearbook, I know all the teachers.”

                  Jimin unwillingly hands him his messages and braces himself.

                  “To Taehyung,” Yoongi reads aloud. “Merry Christmas.”

                  “D-Don’t read them!”

                  “To Hoseok,” he continues despite the protest. Dasom can’t stop giggling. “Merry Christmas. To Namjoon, Merry Christmas…’ What the hell, man. These are pretty generic. I don’t know what you’re so worked up about.”

                  Jimin watches him flip to the fourth message and sinks down onto the floor, wishing the tiles would swallow him whole.

                  Yoongi blinks. He squints at the tiny slip of paper and snorts. “You’re sending one to me?”

                  “Y-Yeah…” Jimin stands upright and scratches his cheek. “Surprise.”

                  The guy smiles. “To Yoongi-hyung,” he reads. “Merry Christmas.”

--

                  “Apparently, Yoongi-hyung talks about me,” Jimin starts once he gets back to the table.

                  Taehyung looks up with half a sub rammed into his mouth and offers him a chocolate. He speaks, but his words aren’t coherent past bread and ham.

                  Hoseok grimaces. “Don’t talk with your mouth full mate. It’s gross.”

                 “Tae said, ‘why wouldn’t he?”

                  He whips his head towards Jimin. “You can understand him?!”

                  “But why would he talk about me to his friends?” Jimin frowns. “I-I’m not interesting.”

                  Taehyung garbles a few more sounds.

                  “Yeah, you might be right…”

                  Hoseok groans. “At least speak in a language that the rest of us can understand!”

                  The orange-haired kid swallows and clears his throat. “I said, Yoongi doesn’t have any friends.”

                  “I feel that,” Namjoon says quietly.

                  Hoseok smacks him upside the head. “We’re your friends, we. And anyway, what’s so special about that Yoongi guy?”

                  Taehyung holds Jimin’s thigh down before he stands to argue.  “You got beef with him, Hoseok?”

                  “All of Broadcasting has beef with Yearbook,” he replies. “It’s an old rivalry.”

                  “Doesn’t the Broadcasting team hate everyone?”

                  Hoseok clutches his chest in shock. “How dare y’all make me out to be some emo person!”

                 Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Anyway, it’s not like it’s weird for people to talk about you, Park Jimin. I do. You’re popular in your own right.”

                 Jimin blinks rapidly. "A-Am I?"

                 Hoseok snorts. "You're friends with the flashy kid with orange hair. His popularity rubs off.”

                 "Yeah, so Yoongi talking about you to his non-existent friends isn't weird."

                 "I-Is it weird if he said I had pretty monolids and a cute stutter?"

                 They all stare at him. “… That’s pretty ing weird.”

                 Jimin groans, shuffling the rest of the chocolate into his mouth. “I don’t want to be popular.”

if you see a chapter that's mostly of lunch table talk,
it means the chapter is filler and I don't know what I'm doing C: