“Hey, new kid.”

                  Jimin looks up, mouth open to correct the fact that he’s been in the neighborhood his entire life and is most definitely not a new student. He presses his lips together when he remembers his place in an experienced, well-established dance squad; he is the new kid. “Y-Yes?”

                  The boy addressing him is distinct by his lean, lanky, and aloof exterior. He’s got a bit of a curly head, dark tresses of hair framing his face. “Are you gonna introduce yourself or what?” he says, voice low enough to sound intimidating.

                  “O-Oh, um, y-yes.” He looks upon the rest of the group who take no shame in eyeballing him. They’re gathered in a small circle in the middle of the dance studio, and he considers it too close for comfort. “I-I’m Park Jimin, a junior. Th-Thank you for accepting me so late into th-the year.” He bows.

                  The small girl standing next to him starts giggling. “He’s a cute one.”

                  Another female, this one marked with sleek eyeliner and blonde hair, nods as well. “I like his face,” she mutters, her arm hanging on Curly-Head’s shoulder. “You wouldn’t expect him to be a dancer.”

                  “He’s not cuter than me!” A boy suddenly springs into action, placing peace signs next to his face as forms of exaggerated charm. He’s noticeably shorter than the other boys, probably nearing Jimin in height. “I’m still the cutest one here!”

                  “Of course you’re still the cutest, Soonyoung.” The first female leans closer to Jimin and whispers, “you have to tell him that at least once a day or we’ll never get anything done around here.” She looks up at him and smiles, all while curling her ponytail around a finger. “I’m Jane. Soonyoung and I are both freshmen, but we’ll teach you well.”

                  “Hey, hey, don’t outdo the seniors in charge, girlie.” The badass-motorcyclist girl from the other day speaks up. Today, she’s wearing her hair in the tiniest bun and smacks a of gum. “I’m Min. You might know, but I’m the team’s co-captain along with Seokjin.”

                  “Who happens to be late again today,” says Curly-Head. “Is he even on the team?”

                  Min thwacks him across the chest. “No more sass, Jongin.” She turns back to Jimin with a reserved smile. “The kid with a bad perm is Jongin, the pretty face next to him is Seulgi—”

                  “They’ve got a thing,” Jane whispers. “But not really.”

                  “Those kids are Jane and Soonyoung, obviously,” Min continues, pointing at each member. “And the tall thing next to you is Yugyeom.”

                  Jimin looks to his left and recognizes the big kid with wild piercings. “H-Hi, Yugyeom.”

                  The guy claps him on the shoulder. “Fancy seeing you here, man.”

                  “You two know each other?” Min asks.

                  “We had science together last year…” Jimin replies, shyly scratching his neck. It’s hardly been five minutes and he already forgets everyone’s names. Maybe it’s because he’s been trying to stop his legs from shaking the whole time introductions were being passed around; he’ll have to live somehow.

                  The short boy (S-Soonhyung?) coos. “So I guess you two have… chemistry?”

                  “Shut up, Soonyoung.” Min glances at the door when it swings open. “… Hey, Jin.”

                  Everyone chimes in with a variation of ‘hi, Seokjin’ as their leader strides into the room with a thin box. “Hello everyone,” he says, giving Jimin a nod. “I bought donuts. We’ll be having them after practice if you all work hard today.”

                  “Bribes aren’t going to erase the fact that you’re late virtually every week,” Jongin mutters, walking off to stretch.

                  Min belatedly calls for a warm-up session before she starts discussing the day’s agenda with Seokjin. While everyone breaks off into their respective corners, Yugyeom taps on Jimin’s arm and leads him towards the back.

                  “It gets kind of intense around here,” he says, working out his legs. “Like, unspoken tension and stuff. You might have to get used to petty drama.”

                  Jimin frowns as he sinks into a split. “I-I mean, as long as it has nothing to do with me…”

                  “It usually doesn’t, but I just wanted to warn you.”

                  “Oh.” He offers a grin. “Thanks.”

                  The other boy shakes his head. “Nah man, thank you. The only other second-years were Jongin and Seulgi until you came around. They’re nice once you get to know them, but they’re kind of wild around each other so you’re always third-wheeling. I was wondering if I’d have to stick around the freshmen, even though they’re happy kids. So thanks.”

                  He laughs. “No problem, man.”

--

                  Namjoon whimpers and gazes at the door with a flash of terror in his eyes. “Taehyung, please… I’m not cut out for this.”

                  Taehyung tightens his grip on the other male’s wrist. He looks right into his eyes and mutters, “you’re doing this whether you like it or not, young man.”

                  He cries out, making an attempt to set himself free. “Taehyung, I can’t!”

                  “You have to!” Taehyung forces him through the gym doors. “HI, ME AND MY FRIEND WOULD LIKE TO TRY OUT FOR THE PING PONG TEAM!” he announces to no one in particular.

                  A couple lasses look up at them with blank stares. “… Are those boys?” one of them whispers. They’re all wearing matching orange jerseys and looks like they’re in the middle of a match. “I never thought I’d get to see one…”

                  Taehyung coughs. “… Are you accepting new members?”

                  “Y-YES!” A girl with bouncing pigtails shouts, looks at the other girls to confirm, and shouts again. “YES! We are holding tryouts today! My name’s Lizzy, and I’ll be observing your skill in game. Let’s have you boys play each other!”

                  Namjoon lets out a shriek. “Actually, I can’t—!”

                  “HE CAN’T WAIT!” Taehyung interrupts, pulling him towards a ping pong table. “Come on man, just do this one thing for me,” he whispers as they’re being handed paddles.

                  “Why does it have to be me?” Namjoon bemoans, loosely holding his paddle as if it were a bug. “I have to work on our bot for nationals—!”

                  “Because I don’t want to tryout by myself and you lost a coin toss with Hoseok,” he explains. “You don’t even have to get into the team, just accompany me for now. I’ll buy you food.”

                  The guy grumbles, toddling over to his side of the table. “Just don’t expect me to play well…”

                  “Alright!” Lizzy claps her hands with the biggest grin on her face. “Let’s see how you two play. Since our team is obviously kind of small, we won’t mind taking in both of you, but we’ll see. Ready? Get set, pong!”

                  Taehyung serves the ball with a clean hit to his paddle, and Namjoon misses it by a mile. There’s a bit of silence as the ball starts rolling away on the floor.

                  “… You know you’re supposed to hit it, right?” the orange-haired boy breathes, picking up another one. “Don’t flinch like it’s about to murder you.”

                  “I-I can’t be too sure.” Namjoon adjusts his glasses. “I’ll hit it this time.”

                  Taehyung tosses another serve. By some miracle, his opponent manages to strike the ball even though he squeezed both eyes shut. He gets ready to return it before watching the ball fly right into the net.

                  There’s another bit of silence as the ball rolls off the table and hits the floor.

                  “… Namjoon?”

                  “… Yeah?”

                  “Just go home.”

                  “Okay.”

--

                  It’s only been a half hour since he’s officially joined the dance team, and yet Jimin is completely blown away by the amount of talent residing between the studio walls. He’s been witness to an upbeat duet by the freshmen, a slower one by Jongin and Seulgi, and more than several crazy stunts by Min, Soonyoung, and Yugyeom.

                  They also pressured him into performing a number as well; though he can’t figure out why they cheered so loudly even though he did half a song and made a mistake towards the end.

                  Seokjin calls for their attention and they group up in the center again. “I thought the lot of you would like to know,” he starts. “But the drama department has reached out to me regarding an upcoming musical… and they would like us to arrange the choreography.”

                  The group rattles with excitement. “What sort of musical is it?” Soonyoung asks, bouncing up and down.

                  “It’s a modern take on Hamlet, the Shakespearean thing,” Min answers. “Mind you, they want us to do all the choreography because they know about dance. So we’ll be distributing the workload amongst you kids.”

                  Seokjin nods while pulling out his phone. “I would like Soonyoung, Yugyeom, and Jongin to work on the main character, Hamlet’s pieces, and Seulgi will handle the queen and king’s parts. Jane, please take care of Ophelia’s monologue. Min and I will cover the rest.”

                  “The musical is premiering before the spring break, so we’ve got around one and half months to come up with something and teach it to the actors.” Min looks at Seokjin and nods. “Show us what you have next meeting. You’re dismissed.”

                  Jimin isn’t all that surprised about his lack of assignment; he is new after all, and it’d be weird to be involved in such a large-scale project like the musical. He starts gathering his things and has one arm through his coat when Seokjin approaches him.

                  “Do you have a moment?” the senior student says, the same smile still gracing his face.

                  He looks at the door and sees the last person, Yugyeom, waving at him before he leaves. Jimin waves back and blinks up at Seokjin. The fact that they’re alone again is unsettling. “Y-Yes, sunbae?”

                  “I know this might be overwhelming since it’s your first day,” he says. “But we’re in need of someone to choreograph a specific piece for the musical. Min and I were hoping that you would be interested in this task?”

                  Jimin takes a moment to buffer this information. He splutters, “m-me? I c-can’t possibly—!”

                  “Everyone else has their assignments,” Seokjin replies, turning a ring on his finger. “You’re the only one who is free. We would be thankful if you helped out, and wouldn’t it be an excellent way to make your mark within the team?”

                  He bites on his lip. “… W-What kind of piece is it?”

                  The guy smiles and laces his fingers together. “At the end, Hamlet fights Laertes before they both outrageously die. They want it to be a duet, sort of like a dance battle. It’s the biggest piece in the musical, so the actors are quite open to anything. That gives you some freedom, doesn’t it?”

                  “W-Wait…” Jimin swallows. “It’s a big piece?”

                  “No.” Seokjin blinks, tilting his head. “It’s the biggest piece... It’s the finale.”

                  His legs suddenly feel like jelly and he hopes the floor will turn into some sort of black hole should he fall down; he wants to disappear into the void. “I-I can’t— shouldn’t the captains d-do the finale?”

                  “Well, Min is quite busy with other affairs,” he says. “And frankly, my position as the dance team leader was handed down to me by the previous captain because she liked me. My knowledge on dance is very, very limited. There’s only so much I can do, so I’d like you to handle it. Is that alright?”

                  Jimin blinks more. “… I-I… okay. I-I’ll try my best.”

                  He grins and squeezes the younger male’s shoulder. “I know you will do well.”

                  The unsettling feeling in his stomach multiplies.

--

                  Namjoon in a breath of cold air, hastily pulling a pair of gloves over his hands. He wants to get home soon; Taehyung making him stay after school for a ping pong tryout he didn’t want to be in certainly doesn’t help any. He’ll make him buy food later.

                  He hobbles off school property and decides to cut through the park to get home faster. After all, his sister is already home and she’s probably waiting to have tea time or something. “No sense in making a princess wait,” he mutters, hurdling over a bench.

                  His shoe gets caught on said bench and his entire body lands in the untouched plain of snow. He sputters, attempting to get on his feet but slips on wet grass. Namjoon hits the ground again, vaguely wondering why such was his life when he hears flapping noises.

                  He looks up and notices a boy seated on the adjacent bench. His arms are stiffly posed in the air, and he’s looking up at the sky where a flock of pigeons are flying into the distance. “You scared them away,” the boy speaks.

                  Namjoon finally stands up, wondering why such a person would sit out in the winter cold to act as a roosting station when he recognizes the boy’s face. “… Are—Are you Jungkook?”

                  The boy turns to him and nods. “Jeon Jungkook, that is affirmative.”

                  He stares at this oddity for a moment before uttering, “I’m sorry I scared the birds away.”

                  “They will come back,” Jungkook says, looking at the sky again. His arms are still raised, ready to host some birds. “They always come back.”

                  Namjoon decides to spare him a moment; he’ll buy his sister a snack to apologize for being tardy. In the meantime, he stares at Jungkook as the boy fails to move a muscle, recreating the idea of a living statue. Within minutes, a whole horde of pigeons come flocking to his body, resting on his arms, atop his head, and around his legs as if he was the mother hen.

                  He’s not sure what part of this—scene—pushes the puzzle pieces together, but Namjoon realizes something while staring at the freshman. As if he was suddenly shown the answer to everything in life, he throws down his bag and picks up his notebook. “Can—Can I study you for a second? It won’t take long. I just need to write something down for Robotics nationals—”

                  “Do not scare the birds away,” Jungkook whispers, closing his eyes. “I am communicating.”

I smushed two different chapters together so you guys wouldn't have to suffer through them seperately
three cheers for pigeon!jungkook
I honestly don't know what the hell i'm doing with his charcter but I love Jungkook bye
also I usually update at 12am est, and if I don't update then it means I forgot ;; don't hesitate to remind me!