Gossip
Becoming BulletproofThank you for reading! <3
The blue-haired boy yawned, scrubbing a hand through his hair as he tried to wake up. The gym teacher was out sick, and the class was given the choice to play sports on any of the fields, or ride horseback, or practice Taikwondo in the school dojo. Seeing as none of these options appealed to Namjoon, he had skirted out (no one was really there to notice him leave) and went for a jaunt around the grounds away from the fields. He was still trying to get a feel for the school layout, and was sick of getting lost - he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to map everything out in his brain.
He decided to start in the places he knew best and then branch out from there, rather than wander aimlessly and get himself lost again. So he started towards the Information Tech wing of the school. But as he neared the library, he noticed a milling crowd of highly talkative students bunched around the doors. It was an unusual sight.
He sauntered up to the crowd, trying to look like he was just another student in one of the Info Tech classes. Once he had sidled in comfortably, he turned to a girl beside him. She was texting animatedly, grinning behind her long dark hair at whatever she was typing on her bejewelled phone.
“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked nonchalantly. The girl looked up, and stared at Namjoon. Her dark eyes raked over his silver blue hair and rumpled uniform. She looked unimpressed.
“Huh?”
“What’s the deal? Why is everyone just hanging out here?”
The girl glanced back down at her phone, apparently uninterested in Namjoon’s presence. “Ah, someone pulled a prank in the library.”
“A prank? What kind of -”
“Go look for yourself, door’s open. Geez.” She flipped her hair impatiently and walked away, face still buried in her cellphone.
Namjoon frowned slightly - maybe his azure-haired charms didn’t work on every girl - and then took her advice and pushed straight past the other students and into the library.
To his surprise, almost three quarters of the school computers were filled by students. Namjoon had never seen so many people in the library, not even close. The librarian, as well as the principal and a few other teachers were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to shoo students away from the computers to no avail, looking quite harried and a little pissed off. In fact, the librarian was absolutely steaming.
“This is a complete flouting of the school rules, not to mention misuse of school property!” she squawked furiously, voice high and harassed. “It’s not just the library! The Info Tech and Art classrooms were hit too! In fact, it seems every computer in the school…”
Namjoon finally managed to catch view of a computer screen, and had to stop a huge grin from plastering itself traitorously across his face. Every single screen was black, with little green figures moving in sequence across them. He recognized the old arcade game immediately. Space Invaders.
Sneakily, he grabbed one of the few empty seats in front of a computer, now grinning madly. A group of students nearby laughed and shouted excitedly as they watched each others’ screens. Staring down at the keyboard, Namjoon tapped one of the arrow keys experimentally. It worked - his little green tank moved. Chuckling heartily, he began shooting at the space invaders, enjoying the nostalgia immensely. It was even more fun than he remembered, and especially so under the circumstances. More quickly than he’d expected, Namjoon beat the game. Still grinning at Taehyung’s handiwork, he got up to leave, when a message flashed across the screen.
“Nice work. I love aliens. How about you?”
-V
“ ‘V’, huh?” he said under his breath, watching as a “Play Again” button popped up underneath. “Interesting nickname kid.” He smiled to himself. “I like it.”
Suddenly, the librarian was breathing fire down his neck, and he decided it would be best to scamper out while he could. He could hear students whispering to each other about the mysterious prankster as he exited through the doors. Still smiling, Namjoon decided he’d have to give his young tutor some major kudos next time they saw each other. And also, he added mentally, ask him about that extra laptop.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The cafeteria was abuzz with conversation, even more so than usual. Students jumped between tables and cliques, spreading news about like honeybees to nectar. The sweet nectar of gossip; and there was a lot of it today.
“So, how do you think they did it?” wondered Hoseok, linking arms with Jin as they wandered towards the vending machines. His hyung sniffed irritably.
“Who cares? It’s a stupid prank. Space Invaders,” Jin snorted derisively. “How predictable.”
“Really?” Hoseok quirked a lip as he leaned up against the drink machine with one arm, inspecting the goods. “Sounds like you’re just bitter about someone managing such an awesome prank.”
“As if!” scoffed Jin. “Awesome my …”
“Hey, stop bragging about your .”
Jin made a loud sound of disgust and Hoseok laughed. The young dancer pointed at the bottles of drinks behind the plexiglass. “Whadaya want Jin-ah?”
The older boy, who had been busy frowning, reluctantly looked at where his friend was pointing. “…Strawberry milk please,” he asked humbly. Then, suddenly his warm brown eyes became large and round. “Hey, Hoseok! What’s that on your wrist?”
The younger jolted, snatching his hand away from the plexiglass, and tugging his shirtsleeve down. “Nothing.”
“Did you hurt yourself? That looked like fingerpri -”
“No, it’s nothing. Honestly.” Hoseok put on his brightest smile, eyes closing into little arches. “I was practicing my dance routine a little too hard last night and must have accidentally bruised myself. No big!”
Jin’s round eyes narrowed noticeably. “You should be more careful Hobi.”
Hoseok just tilted his head at his hyung, still grinning widely. “Aww, is my hyung worried about me?”
“Yes,” said Jin bluntly. “You’re my best friend and I care about you. And if I thought anyone had hurt you at all -”
“I told you, I must have done it while practicing. It’s just a little bruise, doesn’t even hurt!” Hoseok grabbed Jin’s arm and linked it with his. “Hey, why don’t we go to the café down the street instead? We both have spares next block. And we could get strawberry bubble tea instead. Your favourite,” he sang, winking at his friend while exploiting his weakness.
Jin sighed. “Fine. I was going to use it to study but I’m so distracted today… the talent show has me all stressed out. I just had one group drop out which totally screws up the entire setlist… and the teachers are on my back about everything…”
“Common’ Jinnie. Let’s go get some yummy bubble tea and you can tell me all about it.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Did you get in a fight or something?”
“No… what, did you hear something?”
“No. But how’d you get that bruise on your face?”
“Oh, I… slipped. Doesn’t matter.”
Namjoon watched his new friend with concern. The senior boy in the patchy jacket and green hair seemed to be nodding in and out of consciousness as he sat against the outside wall, poking at his lunch with a listless pair of chopsticks but eating nothing.
“You okay dude?”
“Uh,” Yoongi started suddenly, blinking his dark eyes as he turned to Namjoon. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just didn’t get much sleep. S’all good.”
Namjoon frowned, but didn’t press the issue. He merely grabbed the container of rice noodles as they tipped from Yoongi’s limp hand and placed it back safely on the boy’s lap. “You up for freestyle tonight? It’s cool if you’re not.”
The older boy’s eyes flicked open again, this time wider, as if he was determined to keep them open. “Oh yeah, definitely. I’ll just sleep in study hall. Maybe history too. I sit in the back and Mr. Woojin doesn’t usually notice. I need to practice.” The fire was back in his eyes, if flickering somewhat more weakly than usual.
“Oh yeah? You write some new stuff?” Namjoon asked curiously.
“Yeah. Well, sort of.” Yoongi sighed. “Most of it’s complete crap honestly. But I think there’s some stuff I can build on. Anyways, I always get better ideas in the moment.” The boy nodded to himself with a fresh enthusiasm. He looked down at the noodles in his lap as if just noticing them, and then finally took a big bite. “I’m stoked you’ll be there again,” he said with a full mouth. “We can bounce lyrics off each other.”
“Yeah!” replied Namjoon with matching enthusiasm. “I’ve written some really good stuff in the past few days, thanks to great the practice I’m getting with you.”
The corner of Yoongi’s mouth quirked slightly at the compliment. He looked over at Namjoon, his smile tired but gratified. “Yeah man. It’s great to have someone to rap with for real. You know, you’re not gonna get out of doing a show now that I’ve discovered how good you are.”
The blue-haired boy made an amused sound. “We’ll see. Let’s just make it through a rap session tonight.” He glanced at the older boy, whose eyelids were sliding closed again. “You sure you’re gonna make it?”
“Mhmmm,” mumbled Yoongi, leaning his light-haired head back against the wall with closed eyes. “Just wake me up when the bell rings, ‘kay?”
“’Kay,” smiled Namjoon. He grabbed the rice noodles from Yoongi’s lap and finished them off as the other boy started to softly snore.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“That prank is nothing. Didn’t you hear?” Jimin’s voice was hushed, half-moon eyes wide as he whispered to a small group of juniors, all sitting in the hallway against their lockers. Their lunches lay forgotten. “Min Yoongi totally went crazy this morning. My friend Yeonho saw the whole thing. He threatened to break all of Jung Hoseok’s bones if he ever looked at him again.”
One of his friends shivered. “Hoseok better be careful! Yoongi’s not a guy you want to be on the bad side of. I heard he’s got connections to the mob.”
“I heard he stabbed a teacher in juvie,” whispered a girl on Jimin’s other side. “And he killed some kid in a bathroom for looking at his package.”
“He just beat that teacher up,” corrected Jimin factually. “The kid in the bathroom is the one he stabbed. I dunno if he died though. Probably.” He stared widely at the other kids. “Do you think I should warn Hoseok? He never seems scared of Yoongi at all.”
“Stay out of it Jimin,” recommended another girl, gazing at the young man intensely. “You’ll only get in trouble if you end up on Min Yoongi’s radar.”
“Ah, but I already am,” lamented Jimin, sighing heavily while running a hand through his dark hair in distress. The girls gasped, hands flying up to cover mouths, as the guys gaped. “Yeah I know, it’s terrible. But I guess it was just a matter of time ‘til he noticed me.”
“Oh Jimin!” cried one of the girls, reaching out to grab his hand. “Please be careful! Hanseong High needs you!”
“Yeah, yeah,” nodded another girl vigorously, snatching his hand away from the first, who glared at her venomously. “You’re too handsome to die young Jimin. We can’t let the attractiveness of the school slip! We need you!”
“Ah, ladies,” Jimin murmured, grabbing both of their hands in his, letting dark hair fall into his eyes and looking up at them through the strands. “It is a cruel fate. But I know I’ll be okay as long as I have perfect girls like you to hold onto.”
The two guys in the group started glaring at Jimin, and he noticed barely in time. Luckily, he spotted two other students he knew, and hastily jumped up. “Ah, sorry folks, I just realized I have to ask Seokjin-hyung something important about the talent show -”
Sprinting away down the hall, the young ladies’ man bounded up to Hoseok and Jin. “Hey guys!” he called out, eyes becoming curving crescents over his big smile. “How’s it going?” Voice lowered, he confided in the older boys. “Please save me, I think those guys over there might want to beat me up in a second.”
Hoseok laughed, and Jin quirked an eyebrow. “Well if you weren’t such a flirt,” started Jin, trying to sound scolding but unable to keep a small smile off his face.
“I’m not flirting, I’m just being nice!”
“Bull.”
Hoseok laughed even harder at Jin’s blunt statement. The student council president rarely swore. Jimin pouted a bit, then rounded on Hoseok. “Hey, what are you laughing at? I’m not the only one people want to beat up,” the young man said, looking pointedly at the dancer.
Hoseok’s laugh cut off abruptly. He kept the smile on his face, but it was suddenly mask-like. “What’s your point?” he said, a veiled threat lingering in his tone and his eyes. Jimin caught onto it instantly, used to being threatened; Jin just looked at them both curiously.
“Ah, nothing hyung,” said Jimin hastily. “Forget I said anything.”
“Alright.” As soon as Jin looked away, Hoseok leaned into the younger’s ear and whispered, “You would do best to forget too.”
“Yes hyung,” muttered Jimin quietly, avoiding the older boy’s gaze. “But -” curiosity burned in Jimin. “You should be careful about Yoongi-hyung -”
“I said forget it,” snapped Hoseok under his breath, plastering a big grin on again as Jin turned to look back at the two of them.
“Are we going for bubble tea or not?”
“Yeah yeah, calm your jets Jinnie. They won’t run out of strawberry.”
“They did that one time last summer, you remember?…”
“And you barely survived, yeah I remember. It’s January, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
So I did this chapter in a few little parts! Hope you enjoyed it! :) Haha Taehyung is a little prankster genius eh? ;)
Aaaaand now, for your enjoyment, the one and only Sleepy Yoongi!!! <3 <3 <3
(Seriously, there are so many pictures of him sleeping, it took way too long to choose and I almost just got lost for hours in another pic/gif saving spree)
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