Lion and Deer
Lion and DeerIn case yoou missed the Forward.
Some terminology to look out for:
- Bread Shuttle - a person who bullies force to buy bread (or food in general) for them. Essentially a lackey.
- Ppang - a derogratory nickname used by bullies to call their Bread Shuttle. Literally means 'Bread/Bun'.
Cue Taeyang’s Ringa Linga playing in the background on a boom box carried by some of the cheerleaders. Cue crazy fangirls. Cue nerdy geeks with glasses hiding in the back. Cue a *bread shuttle walking in the front, his head drooping, and eyes downcast. Enters, Park Jimin with fanfare, confetti and his best friend’s arm around his shoulder.
Scene change.
Cue the muffled sounds of Epik High’s Fly emitting from deep blue headphones. Cue lazy steps shuffling towards the corner of the lunch hall. Cue huffs of annoyance during the Jimin Parade. Cue rolling eyes. Cue yawning. Enters Min Yoongi, slamming his books on table next to the window, increasing his Ipod’s volume.
Scene change.
***** ***** *****
“O- Op- Oppa,” a tiny girl with ponytails and red cheeks called as she stared up at Jimin with doe eyes. The entire cafeteria seemed to have stopped to watch and Yoongi side-eyed the scene with barely hidden irritation. He knew how this will end.
Jimin, his lips already aware of what she was going do, and raised an eyebrow for her to speak. Taehyung snickered in the back, slapping Jimin’s back with a characteristic “Oooh! ChimChim!” and continues to manhandle Jungkook, their *bread shuttle, with his arms around the scared first year.
“Oppa…” the girl began. Her lips trembled as she brought up the single pink cupcake in her hand. Jimin eyed the sweet before taking it from her with a grin. “I- I like you… Oppa.”
What Jimin did next, earned him cheers and woots. And Yoongi looked away bored because he was expecting something different this time. But, like all the other times this has happened before, Jimin smiled at the girl before turning to Jungkook.
“Ya, *Ppang!” he yelled, gesturing for the boy to come beside him. And when Jungkook was right next to him, Jimin shoved the cake into his hands. He dusted his hands off on the shivering boy’s shirt and snickered as he declared. “Take care of this for me, will you?”
And with that, Jimin fist bumped a snickering Taehyung. The two boys then got up and exited the cafeteria. The girl crying as she took the cupcake back from Jungkook without a word.
Jungkook hastened to follow the two soon after. Their bags hanging off his shoulders.
Yoongi banging his head to Kanye in the back.
*****
Namjoon glared at the boys in front of him with the burning intensity of the sun. He huffed a sigh and rolled his eyes and he steeled himself to start his lecture. Again.
“How many times have I told you two that the library walls are not your sketchpads?” His anger leaking from the pores. When neither Jimin nor Taehyung responded, instead choosing to whispers into each other’s ears, the student body president held his fists back.
Sensing the taller boy’s increasing annoyance Jimin tittered and his lips before he spoke. “Relax Joonie.” He patted the boy on his arm. “We’ll just clean them up like last time.”
Namjoon shoved the younger’s hands off himself and bit out. “Firstly, it’s Sunbae to you.” He pointed at the finger at the two relaxed boys and declared, “and you two are not going to be together this time. And no outside helpers!”
Taehyung scrunched his nose at the volume in the last sentence and winced spicily. “Calm down, Joonie.” He shoved the elder boy lightly and shared an impish look with Jimin. “We know you’re hormonal, but this is a library.”
Jimin turned to him just then and leaned down and whispered, “try to not sound like a .”
Namjoon didn’t punctuate the comments with a reply. Instead, he shoved the rugs and water buckets into the boys’ hands and walked away.
They were so not worth his time.
*****
“You take Ppang, I’ll find someone to do my side,” Jimin directed at Taehyung when the younger boy mentioned the lack of lackeys to work for them.
“Nah. It’s cool.” Taehyung shrugged and pushed Jungkook towards Jimin. “Just get him to finish the walls off on your side and then he’ll get to work with the one’s on my side.”
Jimin shoved Jungkook back at his friend and tiredly explained, “that’ll take too long.” He jerked his head towards Jungkook. “He’s too slow. We’ll be stuck here for the entire week.” Jungkook doesn’t speak during the dialogue, getting shoved back and forth between the two friends.
Taehyung nodded in affirmation and looked away, yawning. He was in the middle of taking a huge gulp of breath when his eyes locked on to the only soul in the library. The corner of his lips turn at the small figure huddled into the corner of the library beside the wall Jimin is supposed clean.
The boy turned to Jimin and jerked his head towards the pale boy. “He looks like he’d be great at cleaning graffiti off the walls.”
Jimin turned to look at the boy mentioned and smirked. And with a wink towards his best friend, marched off towards the boy with the dirt rag and bucket.
*****
Yoongi was in the middle of replacing the old beat on the song he is working on with a new melody, when a bucket very rudely obscured his view of the editing program on his laptop. The pale boy eyed the dirty bucket before looking up at the insolent who placed it there.
Jimin grinned amicably at Yoongi, which was a lie, and bent down beside the elder. He placed an arm around him and dragged his words as he spoke. “Let’s quickly get that wall cleaned off and we can both be done, hmm?”
And honestly, Yoongi wanted nothing more than to just slap the boy then and there. But he held his anger in as he gently, but firmly, removed Jimin’s arms from around him. He then proceeded to push the bucket away and turned back at the screen without so much as a word.
The younger boy quirked his eyebrows at that because this was clearly a first. Usually when he talked to someone either they responded back scared and agreed with what he wanted or yelled at him for being a nuisance. He shook his head and tried again.
“Hello?” Jimin pinched Yoongi’s ears. “I’m talking to you, okay?”
Yoongi turned to the boy with a scowl and let a frown mar his forehead. “I don’t care, so stop ually harassing me.” With that the pale boy turned back to his work, leaving in his wake a very amused Jimin.
Neither Taehyung nor Jimin got their walls cleaned off that night.
*****
Jimin leaned his back on the bookshelf right in front of Yoongi’s line of vision and with his arms folded across his chest, regarded the boy. “You thinking pinching your ear is ual harassment?” Jimin voiced, and Yoongi groaned at the distraction.
The elder turned to Jimin and with poison lacing his words exclaimed in whispered exasperation, “can you please just combust?”
At Yoongi’s choice of words Jimin sniggered and let his eyes glance at the pair on the opposite end of the library.
From where he stood, he could see Jungkook rubbing the rag relentlessly on the walls that seemed to not want to let go of the ink that covered them. He raised an eye brow when he saw Taehyung crouch down to take another rag in his hands and start to help he younger boy. But, before he could further ponder over the interaction he was distracted by the ending note of the song Yoongi was listening to.
Jimin pushed himself off the wooden structure and walked to take a seat directly opposite to Yoongi. He leaned over the table, on his arms and stared at the elder. “You’re older than me, right? Third year? Fourth?” When Yoongi didn’t make to respond, he continued unabashed. “I guess that’s where the cockiness comes from.”
Yoongi looked up to glare at the boy and pushed his headphones higher up his head. “Don’t you have work to do?” he retorted, pointing at the still dirty wall behind the boy.
Jimin chortled at the statement, his voice booming in the empty library. Yoongi winced at the noise but only increased his headphone’s volume, instead of giving a reaction.
And once again Jimin heard the same song being played. He scrunched his eyebrows trying to recall the song but it seems to be locked somewhere in his memories.
That night Taehyung didn’t leave until Jungkook finished the entire E section of the wall, walking back home with Jungkook in tow, carrying both his own and Taehyung’s bags.
That night Jimin waited until Yoongi had already left for his home. Sitting alone in the library, trying to recall the song over and over.
The wall on his side, still decorated with graffiti.
*****
“Yo! Jimin! Taehyung!” the cheers echoed the lunch hall as Jimin and Taehyung entered the room. And much like every day, Jungkook was trailing them with their bags on his shoulders, bun packets in hands.
Jimin bumped the fist that stuck out towards him and continued his trek to the table right in the middle of the room. He slid down the bench with a sigh and clicked his fingers. When Jungkook raced to his side he prattled off his order for the day.
“Make sure the stew isn’t too hot and get me some orange juice.” When Jungkook made to move, he pulled the boy by his tie and playfully growled, “and be quick.” Jungkook wordlessly nodded his head and turned to Taehyung.
Jimin watched Taehyung look away and burble off his order to the boy in a quiet whisper. The harshness in his voice, missing. He raised his eyebrow at his friend because he knew how much Taehyung enjoyed teasing Jungkook. Taehyung, however, simply shrugged at his questioning eye and Jimin nodded, looking away.
And that’s when he spotted him.
Yoongi, sitting in the end of the hall, in the corner table, beside the window. An unprecedented smile glowed on his face at the sight of the elder leaning over his laptop, headphones up. His attention was divided, though, when a first-year student, tripped over Taehyung’s shoes on his way back to his table, and spilled the grape juice he was carrying all over Jimin’s shirt.
A lull fell over the cafeteria as all eyes turned to the two boys in the center. Jimin slowly looked away from the pale boy and towards the crouching boy in front of him.
“I- I didn’t- I…” the boy stuttered. Staring up at the daunting eyes of Jimin.
Taehyung simpered and clapped Jimin’s back with semi-hidden amusement. Jimin stared at his now grimy shirt and screamed in the demonic howl of his. Slumping down heavily into the bench.
“What the ! This was my favorite shirt!” Jungkook came back just then, only to have Jimin shove against his shoulder as he exited the lunch hall heatedly. Taehyung following into his footstep, shooting a side eyed glance towards Jungkook.
Yoongi watched the scene with hooded eyes and a disgusted expression.
*****
Jimin sat drumming his fingers on the table beside Yoongi. With earphones plugged into his ears, the boy was unaware of the silent whispers of those around him. The students in the library were softly whining about the noise but refrained from speaking to Jimin about it. They were too scared. Yoongi remained unperturbed as he had his headphones stuck to his head.
Jimin found the elder both amusing and irritating. He enjoyed the way his words could rile Yoongi up but hated how Yoongi remained unaffected by them. Jimin just couldn’t understand Yoongi.
It was obvious Yoongi wasn’t scared of him. That much he’d realized after the first time they’d interacted. But, there was more to him than just that, Jimin knew.
For one, the elder was essentially a loner. He had no friends and always sat in the last table during lunch. From what Jimin had heard of him, Yoongi was a rather popular wallflower. Everyone knew him but no one wanted to be him or with him. He was known for his cold demeanor and an ‘I don’t give a ’ attitude. What didn’t make sense was why the boy wasn’t being bullied like most at his school, taking his scrawny body and loner behavior into account.
Jimin had a hard time trying to figure out why the boy wasn’t part of a clique yet but he had come to realize by now that Min Yoongi was a clique in himself.
Jimin shook his head and once again tried to initiate a conversation with the boy, this time trying his hardest to keep his voice down.
So, what are you doing?
Unless you’re blind or a retard, I’m sure you can tell that I’m doing Math.
Thus, ended the conversation, with Park Jimin sulking next to the pale boy.
The younger of the two boys soon started playing with Yoongi’s pencil, twirling it in his hands. But, the elder never bat an eye at the boy’s antics. He had many pencils after all and he was not one to get into drama. He’d avoided it for three years and he would avoid it in the future as well. Soon, however, Jimin got bored again. He changed his line of vision towards Taehyung’s side and the sight that met him had him frowning.
Jungkook seemed to have gotten a paper cut from his textbook. But what was odd was that Taehyung was leaned over the boy’s fingers, blowing gently on to them as he wrapped them with a bandage. His hand shaking.
Taehyung was afraid of blood.
*****
He’d been exiting one of the practice rooms after a tiring session when he saw it.
Yoongi was standing in the recording studio, eyes closed to the words, as he spit out fire on a melody Jimin had never heard before. His words crisp and the slight lisp in his tongue endearing. Jimin stood still listening to the boy let his feelings out in the form of swear words and moans and half breaths. The sheer intensity with which he pressed on his words making Jimin feel things.
As soon as the song came to a stop; Jimin could see beads of perspiration line Yoongi’s forehead; the boy escaped the studio before Yoongi could catch him staring.
*****
“You produce songs?” Jimin asked as he peers down at Yoongi’s laptop. It had been almost a week but neither Jimin nor Taehyung’s walls were any cleaner than the first day.
Yoongi turned to the boy slightly before turning back around. With a roll of his eyes he bit out angrily, “you’re in my personal bubble.”
A guffawed laughter echoed the empty library walls and Jimin could see Taehyung and Jungkook look at him from where they were seated on the library floor. He barely wondered what they were doing before reverting his attention back at Yoongi.
“I’m sure you’re excited by my mere presence.”
The pale boy scowled at the younger one and groused. “your breath smells, so please, move away.”
And thus, Yoongi won and silence prevailed.
Jimin glowered and rose to his feet, irately snatching away one of the phones from the table.
He didn’t wait up for Taehyung to leave this time.
*****
Jimin watched the police officer drinking beer from behind the bars, with a jaded expression. He rolled his eyes as he slid down on the brick walls and floors called out to the sour man.
“Come on Chief! I get to make a call!” When the man looked up at from his bowl of jajangmyeon, Jimin snorted. “Come on, dude. ‘Right to make a call’ and that , huh?”
The man slurped the noodles vilely and spoke through a full mouth. “It’s the ‘Right to remain silent’, you asshat.”
“Whatever.” Jimin simply rolled his eyes. “Let me make a call.”
The man slurped once again and got up from his seat, plucking off the phone from the receiver as he walked towards Jimin. He crouched down and in front of the bars and shoved the cordless device towards the boy through the iron bars.
“One phone call.” The handsome man warned, walking back to his desk. He nose-dived into his bowl of food once again, ignoring Jimin entirely.
Of course, Jimin was the unluckiest man on earth because no one came to mind when it came to bailing him out. Taehyung was obviously out of the question because the last time Jimin checked, Taehyung’s phone’s battery was one percent. Jungkook too wouldn’t make it because the boy was below the legal bailing age. And Jimin didn’t have any other friends.
He groaned and slammed his head against the concrete. His head lolled to the side and eyed at the ominous cellphone beside him. ‘Gloss’ emblazoned on the back of it.
“I can’t believe I got the wrong phone!” Jimin whisper-yelled.
The boy once again hit head on the wall behind him. A little harder this time. The officer looked up at the sound of his crown crashing on the stone wall and got up from his work station with a huff of petulance.
“Come on, give it back.” The handsome drawled.
Jimin let a pout grace his lips and leaned on the palms of his hands like a two-year-old and whined. “Hyuuuung! Come on!”
Of course, the man ignored the boy’s cries and merely wiggled his fingers at him. “I said one call.”
“I haven’t even made a call yet! Seokjin hyung, please!”
Seokjin huffed and placed his hands on his hips like their mother does. “Fine! One call!” He stood by the bars watching his younger brother urgently dial a number and wait for the line to connect.
“Yeah. Look I got your phone-“ Jimin began, listening the person on the opposite side. “Yes. Can you come get it?” He waits for a response and turns to his brother urgently, “what’s the address of this place?” When Seokjin tells him as much Jimin parrots the address and then cuts the line.
With a raised eyebrow Seokjin regards the young boy. “I didn’t know you had friends besides Taehyung?”
“I don’t.” Jimin responded sullenly. “It’s the guy who’s phone I picked by mistake.”
Seokjin snorted as he turns back. “You got lucky then.”
Jimin just stuck his tongue out to the man.
*****
“My phone?” Yoongi burred with an uninterested look. His hand jutting through the metal bars.
Jimin looked from his lap and let himself smile as he scrambled to his feet. “Bail me out.” He stated with an easy countenance.
“I’m a princess.” Yoongi countered.
The boy behind the bars gaped at the elder as Seokjin watched the scene unfold with glee. “What?”
The elder shrugged and calmly explained. “I thought we were stating things that would never happen and were ridiculous to even think about.”
Seokjin was bawling with laughter by now grabbing another bowl of udon from where he sat.
“Come on, dude! Help me out here!” Jimin spluttered.
Yoongi turned to Seokjin at that. “Can you have him tried for theft as well? He stole my phone.”
Seokjin hollered, “sure thing.” And Jimin almost had a heart attack.
“Yoongi!” Jimin desperately howled. When the elder turned to him, with pleading eyes Jimin whispered. “Please.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes and muttered “fine.”
Seokjin couldn’t decide whether he should enjoy this or not.
*****
“Thanks.” Jimin murmured while finally cleaning the library walls. Yoongi looked up from his music notebook and quietly observed the boy. The younger boy turned to find the elder staring at him and elaborated. “For bailing me out.”
Yoongi snorted. “What were you in for anyway?”
The younger ducked his head in and sighed. “My brother caught me shoplifting and drinking beer. And you were the only one legal enough to bail me out.”
“The officer is your brother?”
“Unfortunately.” Jimin pouted and something stuttered in Yoongi’s tummy.
Yoongi grunted once again and shook his head in hilarity. He watched Jimin scrub the paint off the walls. A stilled silence resounded the empty room and Yoongi chose to observe the pair at the other end of the library.
He could make out that Taehyung’s side of the library had already been cleaned but the two boys still visited the library. He also noted, how Taehyung would hide every time Jimin came into peeking distance of the two boys. And the elder also knew that Jimin could see them but feigned ignorance.
Yoongi then diverted his attention towards the boy closer to him. “Why do you pretend that you don’t know?” he questioned. Jimin quirked his eyebrows at the question and Jimin gestured towards the pair on the other side.
Jimin smiled as he dropped the rag into the bucket. He walked back to the table Yoongi was seated into and slouched in the seat beside the elder. “They don’t want me to know, it’s only fair I let them be.”
“Yeah, right.” The elder grumbled.
“What?” Jimin sounded offended.
Yoongi shrugged in explanation. “You’re a bully.”
“Am not!”
“So, humiliating people, insulting them and scaring them isn’t what a bully does?”
Jimin falters at the words before steeling himself for a counter reply. “But I- I never – “
With deadpanned eyes Yoongi cut Jimin off. “You humiliated that girl two weeks ago, when she confessed to you. And you keep scaring other students, like that day when Jaeseok spilt juice on you. You could’ve simply said ‘it’s okay’.”
The boy spluttered but bit back the curse words on the tip of his tongue, choosing to respond back rationally. “I never humiliated that girl. I simply asked Ppang to take care of that thing because I’m allergic to strawberries. And if you remember, I didn’t even touch that boy. I simply walked off.”
“What about Jungkook, then?” Yoongi retorted without missing a beat. “You two keep calling him that stupid nickname and always make him run errands for you. You don’t think that’s something a bully would do?”
Jimin didn’t respond at that, being at a loss for words. Yoongi went home early that day.
*****
Yoongi was, for once, eating his lunch when a tray was placed in front of him. He didn’t have to look up to see who it was, of course.
“Go away.”
Jimin simply settled further into the bench opposite to him and started munching on the rice in his bowl. The elder boy almost melted due to the burning gazes being sent his way. Of course, he ignored them when Jimin started talking.
“You haven’t been to the library for two days?” Jimin posed it as an observation but Yoongi heard it just as it was meant to be. An inquiry.
“So, you’re a bully and a stalker?” Yoongi raised an eyebrow while swigging on his juice.
Jimin looked up at that and grit his teeth at the elder. Yoongi, in all his nonchalance, ignored him. A silence settled around them and the next words Jimin spoke were in a hushed whisper.
“… I already said sorry to them.”
At that Yoongi jerked his eyes away from his own food and at the boy in front of him. “Why?” was all he could voice out.
Jimin only shrugged. He looked towards his usual table to find Taehyung sitting alone with a pair of earphones attached to his ears. Jungkook sitting a few seats away but on the same table nonetheless. The two weren’t talking.
“I think Taetae really likes him.” Jimin said after a long interval.
Yoongi shied his eyes away from the boy and watched him in an equal hush. “Wh- why are you telling me that?”
Jimin looked back into Yoongi’s eyes at that and time stilled for a mere fraction of a second.
“I think I really like you.”
*****
Seokjin was sipping on his coffee when Jimin entered his bedroom without so much as a knock. The elder looked up from the files in front of him and eyed the boy from over the rim of his mug.
“Care to explain to what do I owe the honor of your presence?”
Jimin rolled his eyes and jumped onto his brother’s bed with a huff. He stared up at the ceiling and sighed heavily. The younger lolled his head to the right and regarded his brother’s eyes that were directed right at him.
“Can you arrest me again?”
Seokjin spat of his coffee and ended up choking at the boy’s words. “That’s , you brat!”
The look of utter disgust colored Jimin’s feature as he shot up from the mattress. With an offended gesture the boy bit out. “I didn’t mean it that way, Hyung!”
The elder snickered cheekily at that and nodded with a smirk plastered to his face. “Gonna call ‘Gloss’ boy again?”
And for once, Jimin smiled at his brother.
*****
“I don’t understand why I have to come bail you out.” Yoongi sighed as he signed the required forms. Seokjin smirking behind the donut in his hand.
Jimin leaned on the bars and looked back at Yoongi without turning around. “You’re the only legal person I trust.” He turned and leaned through the bars, his lips forming into a smile as he pressed his face into the bars. “I love you that much.”
Yoongi looked up at Seokjin with a disgruntled face and curled his mouth in repulsion. “Doesn’t that count as ersion and is accountable as a civil offence?”
Seokjin guffawed at the boy’s words and shot Jimin a stern look. “He’s got a point baby brother. Cheap flirting and dumb pickup lines are not tolerable.” He turned to Yoongi and winked at the boy. “Back in the jail, little bro.”
Jimin gaped at his elder brother as Yoongi grinned at the scene of the two-brother squabbling.
He wouldn’t mind seeing Jimin behind the bars more often.
*****
Taehyung and Jimin were lounging during study hall. Their papers strewn around them. The first years and second years sitting in the same classroom with a single isle separating them.
Jimin restlessly tapped his pen’s tip on the still undone thesis, sighing every now and then. He sat doodling on the plain paper as he watched Taehyung stare at the crown of a certain bunny-toothed boy in the first-year batch.
“Is it mutual?” Jimin echoed his thoughts in a whisper.
Taehyung directed his eyes back at Jimin and grimaced. “I don’t know.”
The elder of the two friends patted his friends back with a gentle smile. “Try to find out then.”
Taehyung agreed with a box smile and grateful eyes.
*****
Yoongi was sitting on the tiled floor in front of the prison and Jimin opposite to him on the stone floor. Seokjin watched the pair from where he sat in his desk, smiling at the whispers he couldn’t make out.
“Do you have a ten?” Jimin asked from behind the fan of cards held in front of his face.
Yoongi took a while but soon looked up from his own cards and with a smug expression, smirked. “Go fish.”
The younger boy in turn groaned and pouted. “I hate this game.”
The elder rolled his eyes as he pulled the beer bottle through the bars and sipped on it. “You say that for every game we play.”
“I do not.” Jimin sulked as pulled the bottle of out Yoongi’s hand and sipped on. A pout forever etched onto his lips.
“Do too.”
“Whatever, I’m not playing.” The boy slammed the cards on the concrete like a two year old.
Yoongi tried to hide the smile that creeped on to his lips but Jimin could clearly see a shadow of it shine. “Good. I can go now.”
“Wait!” Jimin hastened to hold his hands through the partition. When Yoongi turned, Jimin smiled, “see you tomorrow.”
With a raised eye Yoongi declared. “Why?”
Jimin let go of the hand and leaned back on his hands and challengingly stated. “I’m gonna get arrested tomorrow as well. You gotta come bail me out again.”
The elder huffed and crossed his arms across his chest. “Why do you gotta call me?” When he saw Jimin begin to speak, Yoongi cut him off sarcastically, with quotation marks. “Oh! Right, cuz you’re, ‘in love with me’?”
Jimin once again reached through the divider in front of them and held the elder’s hands gently. He smiled when Yoongi didn’t pull away, and continued to caress the skin. Seokjin watching the scene unfold with an eagle’s concentration.
“You don’t have to come, you know. You can always refuse.”
*****
Jimin watched the bunch of second years looming over Jungkook with a stony expression. The tell-tale signs of tear tracks marking the boy’s face. One of the elders trapping the boy in the lockers leaned down, his lips grazing Jungkook’s ears; muttering something that clearly was making him fidget under their gazes.
Without a second to spare, Jimin marched down towards the party and suavely slid in between Jungkook and the bully. Ignoring the stares that burnt in to his skull, Jimin watched Jungkook with a guarded expression.
“Jeon Jungkook,” he started, and Jungkook’s eyes almost popped from their sockets. This was the first time he wasn’t referred to as ‘Ppang’ by the elder. Jungkook eyed the boy cautiously. “Go.”
The younger boy nodded fervently before edging away. Jimin too walked off with a stern look directed at the boys and his hands jutted into his pockets.
Yoongi watched from his behind his lockers, smiling like an idiot at the wink Jimin sent his way.
*****
“You two are like the sky and the ground. Fire and Water. Like X and Y axes. I’d say parallel lines but you two are complete opposites.” Seokjin mused as he watched Yoongi sign the fifth bailing form that month. When Yoongi looked up with a questioning glance Seokjin elaborated. “You’re like a lion and a deer. I can’t ever imagine you two getting along.”
Yoongi shrugged and eyed the elder apprehensively. “My friend Hoseok says the same when he sees Jimin wait for me during out recording sessions.” He shoved his hands deep into his pockets shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet. Avoiding eye contact. “He reckons Jimin will soon get bored.”
Seokjin scrutinized the younger for a while before he spoke again. “He’s not actually like that.”
“Like what?” Yoongi repeated. A mere whisper eliciting his lips.
The handsome man proceeded to open his packet of fruit chicken and offering one to the boy in front of him. When Yoongi politely refused Seokjin continued. “He’s never been in a relationship before.” The shell-shocked expression on Yoongi’s face made Seokjin’s heart hurt. “He may be the popular bad boy and all, but he’s never actually been essentially bad.”
“He shoplifts, drinks illegally, humiliates people, yells at them, and has a temper to match Zeus and I’m pretty sure has a hundred million side-hoes.” Yoongi retorted he watched Jimin appear from the bathroom.
The pale boy shot Jimin a dirty look, irritated for reasons unknown, and made to rush out of the police station but Seokjin placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
“He shoplifted milk bottles because he didn’t have cash and our mother wouldn’t allow him to keep the kittens on the way home as pets. He drinks illegally but I’m pretty sure you did too at his age; he’s turning legal in a month after all. He never meant to humiliate others and it’s not his fault everyone puts him on a pedestal for his anger. I admit he does have anger managements issues, though.”
“What’s going on here?” Jimin’s voice filtered through Yoongi’s stunned, hazed mind and the two elders turned to the boy walking towards them. Mouth chewing urgently on the donuts placed on Seokjin’s desk.
Before Jimin reached them Seokjin rushed to complete. “And he’s a stupid who begs me to put him in jail just so he can have you bail him out.” With that the elder turned to Jimin yelling at the top of his lungs for eating his babies.
Yoongi watched the pair bickering with a silly smile and owl eyes. Seokjin hitting Jimin’s head in anger and with Jimin pouting and running around the office. Declaring his love for the powdered jam-filled delights.
Suddenly Yoongi didn’t want to go. There was suddenly more to Jimin than angry words, and ty nicknames, and cheerleaders and scared students.
*****
“He knows you stare at him, you know?” Hoseok, Yoongi’s studio mate, told Jimin while Yoongi was recording.
Jimin stole his gaze away from the target of his affection and to the elder with a smile and confirmed with eager eyes. “Really? I hoped he would.”
The shock on Hoseok’s face was soon replaced with a picture of calm. “Did you know he stares at you too?”
"Really?" Jimin grinned a sunshine smile and pumped his arms in the air in accomplishment. “I knew it!”
Hoseok simply shook his head fondly at the love-struck boy.
*****
“When exactly are, you two going to start dating?” Seokjin asked as he crouched down in front of the steel bars that he was too accustomed of seeing Jimin behind. He passed a warm cup of coffee near his brother’s feet while sipping at his own.
Jimin groaned and slammed his forehead into the bars. “When he agrees.”
Seokjin smirked and ruffled his brother’s hair before Jimin batted the offending hands away. The younger boy pouted and Seokjin smiled a fatherly smile at the boy.
“He’ll say yes someday.”
Jimin smiled. “I know he will.”
*****
“Everyone’s staring.”
“Usually it’s the wallflower character who says that in movies.”
Jimin turned towards the elder and smirked. “So, you think you’re a wallflower?”
Yoongi leaned into the boy’s lips and pressed a tight kiss. Fully aware of the eyes that sent prickling glares at their entangled bodies. He pulled back and caressed the younger boy’s cheekbones. “I think you’re a bad boy.”
Jimin giggled and pulled Yoongi back into a kiss. The murmurs in the lunch hall echoing in their ears. “I think you’re cute.”
“I think you two need a room!” Taehyung’s voice declared as he pulled a nervous Jungkook towards the table.
“I think that’s a good idea.”
Cue a gaping trio of Jimin, Taehyung and Yoongi. And a snickering Jungkook.
*****
They are lying under a silvery sky, on the blanket Jimin had placed on the empty beach. The sun had set a couple of hours ago, but the two don’t seem in the mood to move. Hands clasped together on top of the flannel. A simple breeze grazing their skin. The lack of words being exchanged only serving as a reminder of how comfortable they are in each other’s presence.
“You know,” Yoongi starts with a whisper, never moving his eyes from the constellation above. He feels Jimin turn his eyes to him and continues to speak with the knowledge that his boyfriend is listening. “Everyone used to say we’d never make it. That you and I just don’t get along.”
Jimin tightens his hold on the elder’s hands and shifts closer to him. What little space they had between them, vanishing. “I know.”
“I used to believe them.” A vulnerability peeks in the elder’s tone.
The younger boy simply stares at the boy beside him. “I know.”
Yoongi turns to Jimin and smiles softly as he sits up, pulling Jimin up along with him. The younger boy copies the elder crossing his legs underneath him. Never looking away from the elder’s serene face. He watches Yoongi breathe in a deep breath as he stares at sea in front of them.
“Seokjin hyung had said that you and I were like the sky and the ground. Fire and water. X and Y axes. Lion and deer.” There is no resentment in the elder’s voice. Just a hint of melancholy lacing his words.
Jimin then pulls his hands out of the elder’s, not missing the way Yoongi clings on to them just a little before letting go. The younger boy takes the elder’s face in his hands and regards his eyes in earnest. Pulling his hand into his own.
“The sky meets the ground when you look into the horizon.” He kisses Yoongi’s fingers. “Fire meets water to create fertile land where all sorts of flora can be cultivated.” Jimin leaned closer to the elder’s tiny frame, pulling him in. “X and Y axes meet at the origin in the graph. At zero.” He tips Yoongi’s chin up. Yoongi opens his lips slightly and his eyes close off their own accord. “And I’m sure you’ve heard this somewhere.”
He sings and then he kisses Yoongi.
*****
Jimin loses his ity on their seventy fifth date, six months after they’re officially dating. And even though he has had his fair share of boyfriends, Yoongi is confident to say that Jimin did it the best; even with Jimin’s lack of experience.
His sore back is proof of that.
*****
Yesterday I saw a Lion kiss a Deer.
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