“It’s good to see all of your smiling faces again!”

 

A chorus of groans echo in the sanctuary.

 

“Good!” Pastor Kim says. “I hope you all had a great week, but right now we need to get some work done.”

 

The group of boys are prayed over and then split up once more in their respective groups. Yoongi and Namjoon follow quietly behind a talkative Jimin and Taehyung to their work area.

 

Once they arrive they go to work immediately, having learned the basics of their jobs the last time.

 

“I heard more people got busted,” Namjoon says quietly to Yoongi.

 

“Oh?” Yoongi says questioningly. “Who?”

 

“Seung Ho, from what I’ve heard,” Namjoon replies. “Some of his friends too, I don’t know them real well. Heard they’re getting jail time.”

 

Yoongi chuckles at this, pulling his paintbrush from the wall.

 

“I’m not surprised,” Yoongi replies.

 

“I still don’t know who dropped the tip,” Namjoon says. “And I wouldn’t bother telling dumb and dumber over there.”

 

Yoongi and Namjoon pause and look over at Taehyung, who is making a strange face at Jimin, who laughs and almost spills his paint – which cause them both to laugh more.

 

Yoongi can’t help but fight the smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

 

“What’s all this noise?” Pastor Kim asks, walking into the room. “Sounds like you boys are getting along fine and having fun?”

 

“Sorry,” Jimin says. “We got a little distracted.”

 

“Y’all are making great progress,” Pastor Kim says. “When you boys finish priming this room, give me a shout and we’ll take a break.”

 

“Okay,” Taehyung responds.

 

Pastor Kim exists, and the boys get back to work.

 

Yoongi concentrates on his work. As he moves about the walls, taking the ladder and moving it with him as he goes, he begins to feel calm. Namjoon occasionally speaks to him about random things. Jimin and Taehyung occasionally burst into laughter or ask Yoongi and Namjoon a question or to survey their work.

 

“We should name our group something,” Jimin proposes to the boys as they’re all working.

 

“Like what?” Namjoon asks.

 

“I don’t know…” Jimin replies thoughtfully.

 

“Paint Bros,” Taehyung says proudly.

 

“We can do better than that,” Jimin says, looking at Taehyung with disgust for his name proposition.

 

“I’d like to see you come up with something better,” Taehyung retorts.

 

“What about Underptainting,” Yoongi suggests without hesitating.

 

Yoongi is surprised he’s spoken up, but everyone goes silent as he does so.

 

“What’s that?” Jimin asks.

 

“It’s a method of painting,” Namjoon says. “It’s like a base – like the first layer on the canvas. It’s usually monochromatic and it’s chosen to fit the color scheme or something, in order to make the rest of the colors stand out.”

 

“Yeah,” Yoongi says. “I thought it might be fitting. We’re currently putting on a base coat for these walls, and we also were all caught up and forced to be here because of an underground club… I just thought it might be a play on words.”

 

“This might be a reach,” Jimin begins. “But it could also be like a friendship. A good base, a good friendship, can really bring out the best in someone.”

 

“Wow, Jimin,” Namjoon comments. “That was deep.”

 

“I like it,” Taehyung says. “We’re The Underpainters.”

 

“I should text Jungkook and tell him to come up with a name for their group,” Jimin says. “I know it won’t be as cool as ours – they don’t have Min Yoongi on their team.”

 

Jimin offers Yoongi a bright smile before he looks down at his phone, texting Jungkook to join in on the fun so they can exchange group names at lunch and have something to tease each other about.

 

Yoongi feels his pride swell a bit at Jimin’s words and his bright, genuine smile. Yoongi’s always been a deep thinking, and he’s known Namjoon to be the same, which is why they became friends, but seeing Jimin adding something so deep to Yoongi’s thoughts and lifting Yoongi up as him feeling drawn to the boy.

 

At first he thought they were just funny kids, but now Yoongi feels like there’s more to these kids.

 

 

 

 

 

“Taehyung’s finishing rolling a portion of their wall, but other than that, we’re done,” Namjoon says to Pastor Kim as they enter the room.

 

Yoongi and Jimin are sitting, waiting for Taehy