Jimin woke up one morning to the biggest shock of his life.

Nothing had been unusual about that morning, except for when he looked into the bathroom mirror. One glance was all it took to make him scream and fall backwards. In the mirror, he saw a monster. Or a human so deformed, they could qualify as a monster.

Jimin got back up and warily approached the mirror again, only to scream with fear and turn away the very next second. He wondered if some paranormal activity or a prank was taking place and he worked up the courage to take another, preferably longer, look into the mirror. The same deformed face looked back at him from within it. He moved and changed his expression only to confirm with horror that it was his own face.

It did, indeed, look like him. But, at the same time, it also didn’t. The right side of his face had swollen up unevenly, making his head look bigger, altering the shape of his right eye and elongating the right corner of his lips that looked brown and chapped. His teeth were decaying and there were warts scattered over his forehead, his nose and around his mouth.

Jimin’s shaking hands moved to faintly touch and inspect his face as short wail left his mouth that looked even more hideous when open. Unable to bare seeing himself, or rather what he had become, Jimin turned away and broke down on the floor, shaking, crying and screaming.

He weakly dragged himself back to his room where he hid under the covers and cried himself back to sleep, hoping it was all just a bad dream that would go away after waking up. However, every time he woke up, he was too afraid to get out from under the covers. He hesitantly inspected his face with his fingertips, but under them he could still feel the swelling, the warts and the chapped up lips. He cried and willed himself back to sleep, his hope of finally waking up from this nightmare fading with each time he woke up.

By the next morning, he was firmly convinced the nightmare was reality. As he proceeded to leave his room, he wondered what he should tell his parents and if his parents would even recognize him. They had been at work the previous day, but they were at home that morning since it was a weekend. Then it struck Jimin that his parents weren’t the kind to just let him skip dinner and stay locked up in his room for over 24 hours without checking up on him to see if he was okay. So they must have come in while he was asleep, which meant that they had already seen him and his altered appearance.

A thousand questions went through Jimin’s mind. Could they tell he was their son? How did they react? How come they didn’t call the police or an ambulance? How come they didn’t try waking him up? What was going on?

Jimin decided to leave his room and search for his parents to get at least some answers. He approached the kitchen and saw both of his parents there, his mother making breakfast and his father trying to search for a radio channel that didn’t run ads at that moment. When Jimin reached the doorway, his mother immediately noticed and started approaching him with worry in her voice as she said:

M: “Jimin. You’re up. Are you feeling okay? Did you get sick? You slept all day yesterday and I was worried.” his mother revealed as she checked his temperature even though Jimin nearly jumped away from her touch.

F: “I told your mom it’s probably just the summer heat and the stress of the first day of high school approaching. Was I right about any of that?”

M: “Nonsense. If that was it, he wouldn’t look so out of it like now. Honey, what’s wrong? You can tell us anything.”

His mother cradled his face with her hands and looked him in the eyes with concern. His father noticed his son looked like he was in shock and also got concerned.

F: “Jimin, did something happen?”

J: “Can’t… you tell by looking?”

M: “Tell what?”

J: “I’m hideous!”

M: “What?”

J: “My face’s deformed! I look like a monster!”

Jimin ran back to his room crying and hid in there while his parents exchanged puzzled and worried looks and then theories as to what was going on with their son. A little later on, they came to his room to try to talk to him. They repeatedly explained that it was normal for his body to go through changes and for him to be highly self-conscious about his looks at that age and that it was also understandable to feel some anxiety regarding starting high school, especially since Jimin did not have a very fun middle school experience, with several of his classmates repeatedly teasing him over being short, chubby and generally ugly.

No matter how much Jimin insisted that it wasn’t a case as normal as his parents made it sound like, that he had actually turned into a monster and his face had gotten drastically deformed overnight, his parents still tried to make him believe it was all in his head. Which, actually, it was.

Jimin couldn’t tell that his parents didn’t see any difference in him compared to two days prior, other than his worsened mental state. He thought that they had seen him the evening before and decided to pretend like nothing had changed and make him believe he was still the same, even though Jimin was sure that he had become abnormally hideous. He gave up on trying to convince his parents and receive any help from them, and it resulted in him feeling completely alone besides extremely frightened.

He cried every day for a week after that. He got into fights with his parents a couple of times and shook like a leaf each time he had to leave the house for the rest of that summer. When it was time to go to high school for the first time, Jimin left the house like a man going towards the guillotine.

As he had done each time he left the house, he wore a hoodie that would cover his head, brushed his bangs over his forehead to cover it and hid the lower half of his face behind a large face mask, the kind people wore when they had colds. He would also wear big sunglasses, but he wouldn’t be allowed with those inside the high school, so he took them off before entering through the gate.

He froze there, one step away from the gate, picturing all the stares and bad words he would get as soon as other students would see him, images of being laughed at or, even worse, feared by his peers overwhelmingly invading his mind against his will and freezing his body in place while also making it violently shake as he breathed shallowly, the sound of his rapid breath being the only thing perceptible for his ears along with a ringing that intensified as the world around him became muted, blurred and started warping. That is until –

Y: “Hey! Move outta the way, will’ya.”

Yoongi was starting his second year of high school and he wasn’t particularly happy about it. So, when he couldn’t get through the gate because a hooded guy was blocking his way, he didn’t feel like being polite. But he did feel bad about sounding so rough when he saw the guy in front of him get so startled that he jumped to the side, fell on his hands and knees and a weird breathing pattern could be heard from where his face was, but Yoongi couldn’t really see it at the angle he was in.

Y: “Nervous about starting high school?” Yoongi asked with a gentler tone and assuming the hooded guy was a freshman.

J: “I can’t go in there…”

Y: “That’s how most of us feel, but you’re being a bit dramatic about it.”

Yoongi changed his position to get a better look at the guy and saw that his face was almost completely covered, the only visible part being his eyes that were filled with fear and shedding tears relentlessly. Yoongi crouched down and searched for something in his backpack while the guy next to him mumbled something out of which the only thing Yoongi understood was:

J: “I look horrible…”

Y: “Yeah, you do.” Yoongi said plainly, referring to the red and puffy mess crying had made out of the other guy’s eyes.

Yoongi had no idea how his careless remark affected Jimin. It was the first time someone confirmed his ugliness to him since he had first seen his deformed face in the mirror that morning and it also felt like confirmation for Jimin regarding how people would look at him and treat him in high school.

Yoongi found the pack of paper tissues he was searching for, placed it in Jimin’s hand and got up to go to his classes while saying:

Y: “Don’t go in like that.”

Yoongi was again referring to Jimin’s tear-stained face, but Jimin interpreted it otherwise and Yoongi’s remark paralyzed him completely. He didn’t attend his first day of high school and hid behind a dumpster till it was time to go home.

Jimin was aware that, no matter how much he wanted it, he couldn’t hide himself in secluded places throughout high school and he needed to attend it properly so, the following day, he summoned every grain of courage he had and went through the gate, entered the building, went down the hallways and entered his classroom. He knew he was being stared at almost every step of the way. People looked at him with questioning eyes since he was wearing a shady getup, but in his mind Jimin felt like people looked at him the way they did because they could see through the getup and see the ugliness underneath.

He got through the hallways and up to his classroom by keeping his eyes solely on the floor but, after he entered his classroom and all eyes darted towards him, it took every bit of willpower to not turn back and run away. Jimin somehow managed the herculean task of greeting his classmates and walking up to one of the only two empty desks made for one person that were left at the back of the class. He propped himself on his seat and didn’t look up once after that. His getup and behavior seemed weird to his classmates, so some of them had already labeled him as a freak in their minds.

Jimin didn’t say one word to anybody that day or the following days except for answering when his name was called during attendance. His voice broke even then. He also didn’t make eye contact with anybody, although he could feel the looks he was getting like stone walls pressing against him.

When a teacher told him he wasn’t allowed to wear his hood during classes, Jimin felt like the earth was cracking underneath him. His trembling hand somehow managed to pull of the hood and his eyes somehow managed to stay dry although he felt his insides crumble at the thought of how others were judging the abnormal shape of his face, which couldn’t be fully covered by the face mask.

Every day felt like being stuck inside an iron maiden for Jimin. When the last bell rang, he barely had enough strength left to exit the classroom and the high school grounds. If he could, he would wait for everyone else to go first. On some days, he would duck inside the empty music room that was close to his classroom during recess or after the last bell rang just to take his mask off and breathe properly for a bit before he had to go back where he felt scrutinizing gazes pierce through him from all sides.

This had been Jimin’s first week in high school.

The following Monday, the attention of everyone in Jimin’s class was focused on Taehyung, the new face that had joined them. Taehyung’s parents were, apparently, airheads who had remembered their son was supposed to start high school only in the middle of their family trip abroad. Taehyung made himself liked almost instantly when he told this story and added that he also “forgot” to remind his parents about the time to start high school.

Although Taehyung was friendly and well liked, little groups had already formed within the class and Taehyung didn’t feel like getting particularly close to anybody. Instead, his attention kept getting caught by the guy with the face mask sitting at the desk next to his, who was apparently called Jimin.

Jimin stayed with his head hanging whenever he didn’t have to look at the blackboard, he barely said “here” during attendance, much less say anything when it wasn’t mandatory, he’d jump and look around him frightened whenever a sudden action or loud noise took place near him, barely ever got away from his desk during recess and often just stood there, with his head trying to sink between his shoulders and with his back arching enough to try and cover him completely.

Taehyung could feel Jimin’s full of suffering aura practically rubbing against his skin and he could barely sit still at his desk during classes because of it.

So, one day, Taehyung decided to approach Jimin.

T: “Hey! Jimin, right? I’m Taehyung.” Taehyung said, propping himself down on the chair in front of Jimin’s desk and extending his hand. “I know we kinda know each other’s names from attendance, but a formal introduction never hurt anyone.”

Taehyung noticed the fear in Jimin’s eyes when he suddenly sat down in front of him and he wondered if Jimin would shake his hand even if Taehyung left it extended for the rest of the recess period. But, to his surprise, Jimin brought his hand up to faintly and shortly grab Taehyung’s and even said “Hi.”, albeit in very low volume.

T: “So. I’ve been asking around what I missed during the first week when I was absent and, since I heard you also missed the first day and I noticed you don’t really talk to anyone, I thought maybe I should fill you in on what the teachers said during the first day. Wanna know?”

Jimin subtly nodded, so Taehyung went on to give him all the details he was or wasn’t curious about, stopping only because the bell rang and the teacher had entered the classroom. When Taehyung got up to go to his seat, Jimin looked up at him and meekly said:

J: “Uhm… thanks.”

T: “Sure thing.”

Taehyung didn’t leave it at that. He approached Jimin again. And again. And again. On average, he started a conversation with Jimin during two recesses each day. Since Jimin didn’t talk much, Taehyung babbled about everything that went through his mind. He discovered that Jimin would listen to him attentively and give him advice whenever Taehyung was troubled about something or clarification whenever Taehyung wasn’t sure about something related to school work. He also discovered that Jimin sometimes smiled behind the ever present face mask by the way the size of his eyes would decrease.

Taehyung felt like it was really worth it to invest time in interacting with Jimin and he couldn’t really understand why no one else was doing it. One day, however, while he was talking to Jimin, a classmate suddenly said to Taehyung:

C: “Hey, Taehyung. Why are you wasting time talking to the freak? Don’t you have better things to do?”

T: “Just because someone’s quiet doesn’t make them a freak, you know.”

Taehyung then turned towards Jimin, only to see him practically curl up in a ball with his eyes closed when he was called out for being what he actually thought he was. Then Taehyung turned back to their classmate and continued with a bit more bite in his tone:

T: “And, anyway, someone who doesn’t say much is way better than someone who says hurtful things.”

C: “Pff. Whatever.”

The classmate left, the bell rang and Taehyung was sizzling with his eyebrows furrowed.

T: “Jimin. You’re not a freak.” Taehyung said firmly before he turned back to his normal position at the desk when the teacher walked in.

Jimin knew he looked and acted like a freak and he thought it was odd for Taehyung to be acting so friendly and normal towards a freak like him. In the beginning, Jimin was suspicious and kept his guard up around Taehyung but, as time went by, he started thinking that the explanation behind Taehyung’s attitude was A. Taehyung wasn’t actually aware of Jimin’s hideous appearance because of eyesight problems Taehyung wouldn’t admit to, B. Taehyung stubbornly ignored Jimin’s appearance or C. Taehyung’s standards for what could be counted as a freak were extremely high.

Either way, Jimin knew that Taehyung meant it when he told him he was not a freak, but it didn’t nudge Jimin’s conviction of being one in the slightest.

To keep his mind busy during recess whenever Taehyung wasn’t around, Jimin tried drawing in his notebooks. During one such recess, Taehyung suddenly appeared on the seat in front of Jimin’s desk asking:

T: “What are you drawing there?”

Jimin had been trying to draw the way his face looked following the morning when he turned into a freak, with all the swelling, warts and details that he could bear to envision upon his face, so he answered honestly:

J: “Me.”

T: “Really?” Taehyung asked, not seeing the resemblance at all. “Wow, you at drawing then. Let me have a go.”

Taehyung turned Jimin’s notebook and drew a circle on the white paper with eyes and a face mask.

T: “There we go.”

J: “You… at drawing even more than I do.”

T: “How so? This is totally you. A rice cake with a face mask.”

J: “Rice cake?”

T: “Cause you’re skin’s so white compared to mine.”

J: “Ah. Even so, the level of detail…”

T: “What else can I do? I haven’t even once seen you without your face mask, so I don’t really know much of your features aside from your eyes.”

J: “…”

T: “Can I?”

J: “Can you what?”

T: “See you without the mask?”

J: “No!”

T: “Why not?” Taehyung asked, deciding to press the issue a bit even though he saw panic in Jimin’s eyes at his previous question.

J: “I’m… ugly.”

T: “Ah… Jimin. Don’t worry so much over it. Look. See? I’ve got pimples too.”

J: “It’s not about pimples. My face looks worse than even an acne-stricken one.”

T: “What do you mean? You have a scar under that mask or something?”

J: “No… Even with the mask on, you can tell that my face is really deformed.” Jimin started, gesturing towards the right side of his face. “There’s this swelling and… other things that are a bit easier to cover.”

T: “Swelling?... You mean chubby cheeks?”

J: “No. Taehyung, I’m just… deformed.”

T: “Oh… Well, you’re good looking from what I can see around that mask.”

J: “Goo… Tae, are you sure you don’t need glasses?”

T: “Yup. Like I told you – I have perfect vision. I’ll bring you my sheet from the ophthalmologist next time if you don’t believe me.”

Taehyung aside, Jimin was convinced everyone else around him saw him as ugly as he saw himself and all the staring, the whispering, the chuckling and the frequency with which he heard the word “freak” whenever he passed through the hallways or sat in class never let him forget he looked like an abomination.

He needed breathing breaks more and more often, so he started taking them during each recess Taehyung was not around and at the end of each school day. Jimin and Taehyung lived in different directions and, besides that, Taehyung would often have basketball practice after classes or he would go “hunting”, whatever that meant, so he and Jimin never left school together.

One day, after the last bell rang, Taehyung said goodbye to Jimin and declared he was going “hunting” again. Jimin waved and sat in his seat till everyone else left the classroom, then got up and went straight for the music room where he crashed in a corner, taking off his face mask and inhaling deeply. He needed ten minutes to breathe properly before going home and getting stared at on the way. However, Jimin fell asleep and woke up only an hour later, when he suddenly heard someone walk into the room and turn on the light. He froze in his place, only his hand frantically moving around to search for his mask.

Before he could put it on, Jimin heard the person who had just walked in start to play something on the piano and the music captivated him. It was a piece Jimin had never heard before and it was filled with raw emotion. Once it was done, Jimin snapped back to reality, put his face mask on and tried to sneak out, failing when he tripped over something and attracted the attention of the other person in the room who stood up slightly alarmed.

Y: “Who’s there?”

J: “S-Sorry. I-I didn’t mean to startle you or eavesdrop. I just dozed off in here.”

Yoongi saw a guy in a hoody and with a face mask heading for the door and he immediately seemed familiar to him.

Y: “Ah! Face mask guy.”

Jimin still continued towards the door. After all, nearly everyone called him and knew him as face mask guy, so Yoongi’s statement didn’t really cause him any reaction. But his next statement did:

Y: “So you were able to shake off the nerves and enter this place, huh?”

In that moment, Jimin remembered and recognized Yoongi as the guy he had met at the gate on his first day, the one who told him he did indeed look horrible and that he shouldn’t go in looking like he looked. Jimin’s body stiffened, his face went pale and his shoulders started coming up in an effort to hide it. He felt like he was about to be bashed on account of existing within that space with the appearance that he had. He felt the other guy would make him feel horrible for looking horrible.

Y: “Hey, you feeling sick or something?”

Jimin managed to nudge his head from one side to the other, the inertia of that motion transferring to his legs and making him bolt for the exit, but Yoongi grabbed him by the wrist and stopped him before he could reach it.

Y: “Hold up. Since you’re already here, give me some feedback on the piece you’ve just heard me play.”

J: “The built-up’s rushed.” Jimin’s mouth said before his brain could stop it.

Y: “What do you mean?”

J: “No-nothing. Don’t mind me.”

Y: “Come on. Say it.”

J: “My dance teacher said we should picture the music as a story and move our bodies as if we’re telling that story through a different kind of language. It just sounded to me like it jumped to the before enough tension was created.”

Y: “I see… Alright, come here a bit.” Yoongi said, dragging Jimin by the wrist towards the piano he sat down at and started playing, this time changing things up at the part Jimin talked about.

Jimin still wanted to leave, but he got absorbed into the music again and his body instinctively started making slight movements to match the music.

Y: “How was that?”

J: “Better.”

Y: “But still not good, right?”

J: “In the middle, there was a part that seemed like it belonged to another story.”

Y: “Which part? I’ll play it again. Point it out for me when I get there.”

Jimin ended up sitting down near the piano and talking to Yoongi about his piece for hours. During that time, he suddenly realized he had gotten confortable enough to forget about how he looked and it freaked him out because that had only happened with Taehyung after a few weeks. He tried keeping his cool and not changing the way he acted or spoke noticeably, but he relaxed after realizing that Yoongi was so focused on the piano keys that a zombie apocalypse could take place around him and his only reaction would be shouting at them to quiet down.

Y: “Argh, I’m not getting anywhere with it. Guess I’ll think about it more at home. Thanks for all the help and insight by the way.”

J: “Sure.”

Y: “What were you doing in here that you fell asleep anyway? Were you practicing on some instrument?”

J: “Ah, no, I… just… came in here to breathe.”

Y: “What’s the air outside so polluted with that you can’t breathe there? Besides teenage angst.”

J: “Stares.”

Y: “Stares?”

J: “Stares and… nasty sounds.”

Y: “Care to elaborate on that?”

J: “Cause… cause I have this… deformed and ugly face, people keep staring and whispering and they call me a freak… which I am and I get why they would feel repulsed, but… every day is just so suffocating. Their looks and their words, they feel like spikes and I constantly feel trapped between them, so… I just need to come in here and breathe.”

The second Jimin finished talking, he almost freaked out realizing he had shared something like that with a guy he didn’t even know the name of and who might use this information against him. However, Yoongi stated plainly:

Y: “I see. Well, don’t give up on this breathing space just cause I’ll be coming around. I’m busy with my own business, so I won’t have time to stare at you. And also…” Yoongi stopped to run his fingers across several piano keys. “The sounds you’ll be hearing in here will be anything other than nasty.”

Jimin saw Yoongi smile while saying that. It was the same kind of smile Taehyung had – pure, no ill intentions, no hidden meanings, no judgment and no fakery. Jimin was glad that he might really not have to give up on his breathing space.

He didn’t end up meeting Yoongi in the music room any time soon, but he met him in the hallway. Jimin was advancing with his eyes glued to the floor and his shoulders raised as usual to block out everybody around him, so he didn’t see Yoongi passing by him and he didn’t hear him when he said “Hey, freshman.” So Yoongi decided to get his attention by pulling his hood off of his head, which scared Jimin enough to turn around in a jump and it took him a few moments to relax even after he realized that it had been Yoongi.

Y: “Sorry… Didn’t mean to scare’ya so bad.”

J: “I-It’s fine.”

Y: “You haven’t been avoiding going to the music room, have’ya?”

J: “No. Why?”

Y: “Guess then we just didn’t cross paths. I’ve been wanting to show you the refined version of that piece from last time and get your opinion on it.”

J: “Oh, but… I’m not that much of a music critic.”

Y: “No, but the music teacher’s almost impossible to get ahold of and your feedback’s been the most helpful out of the people I’ve asked at this school so far.”

J: “Oh, okay.”

T: “Jiminieeeee!” Taehyung shouted seeing Jimin from far away and coming up behind him to rest an arm around Jimin’s neck and ask him what he was doing before he noticed Yoongi and switched to saying: “Oh. Hey, Yoongi.”

Y: “Hey.” Yoongi answered while he noticed Taehyung looking around him, so he continued with: “Jungkook’s not here, if you can’t tell.”

T: “Know where he is?”

Y: “I do.”

T: “Tell me?”

Y: “Give me your lunch money and get the information.” Yoongi said smirking with his hand extended before Taehyung pulled his money out of his pocket and placed it in Yoongi’s hand, making Yoongi snap and slam the money back into Taehyung’s hand while saying: “Don’t just give out your money like that, you idiot!”

T: “But I wanna know where Jungkook is.”

Y: “I won’t tell’ya anyway. You really shouldn’t disturb him right now.”

T: “Ah… So he’s in the library.”

Y: “…”

T: “Chill, Yoongi. I might go to great lengths to interact with Jungkook, but that’s one place I’m not willing to go.”

Y: “Sometimes… I’m really glad you’re an idiot, Taehyung.”

T: “Sometimes… I really have to wonder if you’re older than me with that height.”

Y: “I kick your at basket even with this height, brat.”

J: “So… basket’s where the two of you know each other from?”

Y: “Mainly. Otherwise, this brat’s shamelessly using me to get to one of my classmates.”

T: “What are you talking about, Yoongi? You’ve been the complete opposite of useful in that sense.”

Y: “What EVER gave’ya the impression that I WANNA be useful to you?”

T: “Anyway, Jimin, I’m surprised you guys know each other. I want you to know that, even if it’s Yoongi we’re talking about, I fully support you in extending your social network.”

Y: “Keep that talk up, Taehyung, and Jungkook might learn about that time you head-butted the basket pole.”

T: “This is what I meant by the opposite of useful.”

Y: “Like I sai…”

T: “Oh, Jungkook! Heeey!” Taehyung said in a loud voice, interrupting Yoongi and waving both hands up in the air.

Jungkook noticed them, gave a small wave back without much change in his expression and entered his classroom. Taehyung almost followed after him, but the bell rang and stopped him in his tracks.

T: “Ah, darn.”

Y: “Better luck next time, brat.” Yoongi said, turning to go to the same classroom before he remembered something. “Ah. Jimin. See you after classes?”

J: “Uhm, sure.”

Y: “Cool.”

T: “You have plans with Yoongi after classes?” Taehyung asked, but they both suddenly remembered that the bell rang and neither of them could afford more useless absences, so they hurried back to their classroom and continued their discussion during the next recess.

Jimin and Yoongi were both glad they had learned each other’s name without having to have an awkward formal introduction later on and Yoongi thought that Taehyung had been useful for something.

T: “So Yoongi wants your feedback on his composing?”

J: “Yeah, I guess.”

T: “I didn’t even know you had abilities in that area. That’s so cool, Jiminie!”

J: “Well, I’ve been dancing for years now, so I guess they just naturally developed.”

T: “You dance? Where?”

J: “At a studio. In the evenings.”

T: “Can I come watch?”

J: “There’s… really not that much interesting to see.”

T: “I’d probably still find it interesting no matter how meh you think it is. And, anyway, it’d be a good pretext to hang out. We haven’t hung out outside of school yet.”

J: “You’d… be willing to be seen in public with me?”

T: “Yeah, why the hell wouldn’t I?”

Jimin needed to constantly remind himself that Taehyung was somehow completely oblivious to the hideousness of Jimin’s face. That was one of the reasons Jimin didn’t feel so self-aware around Taehyung and could talk normally to him and look him in the eye, things that he hadn’t managed to do with anyone else at school or even outside of it since he started seeing himself as an abomination whenever he looked in the mirror. He discovered he could talk normally to Yoongi, but that was because Yoongi was very focused on something else. Whenever Yoongi looked directly at him, Jimin instantly lowered his head and threw his gaze to the side, like he did with everyone else.

J: “Ah, never mind. Anyway, you’re usually busy after classes, right? You have basketball club and that hunting thing.”

T: “Yeah… that term really doesn’t apply anymore. Currently, I guess I’m fishing. Pretty soon I bet I’ll end up begging though.”

J: “I really don’t follow. Are you trying to procure food?”

T: “What I’m trying to procure is Jungkook’s attention. But he’s really a tough nut to crack.”

J: “What do you need his attention for?”

T: “For my head to spin, my chest to hurt and my knees to go weak because I’m, apparently, a masochist.”

J: “I still don’t follow.”

T: “How… Oh! I still haven’t told you? I guess I just thought about telling you and thought I already did. Anyway, I like Jungkook. That’s Yoongi’s classmate you saw me wave to last recess.”

Jimin had to blink a couple of times to process the information and, when realization finally struck, his eyes went wide and he leaned towards Taehyung continuing the conversation in a whispered voice:

J: “You mean like like?”

T: “Like like. Uhm, romance-like like.”

J: “Holy ! Tae, you’re gay?”

T: “Up until high school, I would’ve said no, but, apparently…”

J: “Do people know about this?”

T: “Well, you do now. My parents know since I talk in my sleep and they make me reveal all my secrets that way. And they tease me with it the following day… Yoongi most likely figured it out because he’s the only person who’s often near Jungkook, he’s sharp and I’m anything but smooth.”

J: “And Jungkook?”

T: “I have NO idea what Jungkook is thinking and I must have tried starting at least 100 conversations with him by now.”

J: “Wow! Why is he so hard to crack?”

T: “Not sure. He’s pretty stand off-ish with everyone except Yoongi. At least I don’t have to worry about rivals and stuff.”

J: “So how exactly have you been trying to get his attention if he’s like that?”

T: “I follow him around and challenge him to random stuff like sports and games.”

J: “How’s that been going?”

T: “Peachy! I’ve got 55 eye rolls, 28 tongue clicks and 0 wins.”

Jimin burst out in laughter for the first time since entering high school. Actually, for the first time in many, many months and Taehyung was secretly proud of himself for making that happen.

T: “Don’t laugh at my misery, you so-called best friend of mine. I’m really struggling with this uphill battle, you know. I’m basically Sisyphus trying to roll a boulder up Mount Kook.”

Jimin continued to laugh while struggling to get another question out and keep his tears in.

J: “Wh-Why d-do you have 0 wins though? You’re good at sports.”

T: “Because Jungkook at everything he attempts for the first time and then he masters it in time to kick my . He’s really competitive, agile and smart. He must be smart since he’s two years younger than us but he’s in a grade above us, and he got there through advanced placement. But, despite that, he’s just as easy to provoke as any other idiot and he likes childish things like Iron Man.”

Taehyung went on and on about Jungkook throughout the rest of their recesses. Jimin didn’t mind at all since it took his mind off his own worries and he liked seeing his friend with a face such as the one children had while they talked about their favorite things.

When it was time to meet with Yoongi in the music room, Yoongi went straight to playing the refined version of his piece and, after he was finished, nodded with a smug smile and arms extended to the sides as if saying “How do you like now, huh?” to Jimin. The latter almost couldn’t bring himself to relate the few small observations he still had related to the piece, but he still did and made Yoongi’s face look like he had been struck by a dumbbell. However, after a few minutes of Yoongi staring daggers into the piano keys with his arms crossed over his chest, he played the piece again, this time improving nearly all the parts Jimin had made observations on. Jimin clapped at the end and he saw Yoongi’s satisfied smile that he was starting to grow fond of.

Sensing they were almost done for the day, Jimin fidgeted a bit before he brought himself to ask Yoongi:

J: “Uhm, Yoongi, can I ask you something?”

Y: “Shoot.”

J: “What does Jungkook think of Taehyung?”

Yoongi was surprised by this question for a few seconds, then he started piecing things together in his head and asked:

Y: “Why do you want to know this, Jimin?”

Yoongi looked straight at Jimin while asking this, so Jimin averted his eyes and lowered his head immediately, this time giving Yoongi confirmation of the pattern he had started to see regarding Jimin.

J: “Don’t you already know that?”

Y: “I know why Taehyung would love to get this information. I’m asking why you’re trying to give it to him.”

Jimin was honest with Yoongi when he told him how horrible his first week in high school had been, how Taehyung then kept approaching him till they became friends, even though people would occasionally mock him for hanging out with the freak, how Taehyung made school life bearable for Jimin in his situation and how he wanted to also help Taehyung with the things that were important to him.

Yoongi suspected Jimin’s reasoning, he just didn’t expect the weight of Taehyung’s role in Jimin’s life. Yoongi also already knew a lot about Jimin’s personality from Taehyung. Whenever they talked during basketball practice, Taehyung wouldn’t shut up about either Jungkook or Jimin, so much so that Yoongi had come close to shoving a basketball down Taehyung’s throat. He hyped the both of them up equally, which would have made Yoongi suspect that Taehyung was polyamorous had he not noticed Taehyung’s eyes shining in a different way for each of them.

Y: “Sorry, Jimin. Even if I wanted to help you out – note that I said you, not Taehyung – I can’t. I don’t really know what goes on in Jungkook’s head either.”

Yoongi was half-lying when he said that. He had a hunch from an incident that happened not that long ago, while he and Jungkook were sitting next to each other at their desks. Jungkook’s phone vibrated after getting a text message, he replied to it and put his phone down. Ten seconds later, it vibrated again. Jungkook checked his phone and decided to ignore it. Then the phone vibrated again. And again. The fifth time it vibrated, Jungkook grabbed it, threw it in his backpack and zipped the backpack closed.

Yoongi was willing to bet his life that no one other than Taehyung would cause such a reaction, so he turned towards his classmate and said very seriously:

Y: Hey. Just so you know – I’m very good at convincing people to do or not do something. If he’s really, really annoying you, tell me and I’ll get him to stop.

Jungkook’s head turned towards Yoongi as he processed his offer before Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed and Yoongi’s went up in realization. Had Jungkook really wanted to shake Taehyung off, he could have easily made that happen by himself, since he was well versed in martial arts and his eyes were even scarier than Yoongi’s when he was mad. But it seemed that Jungkook didn’t really want to.

Y: “Alright… Staying out of it suits me just fine. Tell me if you need me for anything.”

Jungkook settled back in his chair and, a couple of minutes later, dug his phone out of the backpack. Yoongi was fairly sure of what Jungkook was feeling, albeit not what he was thinking, but it wasn’t information meant to reach Taehyung’s ears this early in the game since Jungkook himself wasn’t even aware of it yet.

Yoongi couldn’t say any of this to Jimin, but he still wanted to say something because Jimin looked a bit disappointed.

Y: “Hey. Don’t worry about it. Even if neither of us intervene in any way, things will work out fine.”

J: “Liar.” Jimin said after a few moments with a bit of amusement in his tone. “You wouldn’t say something like that if you really didn’t know anything, which means you lied about not knowing anything. If you really don’t know anything, then you lied when you said things will work out fine, because you have no way of knowing that. But I assume it’s the first case, so I can feel assured while cheering Tae on without saying anything specific.”

Yoongi’s surprise turned to a smile and, from there, it quickly turned into laughter. He didn’t expect his position as the sharpest tool in the shed to be challenged by a guy who Yoongi had seen crying on his first day of school and who had never shown his face to anyone, and Yoongi was already starting to lose that position since he, himself, couldn’t figure out why he was laughing, but he felt amused.

Behind his mask, Jimin was also smiling, but Yoong missed it since he wasn’t facing that way.

And it was a shame, really, because Yoongi was, slowly but surely, developing a strong sense of curiosity towards the way Jimin looked without the mask and particularly how Jimin’s smile looked like.