"Taehyung-ah, why don't you just do your assignments, it would probably take less time than coming up with all these farfetched excuses." Jin sighed tiredly. He was at the end of his rope. The all too vivid memory of last night's conversation still stung, so he was in no mood to hear about the magical monster of the week that just so happened to have consumed his otherwise perfectly completed homework. Taehyung just grinned goofily, his silly expression actually managing to shoot a ray of sunshine through the brooding cloud that had been suffocating him all day.

"What am I going to do with you." he shook his head, suppressing a tiny smile.

"Detention?" Taehyung shrugged, his carefree eyes smiling back at him.

Right. A lot of good that was going to do, if he happily suggested it himself. No. Something had to change. This wasn't working, none of it. He felt so useless. Was it too much to ask to want to matter... to somebody? Anybody. To just do one thing that actually made a difference.

"You're already repeating the year, and a lot of good that's doing, you are heading for another big, fat F. You're doing even worse this year, if that's even possible! Don't you care at all? Are you just going to be stuck in this loop for the rest of your life, repeating the year over and over again, every day a groundhog day?" he asked frustrated. He was maybe being a tiny bit unfair, taking his frustrations out on him, but it was not like he hadn't done anything to deserve it.

"Would if I could, but if I don't make it this year I'm going to be kicked out." Taehyung smiled sheepishly. Jin just looked at him incredulously, feeling himself giving up. Why should he bother when Taehyung wasn't bothered in the slightest. It was the death of his future they were talking about, and he just smiled!? No, his time wasn't worth this. It was a well known fact that you couldn't help someone that didn't want to help themselves.

"And that's okay with you? To become some bum without a diploma, practically unhirable?" Jin asked, just because he was curious what the answer would be. He had already given up on him, but he still couldn't believe there could exist such a carefree, fearless, self-sabotaging person.

Taehyung shrugged. "I just... can't do it. I've tried, but I always fail. Maybe I'm just as stupid as people say I am." a little pout appeared on his lips as he basically told him he had given up on himself since everyone around him had too. Jin got the biggest guilt knot in his gut, he too had been about to give up on him. This kid had no one in his corner. He might be insufferable and extremely difficult to deal with, but nobody deserved to be abandoned by the world. There was nothing more scary than being all alone, yet this kid managed to smile every day. Jin found himself feeling impressed, inspired even. His recent problems didn't seem so grave in comparison. Against his better judgment, he gave up on giving up.

"You're not stupid." he said, almost angry. "Don't let anyone tell you that you are, ever." he grabbed his arm and squeezed it a bit.

"Ouch. Okay." Taehyung flinched, but grinned widely all the same. He had the most goofy looking smile, but that was kind of his charm.

"I can help you, but it's going to be hard. Really, really hard. Are you game for that? If I'm going to volunteer my time, you have to respect that and give me all you've got." he said firmly, slightly hesitant about starting a crazy project like this, but then again, maybe it was exactly what he needed, to take his mind off things.

"I don't have much..." Taehyung stared at the floor, gently tapping the foot of the table with the tip of his shoe.

"You've got this!" he punched Taehyung's chest lightly, right where his heart was. He wanted to inspire him, to turn on the light inside him, but he wasn't sure how to do that. That didn't stop him from trying, though. He had always believed he was a good teacher, but now he realized he had just been coasting through it all. A teacher was only as good as his worst student.

Taehyung chuckled shyly, but slowly nodding, looking him straight in the eyes with his beautiful, innocent puppy eyes. Jin tried not to melt, thinking about ice and glaciers and stormy weather to try and keep his edge, but his heart didn't listen and turned into a puddle of mushy goo. He silently cussed at it, 'you're too weak, you piece of scrap metal! It's you that always gets us in these troubles in the first place and then you just cave when you are the one who's supposed to keep us going!!'. He sighed, annoyed. He could be home by now, comfortably snuggled up on his couch, eating crap and feeling sorry for himself. Instead, he was faced with his greatest challenge yet.

He had a hunch about what the problem was, and if he was right, it was going to be even more difficult to overcome than they both could imagine. It was going to take everything they had. And more. The finals suddenly seemed to be rushing towards them at hyper speed, mercilessly ready to steamroll over them. Usually he welcomed them, for they signaled the end of term. But now, he got an ominous, scary feeling, as if they were hunting them and they were out of time and options, sitting ducks.

"Do you have trouble sitting still?" he asked softly, watching Taehyung's fingers do acrobatic tricks with a pencil.

"No! ...yeah..." At first he reacted like he was attacking him, but as he looked into Jin's concerned eyes, he reluctantly changed his statement.

"If we're going to do this, you have to be absolutely honest with me! Else it won't work and we'll both be wasting our time." he warned him, folding his arms for effect.

"Do what?" Taehyung's blank face just stared back at him, not following anything he was saying. Jin took a deep breath to sooth the annoyance that was eating at his insides. He was going to need more patience for this than he knew where to get.

"If I'm going to help you pass your exams and graduate, you are going to have to be absolutely honest with me. No 'my dog ate my homework', no 'the subway got trapped in a freakish mudslide'. No lies, no secrets, okay?" he spelled it out for him.

"G..gr..graduate? You.. you're going to.. help me? You.. do you think.. I can do it?" Taehyung was so taken aback that he could hardly get the words out.

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy. It won't happen by magic. It's going to take blood, sweat and tears, and you listening and doing everything I say." he didn't want to sugarcoat it. He had to know exactly what he was signing up for and be willing to do what it takes. "But I don't think it's impossible. I think that if you put your mind to it, you can do it. No, I don't just think it, I know it! I believe in you!" he added. He had wanted to be inspiring, but perhaps he went a bit overboard.

"Really? You really believe in me?" Taehyung's eyes were double their normal size, like he was witnessing something paranormal.

"Of course! Why would I be helping you if I didn't. I don't enjoy throwing my time away on lost causes, I only pick winners." he smiled.

"Nobody has ever believed in me." Taehyung's voice quivered slightly, his eyes wet. "Even my kindergarten teacher thought putting me through school was a waste of time. My parents only did it because they didn't want people to ask questions. They thought I was an embarrassment to the family and the only thing they asked of me was to keep my head low, but I couldn't even do that." A single tear escaped down his cheek, falling to the floor, exposing the need to hire a new cleaning lady, the floor was way dirtier than it should be after a single day of class. Jin wasn't sure what to do with that sudden, heartfelt confession. He wasn't surprised that there was something more going on in his life than he let on. He regretted having written him off himself at the start of the semester, without so much as a second thought, just as everyone else had done for his entire life. No wonder he had given up on himself, it was a miracle that he hadn't given up on life as well.

"I do. I believe in you. So you should believe in yourself too! So.. are you in?" he asked, strangely excited.

"I'm gay." Taehyung simply said.

"Say what now?" Jin coughed in surprise, not sure what to do with that information or why he was sharing that with him.

"I'm gay. You said that if we were going to do this, there had to be no lies, no secrets." Taehyung said matter-of-factly.

Jin had to do all he could not to laugh.

"Yeah, right, I did say that.. heh...ehm...I meant like, concerning your studies... not like... ehh... your private life is none of my business, you know." Jin's tongue stumbled through the words, making the whole thing twice as awkward as it had to be. He just really, really didn't want to get into that, he didn't want to get into whatever tragic story he had to tell, he just wanted to help him graduate and be done with it.

"Yeah, but.. when my parents found out they kicked me out, so I just thought.. you might not want to help me anymore if you found out." Taehyung mumbled like an injured little baby chick.

There was that melting feeling again. Darn it, he was not some rescue center for cute little animals. He was not getting involved.

"What, no! I don't care. ..I mean, your private life is exactly that, private. So let's just keep it that way, shall we?" he smiled awkwardly and before Taehyung could answer with another random shocking comment, he added "Right! Tomorrow morning, 5 o'clock. Meet me at the track and wear your gym clothes. Don't be late. Like really. If you're late, I'm out. You understand?". Tough love, that was the only way this could ever work.

Taehyung nodded resolutely. This was the most resolute he had ever seen him, he usually just looked like he didn't care about anything. Jin got a tiny sense of accomplishment. It felt good.

When he got home, he didn't just head right to the couch to wallow, as usual. He made himself a healthy meal, and sat down in front of the computer, googling everything that had ever been written on ADHD.