“Jimin.” Taehyung sounded like a concerned but somewhat exasperated parent. “Where are you?”

“...Hiding in the bathroom.” Jimin mumbled into his cell phone, pouting when he heard Taehyung sigh on the other side.

“You have to get back out there!”

“Tae, I can’t. There was so many people staring at me when I was walking into the building.” Jimin squished the phone against his cheek, hugging himself with his free arm.

“It’s because you look hot. Even I’d date you.” Taehyung chuckled into the phone. Jimin looked at his legs, the tight material hugging his thighs. Taehyung had very sternly told him to leave the school blazer at home unless Jimin wanted him to “take it and burn it.” Jimin was awkwardly pulling at the sleeves of the big white t-shirt Taehyung gave him, the bottom tucked into his jeans. His feet felt stiff in the black boots he had forgotten he owned but found when Taehyung had come to his house and ransacked his closet.

“...My knees are cold.”

“You’re wearing ripped jeans, they’re supposed to be cold.”

“But wh—”

“I’m close to the bathroom, you better get your out here right now.” Taehyung hung up, leaving a tortured looking Jimin. He groaned and walked out of the bathroom without stopping to look at his reflection in the mirror. The halls were mostly empty by that point and Jimin was hardly paying attention as he walked out, straight into someone’s chest. He stumbled back, apologizing with a shy bow and a soft “sorry” before looking up. His eyes met those of a shocked Jungkook, taking in Jimin’s outfit. Jimin crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes up at the boy, waiting for the snarky comment he was sure was coming.

“I- uh,” Jungkook had a hand fidgeting with the short hair at his neck.

“You, uh, what?” Jimin raised an eyebrow, Jungkook’s loss of words giving him something of a confidence boost.

“Your hair.” He kept his eyes on anything but the boy in front of him as he pointed to Jimin’s freshly dyed black hair. Jimin was the slightest bit amused.

“That’s the only thing?” Jimin took a step forward and could almost hear Jungkook gulp. Jungkook’s eyes flicked to Jimin’s face, then down to his legs for a moment before looking up at Jimin’s neck. His gaze lingered on where the oversized shirt was off center, showing the boy’s collarbone. Jungkook’s eyes flicked back up to Jimin’s face as he pulled down on his sweater.

“Yeah- I,” He looked at the bathroom door behind Jimin before quickly continuing. “I gotta go.” Jungkook dashed past Jimin and into the bathroom. Jimin stood there, once again left confused by the younger boy. As soon as the door closed, Taehyung stepped out from where he was hiding around a corner and threw himself on Jimin, laughing until there were tears in his eyes.

“Holy , Jimin.” He exaggeratedly wiped his eyes and Jimin peeled him off, the taller boy struggling to stand straight as he tried to control his laughter.

“Why the are you laughing?” Jimin frowned and waited for the boy to catch his breath.

“I think,” Taehyung had a -eating grin on his face and a hand pressed against his stomach, sore from laughing. He leaned down to whisper to Jimin, his cheek pressed against that of the smaller boy. “I think you gave him a hard-on.”

“Wh-” Jimin choked and smacked Taehyung’s chest, his face burning with mortification.

“It could have just been a broner, but we both saw how he looked at your thighs.” Taehyung  winked, earning another smack from Jimin. “What? We both know it’s true. At least he didn’t see your , the poor boy wouldn’t have been able to take that.”

“Okay that’s it. I’m leaving.” Jimin turned and began to walk away, trying to ignore the heat that had risen in his face.

There was no way Taehyung was right, he was just messing with Jimin.

Right?

“Kookie!” Taehyung jumped onto Jungkook’s back as he was walking off of school grounds, catching the younger boy off guard. Jungkook groaned and shrugged him off before turning to face him. “Bro.”

“What?” Jungkook was not very fond of the mischievous grin the boy was giving him.

“Y-your hair.” Taehyung threw himself on Jungkook dramatically as he mocked Jungkook’s words from earlier that day, wrapping his arms around his neck. Jungkook’s neck flared pink under Taehyung’s arms and he pushed him off, crossing his arms and shooting a glare in his friend’s direction. “You were totally not looking at his hair.”

“How do you even know about that? You weren’t there.”

“Oh, precious Jungkook,” Taehyung made a vague tsk sound before winking at him. “I’m everywhere. At least, I was definitely there to witness the most hilarious moment my two best friends have shared.”

“Since when are you and that nerd friends?” Jungkook pouted, his embarrassment momentarily forgotten.

“Since like, last week?” He waved dismissively before pointing at Jungkook, his finger an inch from the boy’s face. “Don’t change the subject!”

“What?”

“You totally were at least a little bit by Jimin’s thighs.” Taehyung poked his forehead, an elfish smirk on his lips. Jungkook let out a choked denial, trying to hide his blatantly red ears.

“What the ?”

“Look Kook, it’s okay.” Taehyung was trying to suppress a smile as he pat Jungkook’s shoulder slowly.

“You’re ing crazy.” Jungkook smacked his hand away. “I’ve gotta go, bye .” He waved over his shoulder, ignoring the way his friend was giving him a knowing smile as he walked away.

“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt!” Taehyung yelled after him before nodding to himself and turning on his heel to head off in the opposite direction back towards the school building. He walked onto the field, almost immediately greeted by the excited shouts of a sophomore girl Taehyung recognized from his art class. She was wrapping up her cheer try-out, flashing a bright and preppy smile to Hoseok and a few of the other senior cheerleaders that were sitting at a table in front of the stands. Taehyung made his way behind the table, climbing up to sit right behind them, squeezing himself between Yoongi and Namjoon. He slung his arm around Namjoon’s shoulder and leaned forward to whisper to him.

“Am I late?” Namjoon shook his head.

“I think he’s going next, Jin-hyung went to give him a pep talk.” Just as Namjoon finished talking, Taehyung spotted Seokjin walking towards the table. He gave Hoseok a thumbs up and said something that Taehyung couldn’t make out, before going to join the others on the bleachers.

“He’s really nervous but I think he’ll be fine. Donghyuk said he’d be watching from the sidelines and come join us after.” Seokjin sat down next to Namjoon, clasping his hands together and keeping his eyes focused on the field. A few moments later, Jimin walked out in front of the table, an anxious smile on his face. Taehyung noticed he had changed into sweatpants and chuckled lightly. Jimin bowed to the cheerleaders, almost completely folding himself in half.

“Park Jimin. I’m going to be trying out with a self-choreographed dance.” He bowed quickly again and Taehyung thought that his voice sounded very confident despite how nervous they all knew he was. Hoseok gave him a wink before looking down at his clipboard and nodding for Jimin to start. The soft thrum of a popular hip-hop song started playing from the pair of speakers next to the table. Jimin took a deep breath before starting, his body moving in time with the intense beat. The boys were seemingly in a trance, barely moving until the song was over. When the song slowly faded as it ended, Taehyung was the first to shoot out of his seat, whistling and clapping. The other boys joined, a chorus of them yelling Jimin’s name ringing out. Even Yoongi stood and clapped, mildly impressed by the younger boy’s performance. Jimin looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole as he avoided looking at the boys, shyly giving the group of cheerleaders a deep bow and a quiet “thank you for your time” before shuffling off to the where he had placed his bag in the shade. His face was still a bright red when Taehyung ran up to him.

“Jimin! That was amazing!” Taehyung squeezed him into a hug, seemingly unbothered by Jimin’s slightly sweaty forehead pressing against his cheek.

“I didn’t know you’d be here…” Jimin muttered, trying to suppress a smile as the taller boy pulled away.

“The guys didn’t tell you I was going to be here?” Taehyung tilted his head questioningly, watching as Jimin looked at Yoongi, Namjoon and Seokjin approaching. Taehyung could almost see the gears turning in Jimin’s head.

“Wait.” Jimin’s mouth formed an ‘o’ as he watched Seokjin sling an arm around Taehyung’s shoulders and beam at Jimin. “You’re their maknae?” Taehyung giggled and nodded, the two of them earning a confused look from Seokjin. Jimin shook his head dismissively in response.

“Jimin-ah!” Namjoon ruffled Jimin’s hair, resembling a proud dad with how he was smiling at Jimin. “That was amazing! Hoseok has the final say about you joining but I really don’t doubt that he loved that as much as we all did.”

“Nice performance.” Yoongi gave Jimin a small nod. Seokjin opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a boy Jimin didn’t recognize calling out to them as he jogged towards the group. He stopped right in front of Jimin, and held out a hand.

“I’m Donghyuk, though all of the boys call me SB.” He shot a pointed look at Namjoon, who only gave him a sheepish grin in response. Jimin bowed, almost smacking his head against Donghyuk’s outstretched hand. Donghyuk tried to hide his amused expression as he put his hand in his pocket. He waited for Jimin to look back up before continuing. “Hoseok had mentioned that you were talented and you did not disappoint. Welcome to the team.”

“Donghyuk doesn’t go here but most of us had known him from elementary and middle school and he’s been part of our group since forever.” Seokjin half shrugged from next to Taehyung.

“And he’s moving away!” Taehyung pouted, ducking out from under Seokjin’s arm and wrapping himself around one of Donghyuk’s arm. Donghyuk seemed completely unaffected by Taehyung’s behavior and just pat the boy’s head.

“Only a town over. We’ll need to reorganize some stuff since there’s only six of you for the Battle, but you should more or less be able to use some of the stuff we’ve been working on.” Donghyuk was mumbling, mostly to himself but the rest of them were listening as he thought out loud.

“Was there more than six of you at one point?” If Jimin hadn’t glanced at Yoongi when he asked, he would’ve missed the flash of a frown on his face. He looked at the ground for a second, his expression neutral once again when he looked back up.

“It was seven at some point, but it’s only been the six of us for a while.” Taehyung shrugged, his expression solemnly serious. Jimin let out a soft ‘oh’ and they all fell into an awkward silence. The silence was broken by Hoseok’s excited squeal as he ran towards them and threw himself on Yoongi. Yoongi couldn’t hold back the smile that spread on his face. The rest of the group’s demeanor changed with his and they shared small smiles.

“Jimin! That was even better than I had anticipated!” Hoseok peeled himself off of Yoongi and pulled Jimin into a hug. When he pulled away he had a huge smile on his face, his excitement contagious and making Jimin smile almost as wide back to him. “We should all go eat together to celebrate! I found this really cute place by our apartment that has some amazing bulgogi.” Hoseok began walking off the field and towards the parking lot, the others following closely behind. He walked up to a grey SUV and waited until Donghyuk unlocked it so that everyone could start going inside. Donghyuk was in the driver’s seat and Namjoon sat in the shotgun seat. The rest of them piled inside, Jimin and Taehyung in the middle, giggling like kids. Yoongi, Hoseok and Seokjin sat together in the back, all with grins on their faces. Namjoon started playing music, the boys in the back making excited sounds as a popular BIGBANG song began. Donghyuk pulled out of the parking lot, smiling as he hummed along to the music. Jimin giggled into Taehyung’s shoulder, feeling light and happier than he’s felt in a long time.

yes it was bang bang bang playing in the car ok hello~ just wanted to say thanks to the couple of you that commented on the first part bc that made me about 100 times more excited to update?? y'all are literally the sweetest ;-;

i also wanted to clarify a bit about the living situation for some of them bc i don't think i'll get around to explaining that in the actual story: basically yoongi, hoseok, namjoon and donghyuk share an apartment as of the summer before this story takes place (aka their senior year). jin still lives with his parents bc he's the youngest in his family and he doesn't really need to go live on his own. i think that's enough for now? i just thought that it might have been confusing any time one of them said "our apartment" without any real explanation :)

anyways, i'm gonna try to push the story forward a little more in the next few chapters so very sorry in advance if it's a bit all over the place... thenks for reading, see you next time! (sorry for the long author's note whoops)