Jimin stares at his boyfriend – ex-boyfriend – in shock. “Where did you get the idea that I was proposing to you?” Sangmin asks, keeping his voice low so as not to attract attention.

Jimin, on the other hand, doesn’t care what attention he gains. “Uh, let’s see, this is where we had our first date, you said it was a big night, and you had a talk with your parents about your future! Those are all classic signs of a proposal!” Jimin exclaims, using Taehyung’s reasoning as his defense. “I can’t believe you’re breaking up with me!” Jimin runs his hand through his hair in distress. “This is not how tonight was supposed to go.”

Sangmin chuckles nervously, aware of how some of the other people in the restaurant were looking at them. “Jimin, I’m sorry, you’re amazing and everything, but-“

“But what?!”

Sangmin sighs. “It’s your hair.”

Jimin gasps loudly, causing even more people to look their way. “You’re dumping me because of my hair? You don’t like it! It looks horrible, doesn’t it?!”

“No, no, Jimin~” Jimin seems to be nearly hyperventilating at this point, but surprisingly none of the tears welling up in his eyes have started to slip down his cheeks. “You look amazing, I wasn’t lying when I said that.” Sangmin sighs again. “But you change your hair color every few weeks whenever you get bored of it, that’s not something a serious person with actual goals does.”

Jimin gapes at him. “I have goals! I’m going to open up my own dance studio after graduation!”

Sangmin shakes his head. “Jimin, dancing is a hobby, not a serious career choice. And I need someone who is just as serious as me about the future.”

The tears Jimin had been holding back finally break free, as he stands up from the table. “I’m serious about our future, but apparently that’s not enough.” He storms out of the restaurant, leaving Sangmin to endure the stares of the other customers alone.

“Bad shrimp~” Sangmin says, successfully getting everyone to go back to their own meals.

~

Jimin bursts into the apartment, interrupting Taehyung and Jungkook’s movie night as he falls onto his best friend’s lap and starts sobbing even harder than he already was. “What happened?” Taehyung asks, pausing the movie immediately and pulling Jimin up to rest on his shoulder so he can properly cuddle him.

Jimin responds with a series of unintelligible squeals and mumbles, causing Jungkook to stare at him in confusion. “Did you even catch any of that?”

Taehyung gives his boyfriend an incredulous look. “Yeah, Sangmin dumped Jimin because he’s not ‘serious’ enough, were you even listening?” Jungkook refrains from rolling his eyes as Taehyung starts murmuring words of comfort to the heartbroken blond.

~

The semester begins and Jimin still hasn’t gotten over Sangmin. He focuses on his routine to get him through the day, class, studio, back to bed. The only reason he’s even eating properly and showering regularly is because Taehyung feeds him and bathes him, literally.

A couple of days before his birthday, he’s still stuck in that rut, but Taehyung has decided he’s done with it.

Taehyung bursts into his bedroom, Jungkook following him like a puppy, and rips the blanket off of Jimin. “Alright, get up, we’re going out.”

“I don’t want to~” Jimin mumbles into his pillow, not moving a centimeter.

“I don’t care. You’ve been moping for nearly two months now, and it’s time to stop.” Taehyung demands, glaring down at his best friend. “So, get up.”

“What’s the point when Sangmin doesn’t love me anymore?”

Taehyung sighs and sits on the edge of the bed. “I know it hurts, and it’s probably going to continue to hurt for a long time. But you can’t let that control you. Especially not when your birthday is coming up. Now come on and let me treat you to something special as a present.” Jimin stirs a bit, turning his head so his face is no longer smushed into his pillow. “There we go. I made an appointment with Seokjin hyung and he said he would leave enough space for you too if you wanted.” Taehyung runs his fingers through Jimin’s hair. “Your roots are really showing through, so I would take it if I were you.”

Jimin sighs before sitting up. “Fine, I’ll go~” Taehyung cheers and pulls the shorter male in for a hug before jumping off the bed and running to the closet to pick out an outfit for Jimin to wear.

~

“I still can’t believe you refused to match with me again.” Taehyung pouts as he waits for the bleach Seokjin had put on his head to set in, watching as the hairdresser applies black color to his boyfriend’s head.

“We agreed that if I didn’t like the bleaching that I wouldn’t have to go through it again!” Jungkook insists.

“He broke up with you over your hair?” Seokjin asks over the couple’s bickering, as Jimin had just finished relaying the story of Sangmin dumping him. “What a loser~”

Jimin shakes his head. “No, he used it as some kind of metaphor for how I’m not ‘serious’ enough for him now that he’s going to law school.”

Seokjin hums. “I never understood the whole belief that your hair color can show how serious you are. Like, my hair is currently silver, and I’m totally serious!” Jimin chuckles as he looks back down at the color options that Seokjin currently has on hand. “I remember the last time a guy tried to dump me. He claimed he couldn’t handle long distance relationships, so I followed him here to Seoul…” Jimin perks up at that statement, “…then I dumped him a couple of weeks later when I realized just how boring he really was.”

“Wait, you followed him all the way to a new city?” Jimin asks.

Seokjin nods. “Oh yeah, at the time I believed that he was the love of my life and that we were destined to be together, so I wasn’t going to let the distance ruin that.”

Jimin skips over to Taehyung and squeezes his hands. “Do you know what this means?”

Taehyung blinks in confusion. “That Seokjin has been in more relationships than people I’ve had crushes on my entire life?” He looks over at the hairdresser. “Seriously, that’s like the 20^th boyfriend you’ve told us about!”

“No!” Jimin exclaims, bringing his best friend’s attention back to him. “I have to follow the love of my life and prove how serious I really am!”

Jungkook turns his head slightly to look at them until Seokjin smacks his shoulder to make him look straight again. So, he opts to continue looking at himself in the mirror as he asks, “Wait, Jimin, what are you saying?”

Jimin smiles widely. “I’m saying that I’m going to law school!” He turns to Seokjin. “Don’t use up all of that color on Jungkook.

~

That next Monday, Jimin sits across from his advisor, running his hand through his new dark locks that he’s still not used after nearly four years of bright colors. “Seoul National University School of Law?” Mr. Lee asks in shock, sure that Jimin must be pranking him.

Jimin nods his head with a bright smile. “Yep!”

“…You do realize that’s one of the top schools in the nation?”

Jimin giggles slightly. “I have a 4.5 GPA.”

Mr. Lee chuckles himself, only his is condescending. “Jimin, you’re a dance major. SNU is not going to care that you got an A+ in Dance Creation. So, if you’re really serious about pursuing a graduate degree, then I suggest you look at schools more suitable for your chosen career path.”

Jimin blinks. “My chosen career path is law, and SNU is perfectly suitable for that.”

Mr. Lee sighs, deciding to let Jimin suffer from the natural consequences of his decision rather than continue to try to talk him out of it. “Well, applications are due in three days, so you’ll need to apply online as soon as possible. You’ll need excellent recommendation letters from your professors and the absolute best admissions essay you can possibly create. You’ll need to prepare for an interview, should you make it that far. And you need to score at least a 175 on your LEET.”

Jimin gives a final nod. “Don’t worry, I got this~”

~

Taehyung and Jungkook walk into the apartment with bags of fried chicken and a couple of bottles of soju. “Hey, Jimin, we’re-“ Taehyung pauses as he looks up and sees Jimin lying on his stomach on the floor, LEET practice books, other resources for preparing for law school, and his open laptop lying around him. “Wait, you were serious about this?”

Jimin looks up at his best friend. “Dead serious.” He says, turning another page in the book he is currently looking at. “This is the only way to show Sangmin that I am serious, and then we’ll get back together, get engaged, and live happily ever after for the rest of our days!” Jimin highlights a section of the book then looks at his laptop to fill out some more of the application.

Jungkook sighs and drops the bag of food on the coffee table, taking one of the bottles of soju from Taehyung. “I’m gonna need this in order to deal with him the rest of this semester.” He untwists the cap and takes a swig of the alcohol before falling on the couch, Taehyung sitting next to him and opening the bag of chicken as he prepares to ignore Jimin for the rest of the night.

~

Within a week of submitting his application, Jimin receives an email confirming that he did make it through the first round of acceptance and a date for his interview. After a quick celebration, which just consists of him jumping on Taehyung and Jungkook and rudely waking them just so he could yell in their ears about it, he schedules his LEET exam and searches the internet for what he can expect from the interview. Every minute that he’s not in class in the days leading up to his interview and exam is dedicated to practicing with Taehyung, Jungkook, or even Seokjin to make sure he’s as prepared as he can possibly be.

A week after his interview, the board of admissions is discussing his application as they determine who will make it through the next round of acceptance. After reviewing the recording of his interview, one of the members looks around at the rest of the board skeptically. “Are we really sure he’s a good fit for our school?”

Choi Youngseok is the one to respond, keeping his gaze on the pictures of Jimin that accompany his application. “He does have a 4.5 from Hanyang University and was top of his class in high school.”

“Yes, in dance.” Another member says. “What place does a dancer have here?”

“He could add in some diversity.” Youngseok offers, now gently running his finger over the picture. “And he held himself well in the interview, even if he was a bit giggly during it.”

The first member sighs. “Even with his grades and how well the interview went, there are hundreds of other qualified applicants, only 200 of which will make it through this round. And only 150 will be accepted.”

“So why not let Park Jimin be one of them?” Youngseok says, earning a scoff from a few of the board members. “Fine, let’s look at the last candidate, shall we?” He picks up the file containing that last application for consideration. “Kim Chaewon, a 2.5 from Ewha Woman’s University, majored in Political Science, and scored a 150 on her LEET.” Youngseok looks up at the rest of the board. “Would you rather have someone who has a political science background, but scored lowly with a low GPA, or a dance major with a perfect GPA and potentially could have a high LEET score?”

The board shares glances until the leader finally speaks up. “Alright, Park Jimin will make it through this round, but his final status solely depends on his LEET score.”

~

Taehyung nearly drops the bowl of ramen in his hands as Jimin screams for him. He runs into his best friend’s bedroom to see him sitting in the middle of his bed, laptop open in front of him. “What, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“My LEET score’s been posted.” Jimin says breathlessly, holding his hand out for Taehyung. “I don’t want to look at it by myself.” Taehyung takes his best friend’s hand and climbs onto the bed next to him. “The email I got last week said that as long as I get at least a 175, I’ll for sure get in.” He squeezes Taehyung’s hand to relieve some of his anxiety as he clicks on the score.

They wait for the page to load with bated breath, both of their breaths hitching as the number finally appears. “179~” Jimin whispers, looking at Taehyung at the exact same time Taehyung looks at him, both of their eyes wide. “I got a 179!” They both jump up, hugging each other while screaming. “I’M GOING TO SNU!!!”

“I’m so proud of you!” Taehyung says, falling back onto the bed and bringing Jimin with him. “I can’t believe my best friend is officially a law student!”

Jimin chuckles breathlessly. “I can’t either!” Jimin’s eyes well up with tears of joy. “I’m going to get Sangmin back!”