Prompt: Yoonjin - 14 - Burn

It’s not X men but Yoongi and Seokjin both have a serious case of the Rogue depression.

I will upload the rest of the stories tomorrow.

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Someone knocked on Yoongi’s desk.

He pulled out one of his earbuds and wordlessly looked up at the perpetrator.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

He looked down at Yoongi with honest wide eyes, for a new student he was surprisingly stoic. Yoongi might have admired that, if today was not Monday.

“No,” he answered. He put the earbud back in, the Simon D song, and buried his head back on crossed arms.

The chair next to him was pulled back as the guy dropped his backpack on the floor next to it.

Yoongi sat up again, “I said no.”

“Too bad,” the guy shrugged, “Mr. Kang told me to sit here.”

Yoongi glared at his chemistry teacher, the traitor had promised him a lab station all for himself.

The guy pulled out a notebook and blue pen, “Stop complaining, it’s the only empty seat in the room.”

This was true. He introduced himself, “I’m Seokjin.”

Yoongi pointed to himself, “I’m Yoongi.”

“Don’t touch me,” they said at the same time.

Maybe a smile passed between them. Briefly of course, Yoongi had spent half a school year developing his anti-social reputation, he wasn’t about to give that up by befriending the new kid. Even if Seokjin had a nice smile.

~~

Yoongi arrived at the apartment complex first.

 Hoseok’s student council meeting ran late, Yoongi didn’t understand why Hoseok was student council treasurer in the first place.

There was one thing in the mailbox.

A letter from their landlord, they hadn’t payed last month’s rent.

Yoongi pulled a cigarette from his pocket.

They received a similar letter the month before, and the month before that, but Hoseok had taken care of those.

Yoongi exhaled a stream of smoke as he began walking up the stairs.

He didn’t have Hoseok’s persuasive abilities, the landlord had stopped listening to Yoongi when she noticed he had two piercings in one ear, three in the other, and a visible tattoo on the inside of his wrist. Yoongi pocketed the letter, Hoseok would take care of this when he got back.

Yoongi smashed the worn cigarette at the entrance to the apartment.

Hoseok hated the smell of smoke.

~~

Seokjin was a good lab partner, his handwriting was legible, his charts detailed, correctly labeled, and pretty thanks to Seokjin’s arsenal of multi colored pens. They would always use his notes when they performed labs, and they always got the highest score.

Seokjin dictated the directions to Yoongi, he never held the graduated cylinders for too long and avoided the Bunsen burner all together.

“I’m clumsy,” Seokjin offered as explanation, “I’ll probably break everything.”

Seokjin buried his nose in his lab notebook, “Heat the solution until it changes colors, from blue to green.”

Seokjin avoided eye contact. And when he said on the first day “don’t touch him” he meant it. He would flinch whenever the teacher walked down the aisles and looked over their shoulder at their work. “He’s just like you, Yoongi,” Mr. Kang said one day.

To which Seokjin’s eyes briefly flickered to Yoongi,  if it wasn’t chemistry Seokjin didn’t care for Yoongi.

 Yoongi appreciated that. And was able to heat up their solutions in peace.

~~

“There’s a new guy in my class.”

“Yeah?” Yoongi didn’t look up from his phone.

“Yeah. His hair is bleached white, not blonde but white, and Mrs. Jung doesn’t say anything about it,” Hoseok stirred the chicken in the pan, “even though it’s against school rules.”

Yoongi asked, “Are you still mad they made you dye your hair?”

“I looked good with the light brown!” Hoseok whined.

Yoongi sighed, he leaned his head over the arm of the couch, “It was against school rules.”

Hoseok glared.

Yoongi smirked then returned to the game on his phone.

“Dinner’s ready,” Hoseok called out.

Yoongi got up from the couch and ran to the kitchen. Hoseok’s sleeves were rolled up, revealing a burn of what appeared to be a hand sliding down his forearm. He caught Yoongi’s grimace and covered it up.  “So I talked to our landlord,” Hoseok quickly said.

“Finally,” Yoongi scooped rice on to his plate, “So it was a misprint and we did pay our rent?”

“Like it always is,” Hoseok smiled, “you should get rid of the first letter before she remembers.”

“They never remember,” Yoongi took the notice from him.

“You never know, maybe it weakens with age,” Hoseok took a bite of his chicken.

“I doubt that,” Yoongi opened up the kitchen window. He held the letter between his thumb and forefinger and watched, slowly, as the paper caught fire and turned to ashes in his hand, “If anything it grows stronger…” his voice trailed off.

Hoseok said nothing.

Yoongi blew the ashes into the air.

They ate in silence.

~~

For everything except science, Yoongi and Seokjin sat in desks on the opposite ends of the classroom. However after Yoongi caught a glimpse of Seokjin’s last math assignment, he considered the merits of an attempt at friendship. He moved to the empty desk in front of Seokjin’s, the short skirted owner was flirting in the hallway with some guy from another class. “What did you get for number 6?” Yoongi asked.

Seokjin stiffened, he pulled himself further from Yoongi, “I haven’t started it yet.”

“Then what are you working on?”

“The Poetry analysis assignment, I usually do bad in literature,” he brushed at his bangs, Yoongi didn't find the gesture endearing, at all.

Yoongi looked at Seokjin's assigned poem. He grabbed a red pen and marked and underlined and wrote until there was no space left on the paper, “There, what’s the answer to number 6?”

Seokjin looked over the paper with wide eyes, “How did you-”

“I read a lot,” he’s had decades to read, Yoongi pulled out the calculus textbook, “Math now. English later.”

His tone sounded rude, even to Yoongi’s ears. But Seokjin said nothing, he just smiled and began working through the problem, and described every step to Yoongi. After three problems he asked, “Aren’t you hot?”

“Excuse me?” Yoongi asked.

“It’s just you’re wearing the winter uniform, and your skin is warm, I can feel that from here.”

Yoongi froze, he retaliated, “Look who’s talking, you're wearing the winter uniform too.”

“But I’m always cold,” he smiled wistfully, “even in the summer.”

Yoongi hadn’t noticed, couldn’t feel it even if he wanted to, so his abrupt tone came back, “You should see a doctor about that.”

“Maybe,” Seokjin responded. But there was something sad about that too.

~~

Yoongi sat on the steps outside the school, Hoseok asked him to wait until the student council meeting was over, and held a cigarette to his lips.

“Can we go to the convenient store today?”

Yoongi looked up.

There were two guys across the courtyard, Seokjin and a smaller guy with purple hair pulling on his backpack straps.

“Sure,” Seokjin said is an exasperated tone, “but no candy, Taehyungie we’re only buying groceries.”

The smaller guy, Taehyung, smiled up at him. He reached for Seokjin’s hand, Seokjin pulled away, Taehyung shrugged it off and followed Seokjin out of the school gates.

Yoongi stared, their interactions had suggested intimacy, but they didn’t look alike at all. The purple haired guy had a boxed shaped smile that took up half his face, while Seokjin's was softer, more subtle, and hidden behind his hand. Maybe they were dating? Yoongi’s skin burned at the thought.

“Calm down.”

Yoongi quickly stood up and snubbed out his cigarette.

It was Hoseok standing next to a taller guy with white hair. “Your meeting ran too long,” Yoongi complained.

“Blame Youngjae, he wanted to go over the plan for the school festival,” Hoseok pointed at the white haired guy, “This is Nam Joon he just joined the club.”

“This is the new guy you told me about?” Yoongi asked.

Nam Joon’s eyebrows raised at that, “You talk about me.”

“Just to this loser, he isn’t worth much,” despite the nonchalance in Hoseok’s tone he couldn’t meet Nam Joon’s gaze.

Yoongi rolled his eyes, “Can we leave now?”

“Sure, Nam Joon do you want to walk with us?”

“Nah, I just got a text from Seokjin, he says their short on cash for groceries,” Nam Joon scrolled through his phone.

“You know Seokjin?” Yoongi asked.

Nam Joon hesitated, “He’s my brother.”

His tone was odd, his pose too stiff, but before Yoongi could ask he was already walking to the main gate.

Yoongi turned to Hoseok, that bastard had a eating grin. “Who’s Seokjin?” he asked.

“The new guy,” Yoongi muttered, he brushed his bangs and caught the brown scorched edge of his shirt, “…”

Hoseok noticed,“Is that you’re last one?”

“Yeah…” Yoongi pulled his blazer further down his arms to cover it.

“Let’s buy a new one on the way home,” Hoseok suggested.

Yoongi nodded. How many school uniforms has Yoongi burned through? How many per school? Yoongi lost track of how many times he graduated some time after the fifth, they all blended together. This winter was just going to be another graduation ceremony at a soon to be forgotten school.

“What are you going to do next year?” Hoseok asked. He still had another year before he graduated again.

Yoongi shrugged, he should get a job, Hoseok’s persuasion could only pay their rent for so long.

Hoseok reached for Yoongi.

Yoongi pulled back.

“I’m sure you won’t hurt me,” Hoseok said.

“I’m only getting stronger remember,” Yoongi showed him the burn the fabric, it had ignited again, Yoongi blew it out. The whole from the fire revealed more of his tattoo, his birthdate, he forgot it once, he wasn't going to forget it again.

“You should practice more.”

“And burn down the apartment?” Yoongi scoffed.

Hoseok shrugged.

“Let’s buy the shirt and go home,” he suggested.

~~

“I never see you carry a lighter,” Seokjin stated.

They were up on the roof, Seokjin had his math textbook open on his lap, Yoongi was copying his answers. Seokjin's coffee cup was empty in the trash. Yoongi had yet to finish his, it was cold again, he warmed it up with one hand. In his other hand was a lighted cigarette.

“I’m a magician,” Yoongi blew out a stream of smoke, “I don’t need it to start fires.”

Seokjin attempted a laugh.

Yoongi didn’t smile.

The bell rang. Seokjin packed his textbook, grabbed his bag of pens, and ran down the stairs.

Yoongi’s clean up took more time, he didn’t care about being first in the classroom. Hidden between his math notes was Seokjin’s red pen. Seokjin must have forgotten it. But when Yoongi tried returning it at the end of the day, Seokjin shook his head and said, “You keep it. Red’s your color anyway.”

What does it mean to have a color?

But when Yoongi wrote his English homework in the red pen, he admitted the ideas looked better in red.

~~

Last night their was a power outage that turned off Yoongi's alarm clock. He woke up to blinking letters that were three hours off. He checked the time on his face, school had already started, and jumped out of bed. He arrived an hour late to class, in his haste he forgot his gloves. The secretary gave him a disapproving click of the tongue when he walked into the front office, "Hoseok got here on time."

Yoongi wasn't Hoseok, and that bastard probably didn't arrive on time either, you're brainwashed, Yoongi wanted to shout.

He sneered as he took the tardy slip from her, careful not to brush her fingers, tootal concentration focused on not burning the paper.

Seokjin started the lab without him. His tongue peeking out as he held the cylinder by the tips over the bunsen burner. Yoongi squinted, the glass was cracked. The solution held over the burner for too long.

In a fit of panic, Yoongi grabbed Seokjin's wrist and pulled him to the ground, just as the solution exploded, just as the glass shattered. The fire alarms went off, the whole school had to be evacuated.

But Seokjin and Yoongi didn’t move from their spots. Yoongi looked at where he gripped Seokjin, horrified, but when he moved his fingers there wasn’t a red mark. He turned over Seokjin’s arm, carefully searched the mark that should be there but wasn’t. When he met Seokjin’s gaze, he too looked scared. Seokjin swallowed, “how?”

“I don’t…”

They stared at each other.

Mr. Kang yelled at them, they were the only two students still in the classroom. And Yoongi, still dazed, pulled Seokjin with him. He didn’t let go.

Even when everyone was outside waiting for the firetrucks, where everyone could see them, he didn’t let go.

Seokjin stayed silent. He moved so that they were holding hands, palm to palm, fingers intertwined, the first time Yoongi had touched another human being in years.

~~

“They’re just like us,” Yoongi told Hoseok.

Hoseok transferred clothes from the washer to the dryer, "I know,"

Yoongi's eyebrows furrowed together, "How?"

"Nam Joon can read minds. He saw me talk to the principal yesterday and convince to increase the student council’s budget. He saw how I influenced hair, he said it was fascinating,” Hoseok smiled, obviously proud of himself, “How did you find out?”

Yoongi stared down at the soda can in his hands.

He gnawed one his lip, “Seokjin and I held hands…”

Hoseok’s eyes widened.

“And he didn’t burn,” Yoongi finished.

"How?"

Yoongi shrugged. He dumped his dirty laundry into the washer.

“He said I wasn’t frozen.”

~~

Seokjin wasn't in his seat at the begining of school.

Yoongi found him on the roof with his americano in once hand and a warm cup of coffee across from him.

"I didn't touch it," he said.

"I know," Yoongi picked up the cup and sat where it was, "Thanks."

A moment passed.

 “You’re 18?” Yoongi asked.

Seokjin, cautiously, nodded his head in affirmation.

Yoongi chewed on his bottom lip, “How long have you been 18?”

“76 years, and you?”

“125,” Yoongi sat down next to him.

“That’s a long time,” Seokjin filled in the silence.

“It got easier when I found Hoseok. He’s only 34,” Yoongi explained.

“He’s a baby,” Seokjin laughed.

“He is,” Yoongi smiled, “You freeze everything-”

“And you burn everthing,”  Seokjin finished for him.

“Everything except you,” Yoongi said.

Seokjin blushed at that, “Your no touch rule makes sense now.”

Yoongi swallowed, “Can we get rid of that?”

Seokjin stared.

Yoongi looked down at his hands, “I burn Hoseok, I’ve known him for decades, he’s my best friend and no matter how much self control I practice I still burn him.”

“You’re the first person I’ve touched in years,” Yoongi explained, “I forgot how that felt.”

A hundred moments passed.

“Can you show me?” Yoongi asked.

Seokjin looked vulnerable, he trembled as he spoke, “I – I can’t control it well.”

“If it gets too strong I can melt it,” Yoongi offered a smile.

Seokjin attempted to smile back. He inhaled a deep breath, let it out slowly, blew into the palm of his hand where the cold air formed a rose.

Yoongi laughed, “That’s awesome.”

Seokjin handed it to him, it melted between Yoongi’s fingertips. His smile faded, “Sorry…”

Seokjin grabbed his hand, he didn’t burn under Yoongi’s touch, just like the day of the chemistry explosion. “You’re not warm," Seokjin looked down at their hands, "but you’re the closest I’ve ever gotten to it.”

Yoongi’s face flushed.

Seokjin wasn’t warm, but he had a pulse and skin and what he lacked in heat, Yoongi made up for. And Seokjin still had a warm smile.

Yoongi couldn't help but smile back.

~~

The next week, the five of them, Seokjin, Yoongi, Hoseok, Nam Joon, and Taehyung moved into one large apartment.

“How can we afford this place,” Seokjin asked, “No one has a job.”

“I can make people change their opinions, and get them to forget something ever happened,” Hoseok shrugged.

“And if that doesn’t work, Nam Joon can use his mind reading voodoo to steal someone’s bank information,” Taehyung said.

Seokjin slapped the back of his head. Taehyung laughed as he grew to Seokjin’s height and his facial features transformed. There were two Seokjins now.

Nam Joon said, “You and Yoongi can get jobs next year.”

Seokjin met Yoongi’s gaze. Yoongi turned away, face red, “Maybe.”

“Can we divide rooms by grades?” Taehyung asked, his face returned to normal though his hair stayed red, “So I get the single room?”

That would mean Nam Joon and Hoseok in the second room. And the final room would go to…

Seokjin wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s back, “You don’t mind sleeping with me, roomie?”

Seokjin’s chest was cold. Yoongi shivered as he leaned against it, “Not at all.”

Yoongi smiled. He felt Seokjin's racing heartbeat.

His own was beating faster.