Min Yoongi has always been an intelligent student.

 

He takes class notes when necessary as he records the lecture on his little USB recorder; goes to every lecture, tutorial and practical lesson; brings the right stationary needed for the subject and revises his notes weekly.

His game plan is fairly straightforward: study smarter, not harder. As long as he managed to pass each semester with a slightly higher-than-average GPA, Min Yoongi is happy.

 

However, he has not always been a diligent student.

 

Up until his first year of majoring in Mathematics and Physics, Yoongi has breezed through his primary and secondary education without putting in much effort; he figured he did not need to try so hard when the teachers would give him straight As even if he didn't hand in his assessment piece. Hence when his grades came through the school's website, in his first semester of college, it is an understatement to say that Yoongi is shocked.

Instead of his usual, straight-As and a high GPA of 6.95, there lay a miserable GPA of 2.05.

Yoongi had barely passed. He was victim, along with his classmates back in high school, to all of the teachers' rants about how they cannot get away with slacking off in college like they were back then.

("You can't keep this behaviour up," they'd say. "You'll struggle with your degree and watch your well-earned money flow down the drain as you fail.")

The possibility of a reality like that seemed ever closer for him and he vowed to step up his studying habits. He used study plans, study guides, just about anything and everything to secure him with a satisfying pass. So he was quite proud of himself when he scored a fulfilling GPA of 6.99, the best he'd ever received during the course of his academic life, and planned to continue his study habits all the way until his graduation.

To this date, while he is undergoing his third year of college, he has stayed true to his words, like a real man.

 

 

Yoongi is seated in one of the many chairs in the large lecture hall; rich earth-brown fabric act as a cover to the chairs as Yoongi places his right hand on the bent, portable desk which was attached to all of the chairs and slides it out. He was hoping and praying that the hot espresso he drank in one gulp kicks in sooner than later; who in their right mind thought that 7am classes were a good idea?

The professor has started his talk on the topics they were going to cover over the course of three weeks and is starting to go into detail about their practical, which should help them see the physics in action.

Yoongi has never been more happier that he records the lecture as he sees a familiar tanned hand, ready to touch his hoodie sleeve-covered forearm.

Of course.

Yoongi opens up his dark and slim pencil case, grabbing the first pencil he could find. He makes sure to check if it is sharpened; he wouldn't want to hand out blunt pencils to the needy, now. Yoongi decides he must have sharpened the pencil sometime the night before as he was finishing his chapter review for this lesson.

He turns his head to see the sheepish smile that he has seen since the beginning of his freshman year; it's almost routine and convention now; he's almost certain that the boy is either very forgetful or loses items very quickly. In turn, it has resulted in Yoongi heading down to the local stationary store to buy a pack of 20 pencils, which had surprisingly run out in the first 15 days, only four of them were used by Yoongi.

He runs a quick scan of the young boy's frazzled appearance; he does not look too happy or organised about the whole morning classes outcome.

His usual, combed, parted fiery red hair has been traded for a rather mussed-up hairstyle, which looks like the boy had jumped out of his bed and simply ran his fingers over his hair as an attempt to soothe his angry bed hair. Nonetheless, his natural puffy cheeks that seemed to deflate over time as his face gave way to more masculine features, pouty lips with the faintest cherry stains scattered across them, wide and expressive eyes, and his defined nose made the hairstyle a bit more appealing to the eye. Yoongi thinks the boy could come to a lesson with a bald head, and although he might look like a happy egg, he would still manage to make that look adorable.

Yoongi hands over the pencil as the boy opens his mouth. "Here you go, Jimin."

Jimin brings his hand, which was ghosting over Yoongi's arm moments ago, to cover his mouth as he laughs softly, not wanting to disrupt the professor. "You always know what I need, don't you?" His eyes are still partly closed but just enough so that he can clearly see Yoongi grinning.

Yoongi only hums, turning his head to face the professor. He notices, in the short time he had helped out Jimin, the professor was already halfway through explaining a particularly interesting connection between formulae.

He copies the generous notes on the board and hears a faint noise.

Psst. He looks to his right side to see Jimin motioning something to him. Heck, Yoongi didn't understand sign language. He tilts his head a little to the left, lowering it and scrunching his face up to say, 'What are you doing?'

Jimin reaches over and points to the black eraser resting on Yoongi's desk. "Borrow? Please?"

Yoongi shrugs but moves the rubber onto Jimin's desk as the latter whispers, "Thanks."

 

 

As soon as the lecture finishes, Yoongi packs his stationary back into his pencil case and returns his notebook, pencil case and recorder into his grey backpack, making sure to turn the recorder off.

"See you at prac, Yoongi."

Jimin bids farewell and Yoongi waves his hand, smiling. "See you then."

Yoongi stands up and pushes the desk back into its stationery position before making his way out of the lecture hall and into the open courtyard with little stores popping up every few metres. He checks the time on his wrist watch. 8:30 am.

He decides it's in his best interest to go home - Seokjin has most likely made breakfast for both of them and so, Yoongi starts his ten-minute trek back to his shared apartment.

 

 

The tempting whiff of pancakes hit Yoongi's nostrils as he opens the door and steps inside. He heads straight to his bed and places his bag onto it before pacing down to the kitchen, where Seokjin currently is, armed with a wooden spatula and a pastel pink apron tied around his waist.

"Smells good, Jin."

Seokjin turns around and greets Yoongi with a wide grin. "It'll be ready in a few minutes. Go sit down."

"I'll grab the plates." Yoongi offers and moves to the cupboard where the all the plates are treasured and the sliding shelf with the cutlery, grabbing the needed utensils to the dark oak dining table.

"So... How was your class?" Seokjin slides the last pancake from the pan onto the plate where the others rest, turning the kitchen top off. He unties his apron, slender fingers releasing the knot, and ties it on the hook on the wall. He grabs the large plate with all of the pancakes with one hand and with the other, grabs the maple syrup sitting on the bench top, making sure to place both down gently before going back and collecting the cream and strawberry jam. "Oh, yeah. We need to stock up on strawberries, Yoongi."

Yoongi pulls a chair back and sits down, facing Seokjin as he speaks. "Ah, it was alright, I guess?" He uses his fork and knife to slide three pancakes onto his plate, making sure to put adequate syrup, cream and jam on top. "I need to get more pencils later today, so I'll head down to the shops."

"Let's go together, then. I need to buy some other groceries. We're running out of stock," Seokjin laughs. "How are you going through so many pencils? What happened since freshman year? I've known you since I could remember and I'm pretty sure you don't eat through them." Seokjin follows suit with Yoongi.

"Ah, right then. After brekky." As Yoongi cuts his pancake up into smaller, bite-sized pieces, he looks up at Seokjin. "It's just - there's a kid in all of my classes. He always sits beside me and he," Yoongi pauses, rubbing the crease forming on his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, "never brings a goddamn pencil to any of the lectures! Why? It's always, 'Yoongi. Can I borrow a pencil?' and he never brings it back! What does he do with them? Do I look like I know? Why can't he either return the pencil like most people or even just keep it and actually use it during class time? Moreover, he's started this - this foolishness from freshman year!" Yoongi stops to breathe deeply and calm himself down.

Seokjin purses his lips, sympathetically. It's understandable, really, why Yoongi would get so hung up on the kid's actions.

Yoongi continues when he's taken a good few moments to recover. "And Jin, you don't know the worst part."

"Go on."

"He's too goddamn cute for me to get pissed at him. Sometimes when I'm having the worst day and he asks me for a pencil, I want to snap at him but I - I can't. He looks too pure for this world." Yoongi looks down on his plate. "Do you see my dilemma?"

Jin places his cutlery down neatly after eating a few small pieces from the pancake and straightens his arm on the table so that he can lean his head upon it. "Well, tell him you don't have any spares. That should do the trick."

Yoongi frowns deeper. "I have. So many times. But then, Jimin brings out his puppy eyes. That little turd knows his strengths well."

"Jimin? I think I've seen him before," Seokjin slowly says, recollecting memories to see if they matched the Jimin of Yoongi's description.

"Red hair? Occasionally wears round glasses?" Yoongi suggests and Seokjin gasps.

"Yeah! That's the one! We met a little get-together of Taehyung's," Seokjin grins. "I see what you mean, Yoongi. He is too cute."

Yoongi pokes at his pieces with his fork and places some syrup onto some before bringing them to his mouth. After he swallows, Yoongi hums. "We have a prac later this evening so I'm hoping he brought the pencil I lent him just then!"

"You never know, Yoongi, he might be interested in you. Everyone shows their affection towards others differently. What you might give as tough love might be Jimin's persistence." Seokjin looks at Yoongi with such seriousness, the latter chokes on the pancakes pieces he was about to eat. "And he could be really forgetful too."

"But this has been going on since we were freshmen! If there was any chance of him liking me, which is highly impossible, he might have done something already," Yoongi mumbles.

It has always been this way, Seokjin places an arm on Yoongi's forearm to let him know that he shouldn't think such negative thoughts so early in the day.

"Yoongi, get your head in the game. Everyone has different tastes, just because you don't appeal to one person does not make you the person no one wants to be with, okay?" Seokjin runs his hand slowly up and down Yoongi's arm, in a soothing manner. Yoongi sighed, his emotions just declining from his high. "Hey, don't play with the pancakes! They're there for you to eat." From where his hand currently is, he slaps Yoongi lightly, just playful enough for him to recognise.

Yoongi smiles, just the least, to show Seokjin he appreciated his concern and wellbeing for him. "Alright. I'll just have to buy a tower of pencils and keep it in my bag."

They both continue to eat the pancakes and finish them before Yoongi stands up with the cutlery on his plate and the spare one resting on the table with one hand and the strawberry jam jar, which was closed, to the kitchen. He steps in front of the sink and gives a quick rinse of his plate before grabbing the yellow and green scrubber pad, with adequate detergent on it, and scrubs the residues off. He opens the tap and rinses the soap off, making sure to wipe the plate with the drying cloth on the drying rack before putting it in it. He does the same for his cutlery.

Seokjin pads into the kitchen with his plate and cutlery in tow. Yoongi grabs it and swivels his body around to wash these utensils, while Seokjin goes to fetch the maple syrup and cream, still on the dining table, and put them back in their respective places, doing the same with the jam.

"Hey," Yoongi says while washing his hands. "Should we go in half an hour or so?"

"That'd be a good idea. I need to buy things so that we can have lunch." Seokjin smiles.

"How about take-out? You need to rest once in a while, at least." Yoongi says but is met with a stern scolding about how fast food, no matter how gourmet it is, is still unhealthy for them.

"Alright, alright. Call me in half an hour." With that, Yoongi pads to their shared room.

 

 

The walls have a coating of a particularly light beige and the right half of them is easily the neatest and most organised, namely Seokjin's side, but one could argue the study table, on Yoongi's half was greatly organised too. The beds were joined together, for the ease of access when they had their nightly movie.

Yoongi grabs the backpack on his bed and moves to the study table, making sure to take out his recorder, pencil case and notebook and places them on the table. He fumbles through a particularly small pocket inside the bag and takes out his phone and wallet, plugging the former into the charger resting in the wall socket while the other was placed on the right of his laptop. He leaves his bag to lean against the table on his right.

He plugs the recorder into his laptop, grabs the earphones resting on the keyboard and hooks them around the back of his ear before putting it in, and opens his notebook before turning the device on.

 

 

“Yoongi?” Seokjin walks into the room and stands behind Yoongi. He taps his shoulder gently. In response, Yoongi pauses the recording and removes his right earbud, waiting for Seokjin to continue. “It’s ten, on the dot. Let’s go.” Seokjin says as he moves to stand just outside the room, leaving Yoongi to pack up.

“Alright, I’m coming.” Yoongi says as he unhooks the other earbud from around his ear and onto the keyboard of his laptop. He locks his laptop before standing up and grabbing his wallet and phone, putting them into each of the back pockets on his jeans. He moves out of the way of the chair and pushes it so that it was par with the table. He walks over to where Seokjin is currently standing and they walk to the living room. Seokjin grabs the keys for the car and home lying on the coffee table before handing the latter to Yoongi, saying, “Lock up. I’ll get the car started.”

Yoongi grabs the keys and follows Seokjin’s path before turning around to lock the front door. He twists and turns the key until he hears the satisfying click.

Seokjin is in the process of maneuvering the car from the line of cars in the garage to the front of the complex, where he knew Yoongi would be. As soon as the wildfire-red Toyota Corolla sedan comes into view, Yoongi moves to it. He opens the door and sits in the front passenger seat before Seokjin drives off.

 

 

“We’re going to be starting our mid-semester project today. This prac lesson is all about you organising your groups or pairs and figuring out how you’re going to tackle it.” The professor says. “Before I let you all go and discuss what to do, you need to know what on Earth you’re actually doing. If you think about the past lectures and tutorials I’ve taught you so far in these four weeks, you might have an inkling.”

Yoongi thinks back to all of the lessons he has been to and figures the common topic was about elastic energy.

“However, if you have no idea, I’ll tell you know. You’re going to be making an egg ‘bungee jump’ from a height of 1.5 metres above the ground with the rope being made from rubber bands. You can make the rope as long or as short as you want it. The objective to make the egg come asclose as possible to the ground before it bounces back up.” The professor pauses. “Oh, and let’s just say that the group who get it the closest will earn some special prizes from me. It’s going to be super handy when the exam comes around.”

This has Yoongi determined to earn the prizes. According to past students, the professor gives out extra tuition, tips and work to the winners, which means that if Yoongi wins, he would be taught advanced topics than those in class, giving him a massive boost come exam time.

“What are you all waiting for? Every second counts! Go!”

Yoongi is about to dive straight into his notebook to see an efficient way to tackle this as someone pokes him. He turns around and it is not a surprise when he sees Jimin.

“Pencil?” Yoongi asks.

“Not today. Rather, I was going to ask you if you would like to be in a pair with me?” Jimin has a hopeful expression on his face, his lips slowly shifting into a nervous line.

The absolute thought of being in groups had sprinted out of Yoongi’s mind and he didn’t mind who he worked with as long as they did the equal share of the task. “Sure.”

That does wonders for Jimin. His eyes have crinkled back, his lips are stretched too wide and his teeth come out as he says, “Thanks.”

“So, uh,” Yoongi looks at Jimin’s notebook before looking at him, “do you have any suggestions as to how we can tackle this?”

Jimin stretches his arms above his head before eyeing the bag of rubber bands near the professor. “We need to decide on how many rubber bands we’re gonna use so then we can find the constant and go on from there.”

Yoongi smirks. He had not expected to the boy to pitch in and contribute Yoongi’s thoughts. So Jimin was not just but he had the brains too. “I like what I’m hearing.”

“Thanks, Yoongi.” Jimin laughs. “What’s your opinion on the amount of rubber bands?”

“We need to link them together and the longer we make it, the longer it freefalls before it stretches. So I reckon 20 or more.” Yoongi says.

“Okay.” Jimin pauses. “Should we make two ropes of ten bands each and then have one band at the bottom, linking the two?”

“What do you mean?” Yoongi hadn’t thought of this before; for someone who does not come to lessons prepared, Jimin knows an awful lot of tricks.

“Yoongi, do you remember that prac we did in the first week with finding the constants?” Jimin asks.

Yoongi nods.

“Bands that are parallel have a steeper line when graphed so if we can make our rope both parallel and in series, we have a better chance at actually controlling the egg’s fall.”

With every word that comes out of Jimin’s mouth, Yoongi is entranced. How Jimin manages to be so smart, so cute and cause Yoongi to be in a considerable amount of pain, Yoongi does not know but he’s extremely curious about one thing: why does Jimin always forget to bring a pencil when he brings everything else? He doesn’t realise the words have tumbled out of his mouth until Jimin squeaks, embarrassed.

“Ah, that…” Jimin bites his lips and tears his gaze from Yoongi, looking everywhere but at him. “I just…” He pauses again, trying to gain his composure. “I just wanted an excuse to talk to you.” He blurts.

Yoongi is taken aback. Never in his life had someone been genuinely interested in him in a way that wasn’t in a friend-like manner and to top it off, it was a fairly intriguing character at that. Not only was he confused about his feelings for a certain red-haired boy, who was smart, cute and persistent, but the other was interested in him too.

“But why? You could have talked to me easily or was it that my handsome looks scared you?” Yoongi tries to joke to calm his heart and Jimin’s nervousness but it doesn’t work for either.

“You’re just so amazing in my opinion?” Jimin voices, a bit hesitant. “At first, I thought it was just me admiring your talent and intelligence but over the years we’ve studied, it’s,” he fumbles with his hands, trying to project his feelings, “grown into something else? Do you get what I mean? Oh and what you said is true, by the way.”

Yoongi only nods again, too dumbfounded and stunned that something like this could happen to him. He should really train his mouth to not say unnecessary things but alas, it’s surprised him again when he asks, “What’s it grown into?”

Jimin stutters. “A-A big crush that I’m scared might grow into something else.”

Yoongi’s heart beats even faster at the implication of Jimin’s words. He can’t be serious, right? However, this leaves Yoongi two options: a) respond to Jimin’s confession honestly or b) forget this happened and move onto more physics which would make everything even more awkward than it should. He decides on the former and hopes his mouth won’t say anything stupid.

“It’s okay, Jimin. I’m not going to reject you. Before I say anything else, I have a question. What do you even do with those pencils?” Ah, there it goes again. Yoongi reasons he’s just partly curious.

“I kept them,” comes the reply as a shy mumble. “I have little over two-hundred pencils at home right now. But aren’t you disgusted with me?”

This time, Yoongi doesn’t stop the reaction tumbling from his lips. “Wow. No, I could never be disgusted by you, Jimin!” He places his hand on top of Jimin’s clenched fist. “You know, I would’t say I was infatuated with you since freshman year but I was certainly intrigued.”

Yoongi waits for Jimin to come to terms with what he’s saying. “From the first week since you started bothering me about pencils, I was annoyed, no doubt, but you were hella cute. I’ve always been wondering why you would pester me every lesson for three years about not having a pencil but I’m glad I know now.”

Jimin’s brought a hand up to cover his mouth, his eyes wide, b with tears that are eager to fall any minute. “Yoongi?”

Yoongi, noticing Jimin’s uncertainty, tries his best to convey his thoughts. “Look, I’m interested in you too. You’ve got everything I’ve ever thought of in a person; smart, adorable and you’re shorter than me.”

“I’m not!” Jimin’s laughing hard, tears now streaming down his cheeks, one by one, relieved. He relaxes his fist and turns his palm around to entwine their fingers together. “I’m glad. I’m glad that you like me. I’m glad that you’re willing to give me a chance.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Work first, play later. We can go grab something after this.” Yoongi offers but diverts his eyes back down to his notebook, anxious for Jimin’s answer.

“Of course, Yoongi. Hold on, you don’t have my kakao yet, do you?” Jimin realises and grabs his phone from his black knee-length shorts.

Yoongi fetches his phone as well, unlocking his phone and opens up the application. “I’m ready to shake when you are.”

“Ready, set, go.”

Both of them shake their phones at the same time and upon feeling the vibration, they stop and smile at each other.

Yoongi is glad his heart has soothed down when Jimin speaks up.

“Now, about that constant…”

 

 

As soon as the professor deems the practical lesson completed for the week, both Yoongi and Jimin pack up with an understandable grin stretched across their faces. They walk slowly, out of the lab, and onto the courtyard.

“What do you feel like having, Jimin?” Yoongi begins. “Seokjin’s making dinner tonight, do you want to come?”

“Hm.” Jimin hums, unsure if he’s intruding in on Yoongi’s personal space. “I don’t mind. Whatever you wish.” He looks down at his hand and Yoongi’s; he doesn’t know if Yoongi likes holding hands this early into their relationship. Relationship. Jimin’s heart pounds faster and his mind screams at the outcome he’s longed and dreamed of for years.

“Alright then. Do you want to go for a walk or go to my place?” Yoongi doesn’t know what to do or say. It’s his first time being in a relationship and he certainly does not want to screw it all up. All of a sudden, his heart starts beating erratically as he looks over at Jimin’s ethereal silhouette in the sunset.

“Let’s walk around for a bit.”

 

 

‘Screw it,’ is the only thing Jimin’s mind is saying and he agrees, wrapping his left pinky around Yoongi’s right pinky. “Is this okay?” He asks, just to be sure. He turns his head to see Yoongi’s reaction.

It’s a rather positive one; Yoongi nods with his gummy grin. “It’s all good.”

“So, um. What profession are you after with this degree?” Jimin inquires. If they’re going to be in a relationship, they need to learn more about each other.

“As much as I hate when kids whine, I want to be a secondary school teacher.” Yoongi answers. “I want to share my love for physics and maths like my teachers did. They were fun and interesting. I just - you know that moment when you have an ’Aha!’ moment? That’s what I want my future students to feel. I want to make kids look forward to having physics and/or maths. I want them to be happy that they understood a particular concept that was hard and boost their self-esteem. Moreover, I want to be someone who is a role model to them.” He shuts his mouth, realising he’s talked too much.

Jimin tightens his hold around Yoongi’s pinky, informing him that it was okay. It was okay to talk about his passions. It was okay to trust him. It was okay because Jimin was only extremely happy and willing to listen. “I’m sure you’ll be one of the best teachers around!”

“What about you, Jimin?” Yoongi asks mainly to direct the attention on himself to be directed on Jimin and partly because he was curious.

“I want to be a healthcare robotics engineer.” Jimin looks at Yoongi. “Just like you, I want to be able to help others in their time of need. Whether it’s a robot which assists in surgery or a robot that assists in wards with medications, I want to help people when they aren’t in the best position in their lives. I know I need to do an extra degree after Honours though.”

“That sounds wonderful. I know you’ll be an amazing robotics engineer, Jimin.”

As they walk around for some more, the sky darkens. “Let’s go?” Yoongi focuses his eyes on Jimin, who was smiling into oblivion.

“Yeah.”

 

 

Yoongi watches as Jimin and Seokjin interact in their kitchen, from where he was on the couch in the living room. Jimin is cutting some vegetables, Yoongi can’t see what they are, while Seokjin is near the kitchen top, stirring something. They seem to be getting along well. That’s right. They knew each other because of Taehyung. Maybe they were talking about him, who knows?

It had barely been a couple of hours but Yoongi thinks he couldn’t imagine anything better. He’s pretty pumped to take on the world with Jimin by his side and he knows for sure that this is the happiest he’s been in a long while.