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The first time Jimin notices it, it’s not all that strange. It’s a simple title, albeit a little out there but still- nothing too wild.
There’s a guy that goes to the same university as him and Jimin’s seen him around but lately he’s been noticing him on the commute towards the campus as well. Being a broke-ass college student, he couldn’t exactly afford to live near campus so he found a cheaper place with a 12 minute commute. It wasn’t bad and it left enough money for his monthly subway ticket. He didn’t always have a place to sit and standing squished between people wasn’t his favorite but it beat the fuck out of having to hold onto two jobs because his apartment is too pricey. So he commutes.
And on one such commute he notices a particular tall, good-looking, brunet that is reading a book. The cover of the book is bright and there’s a bug of some sort on it and Jimin subtly pulls out his glasses to take a closer look, feigning eye pain and putting them on.
He splutters internally at the book cover (although, when he looks at it now, it wasn’t even that bad.) There are bright pink letters that spell out ‘Bugs, 100 Ways to Cook ‘Em and Book ‘Em’. It’s a repulsive thought even though he knows some people find it normal to eat bugs but he’s not one of them, he’ll stick to his cold noodles and cheap takeout. He lets it slide, maybe the guy’s curious. Maybe it was a gift and he got interested. He doesn’t really think that the brunet cooks bugs. Wow, he sure hopes so- the other is too hot for that. Jimin might be a little shallow.
It happens again the next day. This book’s cover is plain white with tiny black writing Jimin can’t make out until he’s accidentally shuffled close enough to read it. The other student seems to be very into the book and a man gets up from the seat next to the brunet so Jimin takes his chance. He’s just curious, okay. This one reads ‘Boys Over Flowers; Make Your Cacti Sharp Enough to Impale On.’ He recoils mentally. Wow, botanists are really pushing it; he thinks and pulls out his phone to skip a few songs. He pretends he didn’t see the book nor did he think it was weird. Ha, totally not strange at all.
He figures, so what? The guy’s got a hobby of reading weird books. Nothing scandalous there, heck, Seokjin collects chopsticks and Yoongi has tons of receipts that he keeps as a memento of all the stores he’d been to. Totally nothing strange with reading weird books.
Jimin decides to keep note of them all for further reference. Maybe to pick one up and read it. From the day of his decision he had written down most of them and some of his favorites were: ‘The Rabbit in Gucci’- he thought it was cute, the little bunny in a big bag, ‘Joys Of Picking Cotton in the Old South’, ‘Is She Cooking Dinner or Meth?’ and ‘100 Sleeping Positions You Can Try With Your S/O’ (those were the mild ones, there were some not-mild ones as well, like: ‘The Do’s and Don’t’s Of Jumping Out Of Planes Without A Parachute’ or even the notable ‘Watching Porn With Your Parents Improves Familial Bonds’). ‘The Earth is Flat Or So Say the Aliens’ was also a favorite. ‘Bottoms Up- 101 Positions From Behind’ was the one that made him blush and he almost missed the little smirk the brunet sent his way.
The further the days go the weirder the book covers get. He’s sleep deprived one morning and he actually ends up sitting across the guy. As per usual, the guy has a book in his hands, glasses perched on his nose and a hand stroking his chin. The title of the book reads ‘What the Fuck Are You Looking At?’ and then in smaller letters under a big pair of eyes that looked really pretty and were a nice brown shade, ‘How To Check If You’re Fucking Blind At Home’. Jimin blinked blankly at it and pulled out his glasses. The guy then changes the book for another one with the cover that says ’72 Ways of Utilizing a Spork as a Lethal Weapon’. Jimin decides not to comment and just closes his eyes for a quick nap.
He naps for 5 minutes straight before it’s time to vacate the train. He brushes up against weird book guy but he’s too tired to notice it.
Over the following few days the books get, well, somehow weirder. At this point Jimin’s not sure if the guy’s a fast reader of if the covers are fake. Scratch that, he knows they’re fake. He’s tried looking them up, no such thing as ‘Alumnati- Is Chemistry the Devil’s Doing?’
He’s staring again, he knows but he can't help it. The book he’s reading this time is called ‘Out Of the Closet- a Helpful Guide on Decluttering and Homosexuality’. He blinks slowly and looks up at the guy who seems to have been looking at him. His hair’s a little rumpled like he’d looked away quickly and Jimin squints. What was this guy playing at?
The day after there’s a book titled ‘Captain Obvious- How to Hint Something In a Clever Way’. He muses what it might mean, was this guy trying to tell him something? It was beginning to irk him. Though, he couldn’t complain, he was being a creep after all. He shifts nervously and tries to look away but the guy’s wearing extremely short shorts and his elbows are leaned against miles of tan skin and he can't physically look away. He swallows, throat suddenly dry as the guy shifts and so do the muscles in his legs. Jimin does like a good pair of legs. He’s jostled out of his seat by a pat on the back, an old lady asking for a seat so Jimin stands up like the good citizen he is and usurps his spot.
Now, this hasn’t originally been his plan but the ride is bumpy and he’d swear on his life that it wasn’t his intention. It’s not planned when the cart is rattled and he loses his footing, promptly ending up in weird book guy’s lap.
“Oh,” There’s the sound of the guy’s voice and Jimin could have gone his entire life without hearing the deep rumble and he’d have been fine. But there he is: plush ass on shapely thighs and Jimin prays to God even if he isn’t a religious man.
He was gonna apologize, he swears but then it’s their stop and he’s rushing out like the coward he is. He’d rather take the torturous hours he has to spend stretching and dancing than face hot weird book guy with a red face. The next book reads ‘Ass, Ass, Ass, Ass’. Jimin would kindly like to ask the earth to open up and swallow him whole. He can't meet the guy’s eyes for the entirety of the suddenly-too-long ride.
“You know what you should do?” Hoseok, his fellow dancer and close friend, asks while they’re preparing to run a routine for the 5th time that morning. “You should fight back. Make your own false book covers, say something like: ‘How Do I Talk To the Cute Guy I Eye-fuck Continuously During the Morning ride?’ or even ‘This Train’s Not the Only Thing I’d Like to Ride’.”
Jimin squeaks and slaps his arm while the elder laughs like a damn maniac, causing everyone to give them the stink-eye. “You’re kidding, right? I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Hoseok quirks an eyebrow.
“Well- well…” Jimin comes up short, and not only in height this time. “I don’t know, I just can't!” He protests.
“Look, it’s obvious- at least from what you’ve told me- that this guy likes you. So why not?” Hoseok ruffles his hair.
So that evening Jimin goes home and pulls up Paint™ before realizing he’ll need something more advanced and pulls up some online editing sites that’ll help him in his task. He figures some random shapes and a nice font will do. The color scheme will be a nice pastel one but- but. He doesn’t know what to write as the title. He has no idea; what is there to say even? He sighs and slumps against the headboard of his bed. He stews for a few hours before he finally decides on ‘I Like You but What Do I Do- A Guide on How to Get Some’. It’s not his best work and nowhere near how creative the brunet is but it’s a start. So he wraps a book he’s been meaning to read for a while in it and puts it in his bag. He’s fairly certain that the guy won’t even see it but it’s worth a try. Just like Hoseok had said, he had nothing to lose and a possible bae to gain.
He pulls the book out and seats himself. Like always, the guy comes in at the next stop and takes a seat across from him. Jimin counts his blessings as he reads the book. The actual book is really interesting but he doesn’t miss the choked sound that the guy lets out. He smiles quietly into the book’s pages and waits for the other to make a move.
He almost gives up by the end of the ride but the guy catches him outside by the elbow. Jimin schools his features so he doesn’t look like a pre-pubescent girl talking to her first crush and turns around.
“How may I help you?” He asks politely and looks up at the brunet.
“Well, you can start by telling me your name so I don’t have to keep calling you booty.” The brunet smirks and Jimin’s stomach drops to his knees.
“Park Jimin, dance major” He holds out a hand, tiny fingers and all.
“Kim Taehyung, psychology major. Perhaps you’d like to discuss literature over coffee?” Taehyung asks along with shaking Jimin’s hand. He then bends his arm at the elbow like some sort of gentleman.
“I would love to.” Jimin hooks his arm with Taehyung’s and says screw it to his morning classes. It’s not good to ditch, but if he hadn’t then he wouldn’t have found out Taehyung was actually doing this for a study in social behavior. ‘Noticing your surroundings’, he’d said, ‘it’s important to keep track of stuff’ he’d added like they were in a damn spy movie. Well, never the less, Jimin sure was glad he took notice.