Chapter Text
Park Jimin by no means had an unhappy childhood. Contrary to that, he had a loving family – a pair of beta parents that showered him with their constant love and affection. As one would expect, Jimin was absolutely charming and sweet as a child, with fluffy raven locks and a smile that could rival that of an angel’s. He was doe-eyed, with a cute nose and plush, pink lips.
His eyes would sparkle with curiosity and amazement when he discovered things for the first time during his adventures as a child, where everything was new and delightful to him. Jimin’s laughter was bright and bubbly. He was usually an obedient child who hardly caused any trouble for his parents. He attracted the coos and adoration of anyone that laid their eyes on him, and his parents were so very proud to call him their son.
However, because Jimin was such a sweet child, he did not fit in well with the rest of his classmates back in elementary school. He was never mean to the other children. He wasn’t the type of boy who acted innocent and pleasant in front of adults but was horrible to his peers. In fact, he was as amiable as he was to his classmates since the first day of school and they did flock to him at first, inviting Jimin to play with them during breaks and wanting to become his friend. That didn’t last long, though.
Unfortunately for Jimin, jealousy is, and will always be, an emotion that brings misfortune upon the lives of people. The class teacher was enamoured with Jimin early into the school year, which irked his other classmates as they began to see him as the teacher’s pet. And so, invitations to play with them dwindled in numbers. Jimin was not stupid. He had definitely noticed the atmosphere in class and his classmates’ treatment of him changing, but he did not mention anything and simply let days pass by like this.
❣
Jimin remembers the day that triggered his classmates to completely expose their growing hate for him. Officially, it was dubbed “Bring Your Parent to School Day” by the school, which his future self would find rather dumb. It was basically a one-day event in school where one’s parents would come and observe class at the back of the room. But as a kid, he was so excited for his parents to come to school and watch him learn in class. Of course his parents went to Jimin’s school on that day for their child, he was so thrilled about it, how could they not?
“Appa, Umma, you came!” Jimin skipped happily towards his parents as he saw them slide open the door to the classroom and entered. His parents had already agreed beforehand to come to this one-day event, but he was still overjoyed that they had kept their promise.
“Of course we did, sweetheart. We’ll go stand at the back with the rest of your friends’ Appa and Umma, alright? Be a good boy!” his mother told him fondly as his father ruffled his hair.
Jimin’s face split into a smile and nodded at them. As Jimin was walking back to his seat, he heard someone mutter Goody-two shoes under their breath. He somewhat knew that it was directed towards him, and he felt a pang in his heart but chose to ignore it, not wanting to disappoint or upset his parents.
After a few of his favourite classes, including arts and craft, which had him deeply engrossed in the lessons, he had forgotten about the unkind comment. He made occasional glances to the back of his class to look at his parents, and he could sometimes see them chattering quietly with the other parents. He wondered what they were talking about before he turned his head to face the teacher conducting the lesson again.
When the bell which signalled the start of break rang, he immediately got out of his seat and ran towards his parents. He made grabby hands at them and hoped that they would pick him up. “Appa, Umma, was I a good kid?”
“Honey, you were fantastic! Such an attentive and talented boy! Both Appa and Umma are proud of you,” his mother had exclaimed as she picked him up and whirled him. Jimin shrieked in delight at the action before his mother proceeded to put him down.
“Thank you, Umma!” he grinned, hearing faint coos from the other parents before his curiosity took over him. “Appa, Umma, what were you talking about with my classmates’ Appa and Umma just now? You both should be paying attention in class like me!”
“Don’t be cheeky,” his father chuckled and said, “we were telling the other parents what a lovable child you are at home. They seemed really intrigued by you, so of course we had to brag a little about our son.”
“Oh no, you didn’t tell them anything embarrassing, did you?” Jimin puffed out his cheeks, eyes cast downwards as he was shy that his parents had shared stories about him. His parents reassured him that the stories they shared only served to make the others like him more, and Jimin beamed at that.
By the end of the school day, so many of his classmates’ mothers and fathers were chattering about that one sweet boy in class by the name of Park Jimin. Expectedly, many of them were enamoured with him. He’s polite, cute and so sweet to his parents, they had said. That day, Jimin was filled to the brim with happiness. Little did he know that happiness sometimes came with consequences.
❣
The very next day, Jimin kissed his parents on the cheeks and said his goodbyes to them, and went to school as usual. The elementary school that his parents had sent him to was actually very near his home, so his parents had decided (albeit a little reluctantly) that he could go to school on his own as a step to being independent. He hummed a tune as his little body made it through the school gates and continued his walk to his classroom. I wonder if Teacher will teach us how to fold origamis again? It was super fun, his thoughts drifted back to the Arts and Craft lesson conducted the day before.
However, when he stepped into class, his eyes widened in horror as he was met with the sight of his table flipped over and his chair missing. Through the corner of his eyes, he saw his classmates glaring at him. Although it didn’t seem like a big deal, it was to Jimin as a child. Jimin couldn’t believe that his classmates had done this to him. He was brought back to reality as the boy in front of him – Iseul, he remembers – sneered, “Let’s see how sweet you can still be after this.”
“W-Why would you do this?” The tears in Jimin’s eyes threatened to fall and his lips quivered.
“Why? After yesterday, my Appa and Umma wouldn’t stop talking about you! It was Jimin this, Jimin that, they wouldn’t stop comparing everything I did to you! It was horrible,” Iseul seethed, “Not only was it my Appa and Umma, almost everybody’s parents here wouldn’t stop talking about you!”
A chorus of “Yeah!” came from his surrounding classmates who were in support of Iseul’s words, and those who weren’t simply kept their mouths shut and pretended that this wasn’t happening. Jimin so desperately wanted someone to speak up for him, but no one wanted or dared to. After all, Iseul was bigger than the average child their age, so no one really wanted to get on his bad side by defending Jimin.
Jimin was distraught, he didn’t know what to do. He tried to flip his table back to how it originally was, but with his small size and minimal strength, he knew he couldn’t do it alone. He could hear girls and boys laughing at him as he tried his darnest but continued to fail. But he didn’t want to cry. He repeatedly wiped away the tears forming on the brim of his eyes with his sleeves. He knew that if he cried, Iseul and his supporters would “win”, and he didn’t want that. He wanted to show them that he wasn’t somebody that they could easily be push around.
Just then, the teacher, luckily or unluckily depending on how you saw it, entered the classroom. He was earlier than usual for some reason, and Jimin would have laughed at the shock on his classmates’ faces if not for the predicament he was in. There was a mad scramble to get back their individual seats, but Jimin could do nothing, simply standing awkwardly beside his turned over table. His teacher gaped at the scene in front of him, momentarily stunned before clearing his throat.
“Class! What is going on here?” he demanded with a frown on his face, clearly trying to control his anger.
“Nothing, Teacher! Everyone was just trying to prank me, it’s nothing serious, please don’t worry about it!” Jimin said and gave a wobbly smile to his teacher. He hoped that his teacher wouldn’t try to get anything out of him, he didn’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble for anyone. Jimin was not a snitch, and he wouldn’t steep that low even if Iseul and his supporters had done such a terrible thing to him.
His teacher had evidently wanted to get to the bottom of this, but he seemed to let the issue drop, saying something having to deal with something more important than childish pranks and then dragging a chair out of under the table. Oh, so that’s where it was, Jimin thought. His teacher then stepped towards him while carrying the chair, and flipped his table to the original side after plopping the chair down beside Jimin.
Jimin could tell that while all this was going on, his classmates had fright in their eyes, some of them squeezed shut as if praying not to get punished. With the exception of Iseul, of course, that acted like he had done nothing wrong. Mimicking him, Jimin decided not to act like anything was wrong too and took a seat. He wondered what the ‘important thing’ his teacher mentioned was, and was silently thankful that it saved him the trouble of having to explain himself as it would also potentially make his classmates’ disdain for him grow.
When the teacher had made his way back to the front of the class again, he sighed deeply before speaking. “Class, we have a transfer student with us today. His family had to come to Busan for work purposes, but the boy is originally from Daegu. Please,” he paused before continuing exasperatedly, “I expect you to make him feel welcomed. No more pranks like this.”
“Taehyung, can you please come in and introduce yourself?”
At the mention of his name, a boy slightly taller than Jimin but seemingly slightly scrawnier, walked in. He had black hair as any other child his age would usually have, and he had on his face a curious expression. He had rather striking facial features, but what stood out the most was the boxy grin he had put on when he begun to introduce himself.
“Hello! My name is Kim Taehyung. I’m seven this year and I’m from Daegu! Nice to meet you!”
“Thank you, Taehyung. I’m sure you would get along fine with the rest. Now, Taehyung, there’s an empty space next to Jihyun, you can–”
“No, I want to sit next to him,” he interrupted the teacher and glanced up to look at him with puppy eyes, while pointing a finger towards Jimin. “Can I?”
“O-Oh, of course,” the teacher nodded, slightly shocked at the sudden request, especially after what had happened. “In that case, Daehee, could you kindly move to the seat next to Jihyun so that Taehyung can sit beside Jimin?”
He wants to sit next to me? Jimin mused as Daehee complied and moved to the empty seat, but shouldn’t he have heard the commotion from outside just now? He’s so weird to want to sit next to me when he should know everyone hates me…
On the other hand, Taehyung was noticeably pleased that he was able to sit next to Jimin. He made his way to the seat next to him, and Jimin was a tad worried that Taehyung would be another guy who wanted to make his life more miserable, choosing to seat next to him so he could scheme with Iseul and target Jimin more easily. “Alright class, let’s continue on with the first lesson…” his teacher droned on. Jimin shifted his attention back to his teacher, trying his best to push down his negative thoughts.
Minutes into the lesson, Taehyung’s hand reached out to Jimin and patted his shoulder to gain his attention. Jimin, surprised at the sudden contact, whipped his head to face him. He internally panicked at what Taehyung was planning to do or say to him. No way, don’t tell me he’s gonna do something to me already? Is he going to threaten me? Make me do his homework? Accuse me of wasting his time by making him wait outside the class? He’s probably mad at me… He stood outside for some time before he could come in to introduce himself… Oh no, is he going to sue me for making his legs tired?
However, Jimin found that his panic was unnecessary and he was embarrassed of such thoughts. Taehyung’s lips stretched to form the same boxy grin that Jimin saw during his introduction. “Hi! I’m Taehyung, but you can call me TaeTae! What’s your name?”
“J-Jimin…” he stammered, a little taken aback by the sudden question.
“Cool! You know, I’m gonna be a superhero one day ‘cos they’re sooo awesome! My mom told me superheroes save people in need, that’s great, don’t you think so? Anyway, I kinda guessed what happened to you just now. But don’t worry! I’m gonna protect you, since I have to train to be a superhero because,” Taehyung rambled on, purposely raising his volume a little at this point, “Superheroes have to save cuties from those ugly monsters like the one sitting in front of you!”
Iseul, obviously hearing the last line Taehyung spoke clearly, fumed with anger and slammed his fists on the table. The teacher whirled around and shot a warning glare at Iseul before resuming with the lesson. Jimin let a soft giggle escape his throat and at this, Taehyung continued, “We’re gonna be the bestest of best friends! Pinky promise?”
And Jimin couldn’t help but entwine his own pinky finger in Taehyung’s outreached one, whispering, “Pinky promise.”
❣
“Umma, I’m home!” Jimin exclaimed as he took off his shoes and placed it neatly on the shoe rack by the door. He could tell that his mother was in the kitchen because of the clanging sound of pots and pans, and he was right when his mother stepped out of the kitchen. She was wiping her hands dry with a towel and she smiled when Jimin came into her sight, her eyes creased into tiny crescents – a smile similar to that of Jimin’s.
“Welcome home Jimin,” she said, her voice laced with affection. “I just finished making lunch for the both of us, can you go wash your hands while I put our food on the table?”
“Sure, Umma!” Jimin hurriedly made his way to sink, tiptoeing to turn on the tap, and making sure to wash his hands properly with soap like how his mother had taught him to. He flung the excess water on his hands into the basin so that the floor wouldn’t get wet, and then dried his hands on a towel like his mother did.
“Wow, Umma, this smells great!” Jimin exclaimed delightfully as he neared the dining table. His mother had already set up the table, and was sitting down at one end of the table, waiting for Jimin to finish washing his hands so that they could eat lunch together. Jimin plopped down on the chair at the opposite end of his mother, and picked up his utensils while eyeing the food on his plate hungrily.
“Dig in, Jimin,” his mother said and picked up her utensils as well. Jimin wasted no time and started scarfing his food down. His mother chuckled at the sight and told him not to eat too quickly.
“Did anything interesting happen today?” his mother asked in between bites of food. The question jogged Jimin’s memory of Iseul and how the class had showed their dislike for him. Swallowing his mouthful of food, Jimin decided that he did not want to recount the incident to his mother as he did not want to make his parents worry about him. Instead, he opted for telling his mother about the new kid in class.
“There was a transfer student today, Umma! His name is Taehyung, and he and I are gonna be best friends because we made a pinky promise to be! He wants to be a superhero and he’s really fun! We played a lot during break. You know, he told me his Appa is an alpha and his Umma is an omega, and he said they’re very in love! I told him my Appa and Umma are betas and they’re equally in love ‘cos they kiss each other every day,” Jimin paused and scrunched up his nose. “But he just said that kisses are probably filled with cooties.”
His mother laughed warmly and heartily at that, and told Jimin that she was very glad that he had made a potential best friend. “So Jimin,” his mother questioned curiously, “What do you want to present as? Your Umma always thought she was going to be a beta and wasn’t surprised that she presented as one.”
Jimin pondered his choices for a moment, before replying enthusiastically, “I think I want to present as an omega, Umma! I can obviously protect myself, but I think it’s still romantic if a Prince Charming comes to save me when I need help.” Jimin giggled at the thought of a faceless alpha swooping down to rescue his future self. “Too bad TaeTae wants to be a superhero, so he’ll probably become someone else’s hero instead of my Prince Charming. But it doesn’t really matter, as long as I meet someone who loves me as much as Appa and Umma love each other!”
Jimin’s mother beamed a radiant smile at him, nodding her head in agreement at Jimin’s view of love. “Oh honey, I’m sure you’ll find the one for you.”
And with that, Jimin’s confidence in finding true love surged in him. He was sure that, despite ups and downs, fate would ultimately lead him to his one, true love.