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Yoongi was a smart nine year old boy.
He was one of the best students of his class, never did his homework the night before and always participated on PE. He also helped his mom cleaning the house – he only cleaned his room, but she would smile and thank him anyway –, helped his dad preparing meals – he only packed his school lunch, but he would ruffle his hair and praise him anyway – and if he was feeling extra helpful, he would walk the dog from their porch to the near supermarket.
But sometimes, Yoongi wasn’t that smart. Like the day he thought going down the hill on a bicycle, on full speed , was a smart idea.
It wasn’t a smart idea , he thought to himself, sitting on the doctor's office with his parents screaming about being irresponsible and how he always needed to wear a helmet and knee-pads.
He missed school for a whole week – the only good thing that came out of breaking one of his legs – and stayed in bed all day, bundled up on many blankets, watching movies on his old TV, eating buttery popcorn.
On the fourth day of Yoongis personal heaven, his mom sat down next to him.
‘Honey, you know that boy, Jin? The neighbour?’ – she asked, receiving a nod from Yoongi, who kept his eyes glued on the glowing screen – ‘So, both of you attend the same school, but this shouldn’t be news for you as I imagine you two are close buddies!’
No, they weren’t. Yoongi never really spoke to Jin. The only time they kind of interacted was when Yoongi fell flat on his face when the older boy smiled and waved at him, wishing him a good morning. Right after getting on his feet again and telling himself not to cry over a scraped knee, he heard a very loud and obnoxious laugh.
Looking up, he saw Jin clutching his stomach with tears at the corner of his eyes, he was laughing so much that Yoongi thought his lungs would give up on him. Jin soon stopped laughing, apologized – this time giggling – and walked down the street, going to school. That was the only day they ‘talked’, it also was the day Yoongi discovered he had a crush on the boy next door.
He noticed that his mom was still talking.
‘And he so kindly offered to bring the homework you’re missing!’ - she smiled brightly, Yoongis eyes were ready to jump out of his skull – ‘He’ll be here in a few minutes, so at least pretend that you took a decent shower these days, alright?’ – she kissed his forehead and left the room.
Oh no , thought Yoongi, this isn’t good .
Jin was standing on the middle of his room, looking around his shelves filled with comic books and special editions of National Geographic magazines.
‘These are so cool! I didn’t know you liked superman too!’ – Jin said, pulling one comic from the shelf, flipping through the pages.
He thinks I’m cool , Yoongi thought, blushing – ‘Yeah, I like to read them.’ – No, what a lame answer, he totally thinks I’m uncool now! , he grimaced.
Jin put the comic back on the shelf and walked to Yoongis bed, sitting besides the pile of homework he brought – ‘Ok, so basically, on the four days you missed school, you-’
‘You knew I wasn’t there?’ – asked Yoongi, not hiding the surprise in his voice. Why would someone like Jin, a popular and well-liked kid, notice that Yoongi missed class?
The older looked puzzled – ‘Yeah? Obviously? It’s difficult to not feel your absence, you know!’ – he smiled warmly at Yoongi, who blushed even more.
‘Difficult? Why? Do you look for me at the cafeteria or something?’ – it was an honest question, but Yoongi tried to play it off cool by adding a hint of sarcasm at the end.
This time, Jin was the one blushing – ‘No!’ – he screamed, surprising both of them – ‘I mean, no I don’t, why would I do that?’ – he gave Yoongi a dry laugh.
They stared at each other for what felt like a decade – but it was like, ten seconds –, Jin stood up abruptly before Yoongi could say anything.
‘Anyways, I hope your leg gets better soon so that you can come back to school!’ – he spoke quickly and scratched his neck – ‘And just… What I said earlier, about noticing you being gone…’ – he trailed off, looking at the floor – ‘It’s kinda difficult to not miss your crush when they’re not going to school, you know?’
Yoongi, who was frozen during all of this, blinked like an owl, not believing his own ears.
Jin was red as a cherry - ‘I gotta go, I think I heard my mom calling me, dinner is ready!’ – but it was the worst lie he could’ve told, it was just a few hours after lunch, not late enough to eat dinner.
The older left the room on a rush, leaving Yoongi more confused than anything.
‘Your…
Crush
?’ – he said weakly, looking at the door, his face matching Jins deep red blush.