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twice’s tt , followed by a dull thud sounding from somewhere within the apartment, cuts jimin off mid sentence, expression puzzled. both boys share a glance just as the song abruptly stops. there’s a beat of silence. yoongi doesn’t bat an eye, “guess he’s finally awake,” he mutters offhandedly and goes about grabbing another mug, one that’s got dots decorating it from what jimin can tell. it matches the solar system mug in yoongi’s other hand.
“what was that?” jimin not so subtly leans across the bar in an attempt to peek around the corner where the bedrooms reside.
“just my roommate,” he shrugs, pouring out coffee into the new mug. jimin watches, fascinated, when lines begin to connect the dots together to make constellations as yoongi spoons in some sugar.
continuing on his little rant, yoongi nods along with little mhms and ahs , letting jimin run the conversation, clearly amused by the woefulness math has placed upon him. fuck calculus, honestly.
not five minutes later, they hear a door opening down the hall and light shuffling, a sleepy sniffle or two. curious, jimin turns towards the doorway. right as a figure turns the corner, jimin’s hello gets stuck somewhere between his throat and tongue, resulting in some weird squeaking noise not unlike a rubber duck. yoongi, having witnessed this, sniggers over the rim of his cup of coffee, grabbing the constellation cup and offering it to the lingering boy.
“here, kid.”
said boy, jimin notices, still has his eyes closed, half awake, seemingly unaware of jimin’s sudden inability to breathe or of his presence in general, but perks up at yoongi’s coaxing voice. but see—thing is, jimin doesn’t know where to keep his eyes.
it’s obvious he just woke up, puffy face with pillow marks imprinted on one cheek. his hair is rather long, ashy brown ruffled and frankly a complete disaster, but despite that, jimin can tell this man is dangerously beautiful even with the dark circles around his eyes. and what really gets to jimin is the bright red crop top sweater and the shortest black shorts jimin has ever laid his blessed eyes on, tan legs on display and going on for miles.
he swallows. god, his mouth is dry. alright. okay. this is a lot.
he grabs for his water bottle.
the boy shuffles over, blindingly taking the cup from yoongi, but continues to come even closer until he presses his front flushed to the older boy’s side, wrapping his free arm across his lower back in a hug, resting his head on yoongi’s shoulder. the size difference is a bit jarring, along with the fact that yoongi looks like he hasn’t seen the sun a day in his life compared to the guy.
“i love you,” the deepest, raspiest voice the gods have to offer leaves his mouth, and poor jimin, he wasn’t ready , inhales too sharply, sending water right where it shouldn’t and causing him to nearly cough up a lung.
this seems to finally get the boy’s attention, startling him so bad that he nearly drops his cup, still manages to slosh a bit of scalding coffee over the rim and burning his hand. he and yoongi both curse loudly, yoongi jerking out of the way because every man for himself while the boy sits his cup down with a hard clink. his eyes are wide open now, big doe eyes confused and groggy and pinning jimin down instantly, absently rubbing at his sore hand. he cards his fingers through his hair, the motion raising the short cut sweater up further showing off a soft looking tummy and a happy trail disappearing beneath the band of his shorts, sharp brows furrowing as he squints, lips set in a pout, “who are you?”
jimin’s mind fills with static, tearing his eyes away from too much skin, “um.”
those brows shoot up, “um? that’s an interesting name,” and goes back to his cup of coffee.
jimin wants to say something, but his tongue feels like lead, too flustered; he looks to yoongi desperately, and bless his heart, he finally takes pity on him and gestures with his cup, “this is jimin, he’s in my poetry class. jimin, this is taehyung, an annoyance.”
taehyung makes a face, as if he hasn’t heard that one before, and stage whispers, “don’t be fooled, he’s just pissy because i wouldn’t let him borrow my favorite hoodie yesterday. he adores me.”
recovering from his episode, jimin doesn’t miss the way yoongi scowls, and stage whispers back, “i haven’t known hyung for long, but i can already tell he’s a big softy, like a marshmallow.”
“more like a slightly burnt marshmallow, but close enough,” taehyung hums.
jimin nods with careful thought, “i see what you mean.”
“congrats, park jimin, you’ve been promoted to annoyance number three,” yoongi deadpans.
“i’m offended, i’m at least number two.”
“hoseokie hyung holds that spot,” taehyung teases, fearlessly prodding at the other despite the glare being shot his way.
“hoseokie...as in jung hoseok?”
“you know him? ah,” yoongi purses his lips, “wait, nevermind, i forgot you’re on the dance team, too.”
suddenly something seems to click in jimin’s brain, “oh my god, you’re that yoongi? you’re hyung’s boyfriend?” yoongi frowns at the comment, “he talks about you a lot,” jimin says, smiling when he sees yoongi blush, “it’s really cute,” taehyung coos and pinches the older boy’s cheek just to annoy him, earning an elbow hard to the stomach in retaliation.
“somehow, i’m not surprised,” the older grumbles, gulping down too hot coffee while the other two giggle to themselves, “don’t you have math homework to do or something?”
a look of pain crosses jimin’s face, “don’t remind me,“ he groans, sprawling his upper body across the bar, cheek squished against the cool surface, “just leave me to die.”
taehyung perks up, “what kind of math?”
“calculus,” the amount of disgust in jimin’s voice makes yoongi chuckle.
taehyung leans his hip against the bar, peering down at the boy, “i take it you don’t like math.”
“i suck at it,” jimin sulks, “who even willingly likes math?”
“i like it. i’m okay at it at least,” the shy smile that appears on taehyung’s face makes jimin squint, “i can help you if you want?”
the blond sits up so fast his hair fluffs up, “really?”
“taehyung is practically a genius,” yoongi pipes up.
“hyung, please,” the boys cheeks flush prettily, “i’m an astrophysics major, so i kind of have to be somewhat good at math.”
“are you being serious? god, please i’ll take all the help i can get.”
taehyung grins, reaching out to pat down jimin’s hair, “no one’s ever called me god before, but i’d be happy to help,” he then boops his nose just to watch him fluster.
. . . . . . . . . .
after numbers are exchanged, they pick a day where they both have a free period, which happens to be two days later at eight o’clock in the morning. jimin arrives at the student cafe at a quarter till, and he’s halfway done with his cup of tea by the time taehyung comes slumping through the door thirty minutes late.
“sorry i’m late,” he groans. that groggy deep voice still haunts him, “i’m not usually up this early,” taehyung drops into the seat across from jimin, offering a sleepy smile.
“no, it’s fine, i didn’t wait long,” jimin returns the smile with a reassuring one, “you should have said something, we could have rescheduled.”
taehyung waves his hand dismissively, “it’s cool, just let me like wake up a bit?”
“of course, there’s literally no rush.”
taehyung goes to order himself something, and they make idle talk as jimin attempts to work his way through the first of his math problems, eventually giving up to pay more attention to taehyung. they get to know each other a bit more, learn that they’re actually born in the same year. taehyung learns that jimin is a dance major with a focus on contemporary but loves street dance as well. taehyung starts gushing about his current physics course, but quickly remembers not everyone can understand quantum mechanics going by the confused if not endeared look on jimin’s face.
“sorry, i get kind of carried away, just tell me to shut up if you ever get overwhelmed,” taehyung thumbs at his bangs embarrassed. they’re clipped away by pink strawberry barrettes. it’s cute. jimin doesn’t get the chance to reply like he wants to, “anyways,” taehyung sits up straight looking a bit more awake, scooting closer to peer down at the abandoned worksheet, “what do you have for me?”
“right, um,” jimin slides the sheet to the middle of the table gently with the tips of his fingers, “finding the derivatives of trigonometric functions.”
taehyung gives the sheet a look over with a soft hum. he stands, and jimin looks on as he circles around to take the empty seat beside him, sitting close enough their arms touch. jimin ignores the way his arm erupts in goosebumps and tries to pay attention when taehyung jumps into explaining the first problem. he works it out for him step-by-step, and jimin thinks he’s got it. kind of.
“here, you try the next one,” taehyung offers the pencil with an encouraging nudge.
biting his lip, jimin rolls up the sleeves of his sweater for dramatic effect and hunkers down. ten minutes and some frustrated sighs later, jimin sits back into his chair, staring grimly at his work. meanwhile, taehyung snaps his eyes away from bare forearms with a wistful sigh.
“i wish i was your derivative, so i could lie tangent to your curves."
jimin narrows his eyes, "what does that even mean?"
"nothing, nevermind," he shakes his head with a secretive little smile, "let’s have a look-see,” instead of bringing the paper closer like a considerate human being, taehyung simply leans unnecessarily into jimin’s space, and jimin gets a strong whiff of the boy’s cologne, something heady and smoky and warm vanilla all in one. it smells so good, if he turns his head just so he’d practically have his nose in his hair, but that’s creepy, so jimin sits tensely.
“you did the first part right, but here—” tapping at the paper where jimin knows for a fact that he fucked up at, “—this is where you got off track,” taehyung grabs the pencil from his fingers deliberately slow and begins going over it again with him, and jimin truly tries to follow what he’s saying, but it’s just giving him a headache.
“tell you what,” taehyung pulls away and leans far back in his seat to stretch his arms above his head, releasing a whine as he does so. jimin can’t tell if it’s on purpose or not, but he’s having a hard time getting the sound out of his head. taehyung looks over, a smirk forming, probably knowing this somehow, “if you get the next one right without my help, i’ll give you a kiss.”
a little taken aback, jimin stares, mouth falling open slightly. then he clicks it shut, squinting his eyes. taehyung takes that moment to lick his lips, and yeah, maybe jimin’s eyes might have darted down to look because now that’s just not fair, but he stands his ground, “is that a promise?” jimin asks, “no take backs.”
taehyung laughs, wiggling his pinky up, “pinky promise,” then proceeds to coo when jimin’s significantly smaller pinky wraps around his, “that’s precious.”
“shut up,” jimin’s face burns as he immediately pulls away, a competitive glint in his eyes. he snatches his pencil back. glares holes at the paper for a hot minute.
taehyung lets out an amused snort, propping his elbow on the table to lean against his palm, “glare any harder, and it’ll catch on fire.”
the blond turns a doleful eye, “if you wanted me to die all you had to do was say so.”
“not at all,” taehyung looks away grinning and blindly pats jimin’s cheek, “just want you to work a little for it,” laughing when his hand is smacked away, he goes to stand, reaching for their empty mugs, “want a refill?”
all he gets is a petulant grumble, jimin reluctantly drooping forward tapping his pencil irritably, pink lips poked out; if taehyung were a weaker man, he wouldn’t have hesitated, leaves him to his brooding.
(in the end, jimin never does get that kiss.)
(later that night, when yoongi returns from his last class just as taehyung is heading out for his evening classes, he says, “what the hell did you do to park jimin?”
taehyung, shouldering his bag, tilts his head, eyes all wide with false innocence, “can’t say i know what you’re talking about, hyung.”
“uh huh, so why did he call you a liar and a cheat while extensively telling me how much he wanted you to wreck him in public?”
“interesting,” taehyung taps his fingers against his bottom lip, a wicked grin forming, “tell me more.”
“keep your kinks away from me.”)
. . . . . . . . . .
it becomes something of a routine these next few days, jimin trailing behind yoongi after their shared poetry class back to the older boy’s apartment. (“better than sitting alone waiting for my next class,” jimin reasons.) they kick off their shoes at the door.
“is taehyung here?”
yoongi raises a brow, “so that’s why you come over? not for my graceless company but for my hot roommate?”
jimin sputters, “of course not!”
“mm, sure,” unimpressed, yoongi pushes black bangs from his eyes with his pinky, “he’s probably still sleeping,” he drops his backpack by the coffee table, rotates his shoulder with a sigh.
jimin makes a face, slipping his own bag to the ground, “at 4pm? doesn’t he have classes to go to? why does he sleep so much?”
“he does, they’re just all evening classes,” lips tugging into a slight frown, yoongi considers jimin for a moment, “he has a hard time getting to sleep is all,” he says, and leaves it at that.
jimin chews on his bottom lip, strangely feeling like he shouldn’t have asked, twisting at the rings on his fingers.
yoongi simply turns on his heel, “make yourself comfortable, i’m just gonna go change real quick.”
jimin falls to the couch with a sigh, listening to the footsteps fade down the hall.
“oh, hey,” he hears yoongi say, a door creaking a second later, “you’re awake.”
he doesn’t really hear what taehyung says but yoongi replies with, “yeah, jiminie’s here,” jimin smiles at the nickname. then there’s more mumbling, followed by an exasperated sigh from yoongi, “whatever, just maybe put some pants on,” and then there’s more shuffling until a door opens further down.
he turns when he hears shuffling down the hall, taehyung’s familiar disheveled figure coming around to greet jimin in all his blatant no-pants glory. his eyes seem to gleam at the distressed look on jimin’s face. as he comes to take the vacant seat right beside jimin, yoongi comes stalking back still in the same clothing, and bends down to slip back into his boots.
“you’re leaving?” jimin’s voice is laced in confusion.
“going to hoseok’s for a while, you kids play nice,” yoongi grunts, grabbing his bag. he abruptly pauses, points a finger at taehyung warningly, “don’t forget to take your meds.”
“yes, mother,” taehyung sighs with a roll of his eyes earning a glare from yoongi.
there’s a beat of silence after the front door clicks shut, only interrupted by the humming of the ac. taehyung allows his head to lull back towards jimin, catching him tugging at a loose strand from the hem of his threadbare hoodie through hooded eyes.
“hey, wanna hear a joke?”
“uh… okay?” uncertainty halts his fidgeting.
“what does calculus and my dick have in common?”
jimin chokes on his own spit, and taehyung grins, “ what ?”
“they're both hard for you.”
jimin looks about ready to end it all, “well, that was fucking awful.”
“but no less true,” taehyung points out.
“are all of our conversations going to revolve around my shitty math skills and your shameless flirting?” jimin blandly states, keeping his eyes resolutely on the other’s face as taehyung shrugs, shifting to fold a bare leg beneath him, resting his head on the backrest looking entirely too pleased with himself.
“just wanted to know if i should be upholding my promise,” he wiggles his brows for emphasis.
jimin scoffs, “or you could just kiss me.”
“oh, jimbles, where’s the fun in that?” taehyung sighs, sees jimin mouth jimbles? to himself, familiar pout forming but otherwise remaining silent, “what would you rather us talk about then?”
“i don’t know!” jimin throws his hands into the air, “not my shitty math skills?”
taehyung raises both brows, “that’s very specific.”
jimin rolls his eyes, nudging him, then remembers what yoongi had said earlier, “oh—hyung mentioned meds,” he says carefully, “probably a good idea to take them now before you forget.”
“ugh, you’re gonna be parenting me, too, huh?” taehyung pouts and makes a show of standing up. he disappears down the hall and returns moments later with a prescription bottle in hand.
“what are they for?” jimin asks, eyeing them.
“someone’s nosy, aren’t they?” taehyung drawls, screwing open the top to dip his knobby fingers in. jimin flushes, stuttering around an apology that gets brushed away, “i’m teasing,” he pops the small tablet into his mouth and swallows dry, grimacing when it sticks, “it’s for my adhd. my good ol’ pal, adderall,” he rubs at his eyes, suddenly looking every bit exhausted, “my dosage is being adjusted right now, really fucks with my sleep.”
jimin makes a sound of sympathy, brows knitting together, “did you want to go back to sleep? i can leave...”
“no!” taehyung rushes, startling the boy when he wraps a large hand around his smaller one, “it’s fine, i’ll be okay,” at the skeptical look on jimin’s face, taehyung gives his wrist a reassuring squeeze, “i want you to stay,” he says sternly, clearly not taking no for an answer.
jimin smiles down at their hands and wiggles his fingers, “alright, alright, you’ve convinced me.”
“we can watch a movie?” not waiting for a response, taehyung clambers off the couch to inspect the dvds stacked beside their makeshift entertainment center.
“ah,” jimin pulls out his phone to check the time, “sure, we can do that. my next class isn’t for another two hours.”
“cool,” after some shuffling, taehyung holds up two dvd cases, “alright, the moment of truth. pick one: princess mononoke or howl’s moving castle? choose wisely.”
jimin chews on his bottom lip, “but they’re both really good,” he hums, eyes flickering back and forth between the two for a minute, “...princess mononoke?”
“good choice,” taehyung nods, opening up the case, “a man after my heart.”
“what would have happened if i picked howl's moving castle?”
“nothing, it was a trick question. both are good choices,” taehyung laughs, pops the disk in the player and makes himself comfy on the couch again, grabbing the throw blanket to drape across his lap.
jimin settles into a more comfortable position and side eyes him suspiciously, ”not gonna fall asleep on me, are you?”
taehyung denies this, but the film score alone is enough to clock the boy out, head making a pillow out of the junction between jimin’s shoulder and neck. jimin can’t even be mad at him, smiles at how his lips pout even in sleep or the way taehyung had wrapped an arm around his waist at some point for better cuddling. sighing fondly, jimin sets an alarm on his phone for ten till, then continues to watch the movie until his own eyes drift shut.
. . . . . . . . . .
taehyung quickly gets out of the way just as the dance studio door flies opens and a few sweaty looking students stream out shouting their goodbyes. some spare taehyung curious glances, which taehyung return with a smile. he catches the door before it closes and pokes his head inside.
the room is stark white, almost blinding with the added light fixtures and mirrors lining the walls. taehyung spots jimin downing a water bottle and stares longer than necessary at the way his adam’s apple bobs when he swallows that he almost misses hoseok entirely.
“taehyungie!” hoseok’s greeting grabs jimin’s attention, and he looks up, doing a slight double take when his eyes land on taehyung.
“hey,” he says, still sounding a bit breathless, “what are you doing here?”
“came to pick hyung up.”
“that can’t be the only reason,” jimin pointedly bends over effortlessly in half to put his water bottle into his duffel bag, and taehyung marvels, appreciating the way the curves of his butt stand out against the confines of his sweatpants.
“as a matter of fact,” he says, letting his gaze linger even as jimin straightens back up and looks back at him, “it isn’t,” he smiles when jimin sports a lovely flush along his cheeks, “i love the smell of sweat. it’s what always makes me come back for more.”
jimin’s soft, coy smile disappears in an instant and he scoffs, zipping his bag forcefully. hoisting it over his shoulder, he looks over to hoseok, “you ready to go, hyung?”
hoseok, having watched this entire scene, waggles his brows ridiculously, “ready when you are, loverboy,” he winks, then makes a dash for the exit when jimin threatens to smack him into space, pearls of loud laughter echoing behind him. both boys catch up to him at the building’s entrance, and they set out.
hoseok, jimin notices, immediately latches himself to taehyung’s side as they make their way down the sidewalk, arm draped across his lower back. and, okay, jimin really has no basis for feeling jealous but his lips twist up like he’s eaten something sour anyway. hoseok takes it up a notch, leans in close to whisper something into taehyung’s ear, his hand trailing down to pinch his ass cheek as if jimin isn’t literally right there. taehyung whines and squirms, the impish grin making it obvious he’s only making a fuss for show and swats it away.
jimin sniffs, peeved, “hey,” both hoseok and taehyung turn curiously though hoseok’s expression quickly morphs into something gleeful, “does yoongi hyung know you make a habit of feeling up on his best friend?"
hoseok snickers, drawing taehyung in closer as they walk, “chill, park, it’s fine,” he turns giving taehyung a look of apology, “ignore him, he's a libra.”
“hey!” comes jimin’s offended cry.
“as i was saying—"
this lasts for five minutes too long before taehyung suddenly feels a hand slip into his own. blinking, he turns to find jimin beside him, staring dead ahead with the sulkiest look on his face. they hold it for five more seconds before the two break, hoseok and taehyung sputtering into laughter.
“oh my god, the look on your face,” hoseok wipes a tear from his eye, “i have to tell yoongi about this,” and does exactly that, phone in his hand in seconds.
taehyung, still huffing out laughter, tightens his grip on jimin hand and bumps their shoulders together, “is this jealousy i smell?”
“fuck off,” jimin scowls, ears turning red even as he shifts to lace their fingers instead.
“i can taste the salt from here.”
hoseok walks a bit ahead of them, caught up in his phone to really notice. taehyung tilts his head to gaze up into the dark sky, the sun far gone but leaving just a hint of burnt orange in its wake. he scans it slowly, picking out the faint dots until his eyes land on a particularly right one. he points, catching jimin’s attention making him look up as well, “look, it’s mars—the really bright one, there.”
jimin peers through narrowed eyes, “looks like a regular star to me.”
taehyung instantly leaps at that, going on to explain how some planets can be seen with the naked eye from earth depending on their position in the sky and that they only look like stars due to the amount of sunlight reflecting off of them. then he proceeds to spiel about these plants, their orbital periods, and the estimated time of day they can be spotted, eventually veering off to talk about determining their albedo.
“sorry,” taehyung winces and frowns, “rambling again.”
jimin hurriedly shakes his head, “no, it’s okay, i like hearing what you have to say. it’s interesting even if i don’t understand most of it.”
taehyung ducks his head bashfully, but recovers quickly, turns to a simpler topic and points up at random dots that are barely visible to name the constellations for him.
("hey, wanna hear a space joke?"
"dunno," jimin snorts, "does it involve your dick again?"
"are you insinuating that my dick is a joke?"
"i wouldn't know, we aren't well acquainted," jimin counters, coolly.
taehyung leans in close enough to his ear for his lips to send shivers down his spine, "jokes on you because it's out of this world."
"hm," jimin shoulders him away nonchalantly, unbothered by his scandalized expression, "sounds fake.")
. . . . . . . . . .
the next day, they meet up unprompted, spurred on by a text message jimin sends to taehyung telling him to get to the cafe quickly. taehyung arrives first and goes ahead and orders for the both of them: a triple shot strawberry dipped mocha for himself, a dark chocolate matcha latte with extra whipped cream for jimin, and two slices of banana nut bread. he finds an empty table next to the window and settles, idly going through his instagram feed between bites of bread. a flurry of movement runs by the window, catching his eye, and he watches as jimin shoulders open the door, a hard set in his eyes. once he spots taehyung’s curious gaze, he marches over head held high, a paper clutched in his hand. he slams said paper down so hard their cup rattle on their saucers, garnering looks from nearby tables.
taehyung blinks, “uh—”
“we had a pop quiz in my calc class today,” jimin speaks over him, “i got a ninety-six.”
stunned, taehyung looks down and, indeed, a “96” circled in bright red ink stares back at him, “whoa, jimin,” he says, gazing back up at him, “that’s awesome!”
“that’s not the point,” jimin snaps, crossing his arms, “you owe me something.”
taehyung can’t help but let out a giggle, bringing his hand flying up in an attempt to muffle it, “you’re so cute,” he smiles mischievously, “finally able to cash in that kiss, huh? how do you feel? my hearts racing.”
“i think,” jimin says slowly, placing his hand down for balance as he leans in close, “i deserve more than a kiss.”
taehyung doesn’t bat an eye at their close proximity, though they do glue themselves to jimin’s lips, “oh? what do you suggest then?” he tilts his head, eyes glinting, “perhaps i should, quote on quote, ‘wreck you in public’?” jimin looks briefly mortified and hisses at him to not speak so loudly, “isn’t gaining their attention the whole point?”
“stop entertaining this.”
“ you said it.”
peeved, jimin presses his lips together, “i see why yoongi hyung named you annoyance number one.”
taehyung strikes a pose, “it’s part of my loving charm.”
“whatever,” jimin rolls his eyes and jabs a finger into the other’s chest, “i want a date and at least a thousand kisses for the shit you put me through.”
taehyung pretends to think it over, eyes lazily catching on a mole on his collar bone when the loose material of jimin’s shirt shifts, “i guess i can concede to that,” and without warning, taehyung fists jimin’s shirt and yanks him down until their noses touch. jimin’s breath hitches, but taehyung pulls away slightly to kiss his nose, “that’s number one,” he states cheekily.
jimin gives him a dirty look, “kiss me like you mean it.”
“but dear jimothy,” he bats his eyelashes, “we’re in public.”
“oh, for fucks sake,” jimin lifts his hands to gently hold taehyung’s head in place, swooping back in to meld their lips together good and proper. it’s soft and sweet and barely lasts five seconds, but they’re both smiling by the end of it.