Chapter Text
Jimin had everything going for him. He was bright, bubbly, and top of his class. He maintained good relationships even when they were with the worst kind of people. He was an absolute delight to his teachers and peers. He never had any conflicts at school and never even turned in an assignment late. With great grades and a great reputation, it was no surprise Jimin was class president.
Even though Jimin was a raging extrovert, sometimes he needed his alone time too.
It had been a busy day. He had an exhausting dance rehearsal that morning, at least two tests later that day, a student council meeting, and a paper to start writing.
Needless to say, Jimin did not have any wiggle room on his schedule, so he had to complete his homework directly after school.
To take some of the stress off his shoulders, Jimin decided he would find a quiet place to work. A place where he could just be himself and not have to focus on pleasing people. Unfortunately, in that busy school, there were not too many options.
He settled on the loneliest place he could think of. There was an old, abandoned club room on the top floor of the school. This was the room that hadn’t been used in months and was speculated to be haunted for god knows what fucking reason. Basically, students stayed away from that room. Jimin would have too if it wasn’t the perfect place to isolate himself.
Staring at the ominous club room door, Jimin took a deep breath. He could feel his heart beating faster than usual as his fingers touched the cold door handle. He expected a lot of things when he opened that door. He expected a ghost or some demonic entity to jump out and scare the shit out of him. He expected clusters of bats, rats, or spiders to fly at him and make him fucking scream. He also expected a library full of ancient, dusty books to trample or bury him alive.
He did not, however, expect to see his classmate Kim Taehyung.
And holy shit did he see his classmate Kim Taehyung.
It was like the first time Jimin ever actually laid eyes on the boy.
There was a first time for everything, and Jimin’s first time was seriously magical.
As Jimin creaked the door open, the sunset light poured into the club room and illuminated Taehyung. Every single one of his features was highlighted and he genuinely glowed. Out of his school uniform, Taehyung wore an oversized sweater that worked wonders on him. His tousled dark hair was pushed back with a headband, putting on display a very handsome face.
The whole setting made it look like his classmate crawled out of a romance movie. Social butterfly Jimin got the fucking butterflies over Taehyung. He never saw his classmate in that way before and he could thank the sunset for that view.
The only thing Jimin could manage to say was, “Oh.”
With wide eyes, Jimin watched his unbothered classmate paint. From the looks of it, Taehyung had the whole fucking set up too. We’re talking bob-ross style easel, a palette with every single color of the rainbow on it, and a canvas probably bigger than half of the room. The only thing Taehyung was missing was Bob’s carefree, happy little tree aesthetic. Taehyung’s was different. Very different.
Deep in concentration, his classmate had yet to notice him standing in the doorway staring. Fearing he looked like a creepy stalker, Jimin decided to make himself present.
“H-hello.” He greeted, nodding his head unsurely.
Though Jimin and Taehyung were classmates, this was their first interaction. Prior to the club room incident, Jimin never actually had any reason to speak to Taehyung. His class president ass probably smiled and nodded at Taehyung hundreds of times, but he never held a conversation with him.
Speaking to the loner boy Taehyung seemed like a challenge.
But Jimin loved a little bit of challenge every once in a while.
Because Taehyung never took his eyes off the canvas, Jimin wasn’t sure if he had heard him. Jimin crossed his arms, leaned against the doorframe, and pondered what he would say next.
Just before Jimin could make his next social move, he was finally rewarded with some acknowledgement.
This acknowledgement wasn’t really what Jimin had hoped for. Taehyung let out a heavy sigh. It was one of those sighs that instantly made the other person feel like they were either incompetent or a nuisance. Or both. Jimin was feeling both.
“A sketch is $15.”
“With color is $20.”
“Small paintings are $25.”
“Medium paintings are $40.”
“Large paintings are $50 plus.”
“I don’t do anything bigger than 30 x 40 canvas.”
“Watercolor, oil, and pastel paintings cost extra.”
“Oh.” He kept going. “And I don’t do mixed medi--”
Taehyung immediately slammed on the brakes as soon as his eyes lifted from the canvas. Jimin made direct eye contact with Taehyung. The eye contact was only for a split second, but embarrassment radiated off both of their faces.
“Oh shit.” Taehyung blurted upon realization.
Taehyung had the most honest deer-caught-in-the-headlights look plastered on his face. Jimin would have laughed his ass off too if he wasn’t wearing the exact same look earlier.
Taehyung furrowed his brow in confusion.
“Jimin…?” The clueless artist called out.
“Yeah, s-sorry.” Jimin replied, chuckling softly.
Jimin was aware this was a very strange encounter. The event would make for a pretty funny story later, but in his current moment, he owed Taehyung an explanation.
“I just--wanted to see if this room was open. Needed somewhere quiet to finish writing that paper.” Jimin explained, smiling awkwardly.
He waved his notebook in the air as an alibi to his story, but he didn’t want to stick around to see whether Taehyung believed it or not.
“But you look like you could use the space more than me, so I’ll find somewhere else.” Jimin added, already turning on his heels to leave. Incredibly flustered, Jimin was ready to fucking bolt.
“No! No!” Taehyung shouted rather unexpectedly, “It’s okay.”
Sneakers squeaking loudly against the floor, Jimin jolted to a stop.
“Huh?” Jimin questioned.
“You can work on it here.” Taehyung suggested.
“Wait--” Jimin paused dramatically with a puzzled look on his face. The pause was necessary. He had to make sure he was hearing things right. He could have sworn he just heard loner Taehyung offer to share the club room with him.
“You wanna--share it?”
“Yeah.”
Jimin didn’t believe it.
“It’s fine.”
Jimin still didn’t believe it.
“Really.”
Maybe Jimin believed it now.
“Okay...Cool.” Jimin agreed and entered the club room cautiously. It was a very small room which definitely contributed to the awkwardness. He had no idea what club was cursed with the very small space in the past, but maybe it wasn’t all that bad. There weren’t any ancient, spider-web covered books. He didn’t see any bats, rats, or spiders inside the place. There also weren’t any ghosts that he knew of.
Quiet and isolated, It was a decent place to settle down and do homework.
He spent the next few minutes setting up his own little workspace. On the other side of the club room a few feet away from Taehyung, Jimin made himself comfortable. He sat on the floor with his legs crossed, and he pulled all of his papers onto his lap.
Jimin sorted through everything from his outlines to his sources. He had all of his papers neatly organized, and he succeeded in finding a great space to work. Jimin had it down. The only thing he had left to do was actually do the work. That was the hard part though. The normally focused, star student Jimin could not concentrate to save his life. It also didn’t help that his eyes kept drifting back over to Taehyung.
Jimin pursed his lips and sighed in boredom. His mind was drawing a blank. It was like his brain just clocked out or decided to take the day off. He had absolutely no helpful ideas that contributed to this paper whatsoever.
He was struggling, but he didn’t appear to be the only one.
It looked like Tae was also having trouble working.
As Jimin aimlessly tapped his pencil against his leg, Taehyung tapped the blunt side of his paintbrush against his canvas. The tapping thing was an unintentional coincidence, but Jimin found it charming. He let out a small giggle, grinning over in Taehyung’s direction.
“What?” Taehyung asked, coming off a little bit snappy.
Jimin felt his cheeks flush a little.
He felt a little called out too.
“Um--” Jimin stuttered, “W-writer’s block.”
“Ah. I see.” Taehyung replied expressionlessly.
Jimin wondered if Taehyung was going through some sort of block too. He wondered if artists’ block existed and if Taehyung knew a good way to overcome it.
“Hey.” Jimin called out curiously, “Can I see what you’re working on?”
The question kind of came out of nowhere and broke the heavy silence. It looked like his question really threw Taehyung for a loop too. Blind-siding Taehyung wasn’t really Jimin’s intention. But he had to admit, it was pretty funny to watch Taehyung’s face suddenly change. His eyes looked fucking huge when he was caught off guard.
“Y-you want to see it?” Taehyung stammered, also adding in disbelief, “Really?”
Jimin’s response was quick and casual, but genuine. “Of course, dude!”
Before Jimin could get Taehyung’s permission, he was already heading towards the artist’s table. Jimin leaned over him with a complete lack of concern for any personal space. His head was only a few inches from Taehyung’s, and he was so close he could smell him. He noticed Taehyung’s faint sweet smell through the overwhelming smell of acrylic paint.
Then there was Taehyung’s art.
Jimin didn’t really know what to say at first when his eyes landed on the canvas. His jaw dropped slightly as he took everything in.
“Wow.” Jimin blurted impulsively.
Jimin was transfixed by the painting, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of Taehyung’s work. He didn’t realize how many seconds actually passed until Taehyung spoke up.
Taehyung began rambling insecurely.
“I-I have better pieces.”
“I’ve just been at this all day.”
“And it’s a little rushed.”
While listening to Taehyung’s excuses, he leaned in closer, squinted his eyes, and studied the painting. Jimin shook his head and instantly disagreed with the self-conscious artist. “No. No. This is--”
“It’s beautiful.” Jimin admitted honestly. “I love the thing you did with all colors. They’re pretty colors too. A-and all the lines just go like woosh and then blend together and stuff. Like--that’s really cool. I mean, the whole thing is really cool.”
He tried very hard to explain what he was looking at, and Jimin fumbled over what to say. He was almost positive he could hear Taehyung laugh at him for his strange comments, but he never took his eyes off the painting to confirm it.
For what Jimin was trying to describe, Taehyung created something abstract. He painted a city skyline over water. Jimin wasn’t sure what city it was, but he had to guess Seoul. All of the buildings colors were very vibrant and unique to each building, but he somehow brought them all together. He blended all the cityscape’s colors in the water reflection. The colors popped off the canvas and practically slapped Jimin in the face. He could see reds and yellows balanced out by blues and purples.
“This is really beautiful, Taehyung.” He added, eyes lit up in awe.
That sincere comment seemed to hit Taehyung the hardest. Even Jimin could tell that the artist was feeling shy after being praised. All Taehyung could manage to do was say, “Thanks.” He covered his face with his hand to hide the fact that it was probably redder than his painting.
Jimin’s eyes shifted from the painting and onto Taehyung. He exclaimed, “I never knew you were an artist.”
Jimin took a couple steps back from Taehyung, still realizing he was uncomfortably close. He still didn’t really know Taehyung, and he felt a little guilty about invading his space.
Evidently though, he didn’t know a lot of things about Taehyung. This whole artist thing was a surprise to him.
“I keep to myself really.” Taehyung retorted in disinterest.
Jimin did not know much about his classmate, but he did already know one thing. He knew Taehyung always kept to himself. Where class president Jimin rarely isolated himself, class loner Taehyung always did.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jimin nodded his head in agreement, “We never talked before this.”
Curiously, Jimin turned his head to the side and added with a cheeky grin, “You don’t really like to talk to people a lot, do you?”
There was a small pause in their conversation where Taehyung went silent. Taehyung shrugged apathetically. He looked down and started picking at the skin around his thumbs. The pause in conversation was just long enough to make Jimin uneasy. He cursed himself out in his head and wondered if he maybe said the wrong thing.
Then Jimin really said the wrong thing.
“I mean--I can see why.” Jimin blurted very outspokenly, giving Taehyung absolutely no context.
Taehyung looked like he really needed some fucking context too. He didn’t know exactly what Jimin meant by that. He parted his lips and opened his mouth as if he were about to say something in protest, but he shut himself down. His brows were furrowed in concern as he waited anxiously for his classmate to finish what he had to say.
“You’re like trapped in your own world.” Jimin explained, “Your own-- super cool world.”
He was referring to a world completely different from his own. Taehyung and Jimin weren’t even on the same planet.
But that didn’t stop Jimin from being interested.
“I really mean it, Tae.” He added sweetly, “You have a gift. Cause normal people can’t just come up with stuff like this.”
Jimin was obsessively impressed with Taehyung’s talent. He wanted to see more of his classmate’s work. He noticed a folder full of sketches on the artist’s desk. Once again without Taehyung’s permission, he lunged over to open the folder. Jimin quickly began scanning through pieces.
Taehyung yelped out and attempted to snatch the folder back, “Hey!”
“No, no, no!” The artist continued to cry out while Jimin carelessly flipped through the folder.
“Wow! I love this one! Is this someone’s por?” Jimin started to compliment what he thought was a portrait, but it was quickly yanked away from him. The frantic artist jumped from his seat. Taehyung used his height as his advantage during his sneak attack to snatch the folder. The artist though, nearly stumbled over in his desperate attempt.
Jimin thought this was pretty cute.
“They’re not--” Taehyung hesitated, “They’re not done yet.”
“Oh! I see.” Jimin’s lips curved into an innocent smile. “You don’t want anybody looking until it’s done, right?” Jimin guessed. He understood this mentality from a perfectionist’s stand point.
Taehyung simply nodded his head in response.
“Well,” Jimin pursed his lips almost disappointingly, “I want to see it when it’s done, okay?”
“Uh...okay.”
“Cool.”
A few seconds of silence followed after that. This silence was probably their record breaker that afternoon, but Jimin didn’t hate that. Seeing how flustered and worked up the artist got over his work, made Jimin giggle. Though Jimin was giving Taehyung a lot of shit and teasing him, he did genuinely want to see the piece when it was finished.
“Oh, it’s getting late.” Taehyung muttered, breaking their silence. “I should probably start cleaning up now.”
Jimin chuckled, observing the artist’s workspace again. From the looks of it, there was a lot of cleaning up to do. Taehyung looked like a messy worker. He had brushes and paint bottles scattered everywhere. Not to mention Taehyung had paint all over his hands and even a bit of acrylic paint splattered on his sweater. Jimin was just honestly surprised that the whole room wasn’t covered in paint.
“You want me to help?” Jimin kindly offered.
“No. It’s okay.” Taehyung kindly refused, “I’ll do it.”
Jimin and Taehyung started packing up their things separately. Jimin thought hard about how he’d say goodbye. He dreaded a parting phrase. He didn’t want this club room session to be a one and done thing, because it had been so weird but so interesting to him.
Kim Taehyung was so interesting to him.
Jimin finally settled on. “Okay, I’ll see you around then?”
That could mean anything.
“Okay.” The artist blurted.
That could also mean anything.
When Taehyung’s eyes lifted from the table for a slight second, Jimin smiled. He met his gaze, nodded his head cordially, and waved at his classmate. It was a warm parting gesture. He just hoped the gesture was warm enough to make an impact on Taehyung.