Chapter Text
(week 0 - thursday)
“jimin, didn't you say you needed some photography lessons?” jungkook asks his friend, who stops on his tracks at the question.
jimin looks back at the younger, answering “yeah, why?”, to which jungkook replies pointing at the wallboard on the hall, where a poster announces a photography workshop. jimin hurries closer to the board and reads the poster carefully, letting out exciting noises while he reads.
“oh my god, is a photography workshop imparted by another uni’s teacher that our college is hosting. they’re even giving discounts to students from here!”
classes had just started this week but jimin already knows he is going to fail fashion media and advertising, as their professor had expressly said that the final portfolio, garments, pictures, and design of the printed book must be all made by themselves. the old woman had explained that the creation and production of the portfolio is the main objective of the class, so the process has to be completely self-made.
the collection and digital design were easy for jimin, but taking pictures with anything else than his phone, and even less if those pictures were supposed to help him “sell his product”, was a whole different problem. he has never used a professional camera before, not even held one, so this workshop came just at the right time, this must be fated.
“so, you’ll go?” jungkook questions, interrupting jimin’s train of thought.
“of course i will! i can afford it and i’m sure learning this will definitely help in the future,” he explains, but then he frowns. “the thing, is that i need a nice camera, like a professional one, and that i cannot afford.”
with that, both boys resume their walking after jimin takes a quick picture of the poster. after a couple of seconds of silence, jungkook starts mumbling to himself, cocking his head. “i think i’ve seen yoongi with a camera before...”
jimin turns to him, eyes wide. “what- really?!” jungkook nods smiling and jimin gasps excited. “you think he’d let me use it for the workshop?” he asks with sparkling eyes.
jungkook's smile drops a little at that and hums for a long time as a response. jimin pouts and gives him puppy eyes. he knows he's sometimes clumsy with things like that, but this was an amazing chance, and he really needs that camera.
“pleeeease, i swear i’ll be really careful with it and i’ll give it back as soon as i finish. though i may have to use it later in the semester,” he adds.
jungkook sighs but smiles again looking at the older. “i’ll ask and try to convince him, don’t worry.”
jimin shrieks happily and hugs his friend tightly, exclaiming how he saved his semester. “i’ll make the payment later this afternoon so i get a spot before the workshop gets full-”
“yeah yeah, just get off me already, we need to reach the main building before next period,” jungkook mumbles.
the other hits him softly on the shoulder, and states that that’s not the way to talk to his roommate, but lets him go so they can finally get their errand done.
* * *
the boys arrive at their place, which they have been sharing for a semester now. jungkook moved into jimin's place at the end of his first semester so he could spend more time with yoongi in the eldest last semester, and to make jimin company in their remaining years at university. jungkook's parents were okay with it, though a little sad that he was leaving the house so soon, but they let him go anyway.
since then, both friends share a great place near their campus, jungkook already in his second year majoring in education, as jimin is in his third year, just a year away from graduating in fashion design.
after a couple of minutes of arriving, there is a knock on the door and jungkook hurriedly goes to open it and welcomes yoongi in. they exchange a sweet hey and a peck on the cheek. the older sees jimin and greets him with a “hey, jimin.” the redhaired greets him back and heads to the dining table with his laptop, grabbing a bag of cookies they had laying there and fishing in the bag for one.
yoongi follows jungkook to the kitchen as the younger mumbles he’s doing dinner and that he can stay if he wants. yoongi hums happily as he leans on the kitchen counter.
jimin is munching on a cookie when he remembers their conversation from earlier and calls for jungkook’s attention, murmuring a “tell him about the camera,” as he gestures to the blond with his head.
jungkook makes a soft ah and turns to his boyfriend. “you have a camera to take pictures at your events with the boys, right?”
yoongi frowns a little but nods. the younger smiles and continues, “would you lend it to jimin? he wants to attend a photography workshop for one of his projects.”
yoongi stays silent and slowly looks back at jimin, who is giving him puppy eyes and rubbing his hands together in a plea.
yoongi doubts a little more, letting out some hmmm's and well…’s until he finally manages an “i don’t know, that thing is kinda expensive, jimin-”
the boy in question interrupts him immediately, “i know! i’ll be very careful and i really need it to get in this workshop so i don’t fail my class because i know nothing about photography and if i don’t go to this workshop i won’t be able to get my portfolio done and i’m sure there won’t be another opportunity later and i’ll just-”
jungkook cuts his friend’s rant with a sigh. both yoongi and jimin turn to look at him. “love, just lend this dumbass the camera, he’ll take good care of it, i’ll make sure of it, too.”
jimin looks back at yoongi, doe eyes and palms together again as he pouts at him.
the older finally sighs and smiles a little. “alright, alright, i’ll bring it with me next time.”
jimin shrieks excitedly and scrambles to his room, wobbling his wallet in the air as he gets out and heads for the door, exclaiming he is going to make the payment right away, and finally exits the place, leaving it in silence.
the blond turns to jungkook again and asks “will i regret this?”
jungkook grins at the food he’s frying on the pan and simply replies “probably.”
yoongi snorts softly but comes closer to the boy, resting his chin on his shoulder and hugging his middle with a content smile on his face.
(week 1 - monday)
next monday, once jimin finishes his classes in the afternoon, he hurriedly heads to the building where the workshop is taking place. he sighs relieved as he catches sight of a line of people behind a registration table outside the classroom. he gets in line and waits for his turn while fidgeting with yoongi's camera hanging from his neck.
when he reaches the table, he bends to start filling the sheet of names and contact information, but he shrieks and stops a second before the camera hits the edge of the table by the momentum of the movement. when he straightens up again, the camera comes back to his chest with a thump.
he quickly takes the camera’s strap off from around his neck and tucks the camera closely to his chest with one hand while he fills the form with the other. once he finishes, a woman hands him a pamphlet with the topics of the workshop. he moves a step away from the line while he inspects the assignments of the course, he looks for something like editorial photography or something similar that could get him closer to what he needed for his portfolio.
“nice camera,” prompts a voice near him, and when jimin shoots his head up and catches sight of the tall boy talking to him, he suddenly feels something weird inside his chest, and then someone bumps softly with him from behind, but it must have been harder than he thought because he's somehow falling and the camera is suddenly slipping from his hands so he tucks it tightly to his chest, eyes closed shut.
when he opens his eyes again, he’s on his knees on the floor, the man who bumped into him looks down at him confused but in what seems like a failed attempt to catch him. the tall boy hurries to him and crouches down at his side. “hey, are you okay?” he asks concerned.
and it surely had to be harder than a bump because his vision is a blur when he tries to focus on the boy's face. he stays silent for a couple of seconds but lets out a gasp when he remembers the camera on his chest, he unfolds his hands from around it and sighs in relief when it seems to be fine.
he then turns to the boy, who’s still crouched at his side. he smiles embarrassed. “sorry, yeah, i’m fine i just-” but when he tries to get up, he finds some resistance from his legs. “i- ah, i can’t-”
“here, let me help you,” the other boy offers and grabs one of his arms to help him stand. his arm feels tingly where the other boy is touching as he walks him to the classroom; he brushes it off as an aftershock.
once they’re inside the room, the other boy helps him onto a chair, he stays standing but leaves a hand on jimin’s shoulder. “are you sure you’re okay?” he asks one more time, as jimin sets the camera around his neck again and looks up at him with a sincere smile.
“i’m fine, really, thank you a lot. i guess i fell really hard or something, but i’m fine now,” he insists, “must’ve been my nerves, or excitement, or both,” he chuckles dumbly.
the tall boy, -which really, jimin needs a name to call him, and maybe a phone number (oh my god, jimin, get a grip!)- takes the hand off his shoulder to stand more comfortably at his side. he smiles sweetly at him, and okay, jimin definitely needs a phone number. “are you into photography?”
jimin snorts softly and makes a funny face. “it’s more like a hobby i desperately need to develop.”
the boy raises a questioning eyebrow.
the redhaired huffs. “i need some pictures for a project, and by that i mean I have to be the one to shoot the thing,” he gestures to the camera, “and this was my first day even holding one, so… i’m kinda desperate and possibly screwed, too,” he finishes with a shrug.
the brunette boy hums and nods in understanding, he then takes the seat beside jimin and holds out his hand in front of him.
jimin looks cluelessly at the hand and then at the boy, trying to ignore the chill that runs down his spine. “uhm…”
“the camera, can i see it?”
oh, jimin nods and takes the camera handing it to the guy, “just- it’s not actually mine so-”
the boy smiles widely at him again and lays the camera on his lap. “don’t worry, i saw how you threw yourself to the floor for it earlier, i’ll be careful,” he assures.
jimin actually blushes at that, feeling a little embarrassed reminiscing the scene, but just nods and watches the boy while he checks the camera. he can see some expertise in the boy's movements and how he confidently pushes different buttons to check the information.
“it’s a good one, really intuitive, i’m sure you’ll get the hang of it quickly,” he comforts him while handing the camera back. the soft reassuring smile on the boy’s face warms jimin’s chest a little, and he actually lets himself feel a little hopeful at the words.
“thanks, ….” he starts, finally fishing for a name to put to the face.
the rest of the people flow inside the classroom after a young man, who seems to be the teacher, enters the room. the boy looks back at the man and quickly picks up his things, but then smiles at jimin and answers, “taehyung.”
the boy returns the smile. “jimin. and thanks for helping me earlier.”
“no problem, jimin,” he replies while standing and shouldering what seems like his camera bag.
jimin looks at him confused. “aren’t you taking the class?” he won’t admit he sounds a little disappointed, but he was starting to feel more at ease for not being by himself here.
taehyung grins at him, “not exactly,” he simply answers before heading to the front of the classroom, where he greets the young man, who jimin now knows is definitely the teacher, and sees how the man smiles at taehyung and pats him on the arm, as they both place their stuff on the desk and start to take out their equipment.
some moments later, the teacher comes closer to the rest of the people and welcomes them to the workshop. “my name is choi sungchul, you can call me teacher or professor choi if you want. i’m a photography professor at x university, and this is my assistant, kim taehyung, he’s one of my students and will be supporting me, and you, in this workshop as well.”
so that’s why he looked so in his element with the camera, he’s actually a photography student. the disappointment comes back with the fact that the other boy is not an actual student at his university, but he shakes the thought and feeling off and just takes his own camera and completely focuses on the professor. he has to make the most of this workshop after all.
* * * *
it only takes 15 minutes into the class for jimin to find out he is, in fact, screwed. as professor choi explains the components of the camera, explains through the most important parts and buttons, jimin brows furrow further and further.
when the professor asks them to look through the viewfinder (the little square from where you actually see what you’re going to capture), jimin desperately fiddles with the buttons and moves the lenses, not really knowing how, as he sees anything but black.
he hears someone clear his throat close to him, he looks back up and his eyes find taehyung, who then taps the front of his lens and removes a black circle from it. jimin frowns and looks at his own lens and finds there is some kind of lid there. he struggles a little, but he gets it off and when he looks through the viewfinder again, he can finally see through the actual lens. he looks back at the boy, an embarrassed smile plastered on his face as he mutters a silent thanks to taehyung, the other just nods and smiles brightly.
jimin blushes. yeah, he is totally screwed.
* * *
the rest of the class, taehyung seems to take pity on jimin’s helplessness with the camera, as he stays close to him most of the class, patiently explaining every instruction the teacher gives them before moving to help the other students. he gets the boy to laugh a lot by his silly mistakes and by how flustered he gets when he can’t get something right, no matter how hard he tries, only to have taehyung shake his head jokingly and pointing out how to do it right in less than a second.
the three hours go in a flash (lol) of failed attempts to adjust the camera on his hands and face, and with jimin giving up finding how to focus the lens on manual mode. the class also passes in light graces of hands between taehyung and him, who asks for his camera to demonstrate to jimin so he can follow what he does. it is really helpful, and jimin actually manages to get a grasp of the instructions like this, so he doesn’t say anything, even when he fears he might look annoying or stupid to taehyung.
and as if he could sense his train of thought, taehyung pats his shoulder softly. “don’t look so down, jimin. photography is hard once you start, but you’ll get the hang of it, just keep practicing and don’t give up, okay?” he assures with a soft smile.
the redhaired offers him a sad smile but nods. “thanks.”
taehyung just winks at him and heads to help an older woman who seems to be struggling with the lenses, too.
jimin then sighs but, stealing a glance at the ever-patient brunette boy, he smiles to himself and brings the camera back to his face, and slowly tries to adjust the lens to the right position again.
when class is over, jimin heads at the front of the classroom to thank taehyung for all his help. the other just brushes it off.
“it’s no problem, jimin. i’m glad i got you to learn something, that’s why i’m here after all,” the taller says ruffling jimin’s hair, which makes a soft pink creep on jimin’s cheeks. “also, you weren’t that bad,” he exclaims, but just two seconds later, both boys start to snort by the ridiculous lie, but jimin is okay with it if he is greeted with a smile like this from the other boy.
“but seriously, i wouldn’t have done much if it wasn’t for you, so thanks again. i hope you don’t find it annoying if i keep asking for your help in the next sessions,” he says shyly, hands fidgeting with the camera.
taehyung takes the small lens lid from jimin's hand, which makes the redhaired look up at him. the taller then places the lid on the lens and smiles comfortingly at him. “i would never,” he finally says, a low voice that brings goosebumps down jimin's arms.
when the professor suddenly turns to them and asks taehyung if he’s ready to go, jimin hurries to say his goodbyes and thanks the professor too, before heading out of the classroom demanding the blush to abandon his face.
* * *
when jimin arrives at his place, yoongi is there with jungkook at the dining table. he makes a show of placing the camera extremely slow on the coffee table as yoongi rolls his eyes, to finally plop face down on the couch.
the other two look at jimin in silence, waiting for him to say something. said boy then looks up at them from the cushions with a pout. “i suck at photography,” he declares and lets his head fall again.
yoongi and jungkook steal a glance at each other, soft smirks on both their lips.
“it’s okay, jimin, it’s just the first class, you still have plenty of time to get better,” jungkook offers. jimin looks back up and yoongi nods at his boyfriend’s words.
the redhaired sighs but turns to sit cross-legged on the couch. “yeah, you’re right. i’ve never sucked so much at anything before, it might be a slump,” he alleges.
its jungkook’s turn to roll his eyes, as jimin stands up and heads their way, stealing a roll of sushi from his friend’s plate. “oh, also, i met a really nice guy in class today, taehyung, really cute and it’s actually the teacher’s assistant, so he helped me a lot,” he explains as he racks the kitchen for something to eat.
jungkook just looks at him and the mess of food his friend is scattering on the counter. “uhm, do you want me to make you something for dinner?”
“aha!” exclaims jimin taking out a cup of noodles from one of the cabinets. “i’m okay, kookie. actually, i don’t know why but i feel really… recharged? like, with a lot of energy,” he continues to boil some water on the stove, chatting a little about his first class and their assignments. “i thought i was going to end up all tired after the workshop, but i feel really inspired. i think it’s a great time to start sketching my first collection of the semester,” he smiles brightly at them as he takes the water and pours it in the noodles’ cup.
he picks some chopsticks from the dishwasher and takes the noodles. “i’ll let you guys with your lovey-dovey time. have fun!” and with that, he heads to his room and shuts the door with his foot.
jungkook looks at yoongi and the blond looks back at him, then both shrug at the same time and snort with a funny look on their faces.
once in his room, jimin deposits the cup on his desk and gets out his sketchbook and pencil from his bag. he opens it on a blank page and starts drawing rough lines and borders, slowly building a figure and a body. the pencil flows freely over the paper and the body starts to gain dimension, he then starts to draw the actual garments, slurping on the noodles from time to time.
he's giving the faceless figure some color with his fine-line markers. he's about to add color to the hairstyle he gave the drawing, giving a quick once over to the sketch but suddenly stops the marker an inch from the paper. he takes the marker back and pulls the sketchbook up to his line of vision.
he instantly blushes at the realization that, even when the figure has no face, he can definitely tell that he’s been drawing taehyung this whole time.
the hair, the clothes, even the pose and the lighting effect on the drawing was a representation of taehyung at the front of the classroom viewed from jimin’s seat. embarrassment settles on his cheeks bright pink. he takes another look at the drawing and cringes. “jeez, jimin, just how desperate are you?” he asks himself gloomily.
he rips the page from the notebook, but his heart squeezes at the thought of throwing it away, so he opens a drawer on his desk and puts the drawing in there, pausing to look at it once more, before closing it back and setting on a different page, sketching a different figure this time just to be sure his mind won't slip again.