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It starts with Jeon Jungkook. The star of the school sneaks through the library window on light feet, landing without any sound onto the dark wooden study table. Min Yoongi freezes above his music theory notes.
“Oh! Hi.” The kid flashes a bright, bashful grin that pokes up at his cheeks. Yoongi blinks back at him. “I’m sorry for coming in like this.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s rude and— Oh, you’re asking why I came through the window?” Yoongi nods. “I was being chased by some of my...” Jungkook sighs, deflating to sit on the table. “Fans, I guess? People who want me to join their clubs and stuff. Is it okay if I stay here?” He glances down at Yoongi’s unfinished notes. “I’ll be quiet! I promise!”
“Sit in a chair,” Yoongi says. The boy grins, leaning out the window again to haul his backpack up and sliding into a chair opposite Yoongi. Yoongi knows Jeon Jungkook. The whole academy does. He’s gifted at everything he does and he does everything . The last Yoongi heard, he was leading the school’s soccer team on a trail of glory.
During his first year, Yoongi spent a full month testing out different locations for midday study period. It was either find a good place to hide or join a club, and Yoongi had always prefered his own company over anyone else’s. Yoongi’s library table is nestled away, hidden behind a false enclosement of tall bookshelves. The window faces a far corner of academy grounds, a thin plot of yellowed grass between it and a high fence. It’s not a pleasant view. The lack of landscaping scares away loitering teenagers, and Yoongi loves the solitude. It’s quiet and collected, and the bookshelves filter out the buzzing chatter of midday library visitors. Yoongi knows what to expect out of each study period. He’s spent his weekday afternoons reveling in the same repetition for years until today. Until Jungkook.
The younger boy keeps his promise, remaining silent for the rest of the period. His presence is still obvious, though. His wide eyes train on Yoongi’s notes until the bell rings and Jungkook scurries away.
He comes back through the window the next day. Yoongi flinches at the mud his shoes splatter onto the table before startling at the slapping of a second pair. The new boy’s uniform is awry, crooked at all edges. The humidity wafting through the window springs his hair into waves burgeoning on curls. He grins at Yoongi, boxy, and extends a wide hand out to him.
“I’m Kim Taehyung.”
“Min Yoongi,” he says, shaking the offered hand and glancing at Jungkook.
Jungkook shrugs. “He wanted to see my new hiding spot.”
“Yours?”
“It’s perfect, Kookie!” Taehyung takes in the space with wide eyes. “I didn’t even know about this place. No one would bother you back here!”
“No one’s supposed to,” Yoongi mutters. The younger boys ignore him.
“We could hang up some string lights and pin a sheet over the table. Like a clubhouse!” Taehyung says.
“Are you still studying, hyung?” Jungkook leans over the table at Yoongi’s obviously opened notes. “ Fourth series counterpoint . What’s that?”
“It’s music theory.” Yoongi keeps his answer short, expecting the boys to lose interest. Taehyung pulls back a chair and hinges forward with his chin cradled in his palms. Jungkook leans even further into Yoongi’s space. Yoongi gulps. He’s never given such avid attention. Definitely not when he talks about music. Most people think it’s a waste of time. “Counterpoints are— They’re elements of musical texture and they...”
The weekend brings Yoongi’s isolation back. He doesn’t have Jungkook and Taehyung’s numbers. Doesn’t know where they live. Yoongi doesn’t expect either of them on Monday. It’s raining and the small ground outside the window is a mess of rainwater and dust. Yoongi’s sure neither Jungkook nor Taehyung would want to take the front door normally. This afternoon, Yoongi’s met with a small potted plant at the middle of his table and a large unimposing boy watching the rain fall. The new intruder jumps when he notices Yoongi.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t think this was anyone’s spot. Gardening club was canceled today because of the...” He nods at the rain. “But I wanted to give this little guy a trip outside the greenhouse.”
Yoongi doesn’t want to say he’s becoming used to intrusions in his hidden spot. Not after just two visitors. But there’s something different about this one. Maybe it’s the shaky KIM NAMJOON markered onto the frayed fabric of his beat up backpack or the reverent way he cradles the plant. Yoongi just shrugs and says, “It’s fine. Sit wherever you want.”
Kim Namjoon smiles dimples into his cheeks and nods. Yoongi resigns himself to another day of studying with someone else nearby. This new presence isn’t loud and fluttering like Jungkook and Taehyung. Namjoon hums thoughts to himself and taps his fingertips along the rainfall beat.
“Raindrops have great friendships, don’t they?” Namjoon says toward the end of the period. His face is turned out the window but his eyes linger on Yoongi. “Even if they fall, they fall together. It’s nice to watch.”
Yoongi’s afraid of falling, of any unaccompanied deviance from his routines. But as he watches the rain with Namjoon, he thinks he wouldn’t mind the descent if he had other droplets beside him.
There’s someone new at Yoongi’s table. He’s laughing along with Taehyung and Jungkook when Yoongi rounds the corner for study period. It’s still raining outside—hasn’t let up since yesterday—but Yoongi swears the lights hit the new boy’s blonde hair like a halo. He glows with his giggles.
“Hyung!” Jungkook greets him with a hug, towering and engulfing Yoongi with his bulk. Yoongi lets himself be dragged and deposited to his usual seat at the table, in the corner where the sunlight peaks perfectly over the fence. But it’s raining now, and Yoongi has to settle for the muffled library lamps.
“We brought a friend. I hope that’s okay.” Taehyung is quietly nervous, gesturing to the new boy.
“I’m Park Jimin,” he says, shaking Yoongi’s hand. Even his grin glimmers.
“Did you come in through the window, too?” Yoongi asks.
Park Jimin flinches. “I’m not an animal , hyung. I’d get mud on the table.”
Yoongi glances at Taehyung and Jungkook, questioning silently.
“Jimin made us use the door,” Jungkook says, laughing. “He got onto us for using the window the first time.”
“He said we were entering your space and your space is like your house, so we took our shoes off, too!” Taehyung points to the three pairs of shoes tucked at the base of a bookshelf.
Jimin laughs, a twinkling sound. “I didn’t think they’d actually do it.”
“Should I take my shoes off, too?” Yoongi asks.
Jungkook nods with a serious expression. “You’ve got to keep your house clean, hyung.”
“Don’t you three have clubs?” Yoongi asks, taking his shoes off and lining them up next to Jungkook’s. Jimin has taken a seat next to the wall, squashed between the window and Taehyung.
“Nah. I don’t wanna play soccer anymore. I like music now.” Jungkook sits across from Yoongi again, glancing at his notes expectantly. Yoongi turns his music theory book around so Jungkook can read along.
“I have dance practice sometimes,” Jimin says, one of his earbuds shared with Taehyung as they pore over a math book. “But I wanted to see Tae’s new clubhouse.”
“You like it, right Jimin-ah?” Taehyung asks.
Yoongi scoffs. “It’s not much. It’s just a table.”
“Hyung, no.” Jimin scolds. “It’s perfect.”
“For what?”
Jimin pauses, thinking. “I don’t know. It’s like... You know how old animals like to hide in comfy spots? I think this place is a lot like that.”
“Are you calling me old?” Yoongi narrows his eyes with the ghost of a smile. Jimin notices and grins.
“You’re definitely old, hyung. That’s why you need us around to brighten the place up.”
“What’s a diatonic triad?” Jungkook asks, ignoring Jimin completely. Yoongi holds back a laugh at Jimin’s exaggeratedly outraged expression and leans across the table to imitate the piano chords.
The next arrival brings the sun back with him. Yoongi sits between Namjoon, holding a larger pot than before, and the kids, cooing over a cactus garden inside it. Namjoon chuckles as he delicately places the pot on the table and names each cactus.
“Where are those voices even coming from? Excuse me!” Sunlight filters back through the window for the first time in days as the disembodied voice flows through the bookshelves. Yoongi blinks against the sudden glow as a head pops out from a corner. “Hi! I didn’t know there was a table here.”
“Oh no,” Taehyung balks, “It’s the police.”
The new boy laughs, loud and breathy. “I’m just a library assistant! But I was sent back here to tell you guys to quiet down a little.”
Yoongi wants to laugh. He’s never gotten in trouble for being loud before. He hadn’t even realized the others were making much noise, too wrapped up in Namjoon’s plants and how easily the former intruders melded together.
“You’re Hoseok, right? I think we’ve had a few classes together,” Namjoon says, reaching forward to shake his hand.
“Nice to see you again, Namjoon-ssi.” Hoseok’s eyes widen when he sees the plant pot. He steps closer to loom over the cacti with a delighted gasp. “Are these yours?”
Namjoon nods with a proud, dimple deep smile. “I’ve been raising them for the gardening club.”
“How cute! You should leave some here. It looks like this is a good spot for sunlight.” Hoseok’s smile is brighter than the light outside. But Yoongi doesn’t say anything. He just pulls out a chair as Hoseok rounds the table to sit next to him and keeps talking about the plants with Namjoon.
“We’ll never get in trouble now that we have one of the library assistants on our side.” Yoongi hears Jimin whisper to Taehyung. Jungkook scrunches his nose in a silent laugh across from Yoongi.
The rest of the period is peaceful. Not in the way Yoongi’s study periods were peaceful before. That was quiet and chilled. This peace is warm, it settles on Yoongi’s cheeks with the stretch of his smile and twinkles in his ears with the laughs around him. This— Yoongi thinks he could get used to this.
It ends a week after it begins. Another Thursday. The window is open again. Jungkook jumps out this time. Taehyung passes more of Namjoon’s plants for placement in the fence’s shade. Namjoon had decided the spot was perfect for planting, tucked away where the plants wouldn’t be trampled. Yoongi watches from inside as Hoseok and Jimin push a wheelbarrow of more plants around the corner.
“What is this?” The yell borders on shrill and cuts through the new garden. Yoongi jumps out of his chair, joins Taehyung to lean out the window. His chin almost bumps into an older student. Yoongi knows him the same way he knows Jungkook. The whole school knows Kim Seokjin for his wit and his looks.
“What did you do to my gaming spot?” Seokjin gestures to the ledge under the window.
“We’re gardening!” Jungkook shakes his trowel in the air with a big toothed grin. Yoongi finds himself grinning along.
“Yah.” Seokjin stomps up, handsome face twisted into outrage. “Of course it’s you . Jeon Jungkook. My rival.”
Jimin scoffs. “Rival? For what?”
“For Star of the School!” Seokjin gestures around with a flair that makes Hoseok cackle. Seokjin’s grandeur fumbles. “I’m serious! First this kid is all everyone talks about and now he’s taken over my hiding spot. I would play games under this window every day.”
“Tell me about it,” Yoongi says, laughing. Everyone turns to him and for once he isn’t flustered by the attention. “I was always alone at my table and that was enough. And this kid,” he waves his hand at Jungkook, “brought everyone else along. But, hyung,” Yoongi chuckles at Seokjin’s still affronted expression, “I promise you, you’ll be better off if you accept them than if you stay alone.”
“Hey, how about this?” Jungkook drops his backpack down and pulls out a small console. “If you beat me at Super Smash Bros, you can call yourself Star of the School.”
Seokjin’s eyes narrow, but he nods and sits on the ground resolutely and produces his own console with a challenging glimmer in his eyes.
Yoongi keeps the window open as long as the weather is nice. Most days he stays inside, reading over his notes. Some days he sits outside, jumps around with the kids in the sunlight and dirt. There are days when it’s just Yoongi again, quiet but not alone. Not really. There are quiet days and loud days. Yoongi has stopped expecting anything anymore. His study periods have lost their patterns, and Yoongi has come to love the variance.
The biggest variation comes on the last day before winter vacation. A slushy December freeze keeps the window resolutely closed. Yoongi already has a beanie covering his ears from the chill. He isn’t expecting anyone else today. He’s always been left alone on days before breaks, separate from vacation planning and goodbyes with friends. Yoongi's preparing himself for a month without study periods when Seokjin bursts through the bookshelves, fists at his hips.
“There you are, Yoongichi!” He twists around a shelf corner to yell, “Everyone, I found him! I told you he'd be here!” He shakes his head at Yoongi. “Honestly, you're so predictable.”
“Sorry?”
“Don't be! It makes you easy to find.” Hoseok materializes into their space next, the maknaes following behind him.
“Hyung, were you really gonna stay here alone when there's so much planning to do?” Taehyung asks. He tsks at Yoongi's silence and starts packing up Yoongi's backpack.
“Planning for what?” Yoongi has learned to be cautious of any plan coming from Taehyung and Jimin, who seems just as annoyed at Yoongi's inaction.
“For summer vacation, hyung!” Jimin snaps.
“That's so far away though?”
“It doesn't hurt to be prepared,” Namjoon says, making his way into the enclave. “If we plan our trip now, we can get all the cheap reservations before anyone else and we can get jobs over winter break to save some spending money.”
“Reservations?”
“For the beach! We have to go to the beach!” Jungkook says, knocking his knuckles against the table emphatically. “It's what all friends do!”
“Right…” Friends. Because that's what this group is to Yoongi now. His study table friends who will become his winter vacation friends and his summer vacation friends and his back to school friends. Yoongi watches the future blossom before him in the world outside the library window. A whole galaxy of happy days for him and his friends to enjoy together.
“Yeah, okay. Let's go together.”