Chapter Text
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First nights in new environments were always difficult for Jimin. He had been living in Daegu for almost three years now but had just moved to a new dormitory for his last semester. Jimin woke up early in the morning in a white room he didn’t quite recognize yet after a night of tossing and turning. He pulled the navy blue covers away from his body before standing up and doing his daily stretching routine and going for a shower. One thing he didn’t miss about his old dorm was the shared bathrooms. Now, he had his own space for his own things and no one to disturb him. The room was much smaller and the building was older but it was also closer to the school. Jimin didn’t regret his choice of moving even if it did keep him awake for most of the previous night.
Once he was cleaned up and dressed, Jimin still had a few hours before his first class. He always woke up before dawn and as he walked out of his dorm the sun was shining brightly above the snowy yard. A cuss slipped past his lips when the cold wind hit his face, messing up the black hair he had spent quite some time styling. He readjusted his over-sized scarf and continued on the small path leading to the building where he had agreed to meet up with Namjoon and Taehyung.
Jimin had met Namjoon in his microbiology. The taller and older man was assisting the teacher for a lab experiment during the younger’s first year and they had remained friends ever since. Neither of them could recall exactly how Taehyung had joined their gang. The boy had appeared at their lunch table one day and never left their side after that. Well, rather it had been planned or not, Jimin couldn’t complain because Taehyung and him got along so well that the dark haired man couldn’t imagine his life without him as a friend anymore.
When Jimin made it inside, his hair was covered in melting, making his fringe sticking slightly to his forehead. He shook the snow off of his boots before walking towards the cafeteria. He spotted Namjoon (his platinum blond hair was impossible to miss) sitting at the same table they always used next to the window.
“I hate the winter.” Jimin said as he dropped his body onto a chair next to his friend.
“You never complained when we were at my parent's chalet last week.” Namjoon teased with a wide smile.
“Well, there’s a difference between drinking hot chocolate in front of the fireplace and walking outside in the freezing cold at seven in the morning.” Jimin grumbled.
The younger’s parents had been out of the country during the holidays and he wasn’t able to go with them. Namjoon’s family had invited him to spend the winter break out in the mountains where they owned a small lodge. They all had a great time and Jimin had come back to his old dorm to a few packages waiting for him; gifts his parents had sent him.
Taehyung arrived twenty minutes late, as usual he had hit the snooze button a few times before actually getting up.
“So do you guys notice a change?” Taehyung spoke before the two older ones could even greet him. Jimin looked his friend up and down a few times, trying to find what had changed about him.
Impatient as always, Taehyung pointed at his head. ”I changed my hair color, duh!” He said as he sat down.
“Oh I thought it was just your usual orange dye that washed off.” Jimin teased.
“We can’t notice every time you change your shade of orange, Tae.” Namjoon complained.
“Whatever.” Taehyung replied as he smiled before continuing. “So, first day of our last semester huh!”
Jimin snickered at the idea of finally graduating in a few months.
“Speak for yourselves.” Namjoon grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. He was older than his two friends, but his medicine degree, with a specialization in cardiology, required a few extra years of studies.
“I can’t wait to be out of here.” Jimin yawned obnoxiously as he stretched his arms above his head.
Leaned back, Jimin tuned out the casual conversation about today’s plan. He scanned the cafeteria for a familiar mop of wavy brown hair he missed over the break. He finally spotted the man, sitting with some guy he had often seen him hang out with before. The two men sat at a table at the complete opposite side of the room. Jimin reached into his bag to pull out his glasses, allowing him to observe the man better.
He had recently learned his name; Min Yoongi. He was older than him (by how many years, he didn’t know), and spent a lot of time in the same research room as Jimin after class hours working on assignments. Jimin had heard the older’s voice only once. It was when his tall friend, he had called him Seokjin, kept him while they were in the computer lab. The melody still sometimes played over like a recording in the younger’s mind. It wasn’t an obsession, really. Jimin was simply fascinated by the warm aura radiating from Yoongi. A discreet student, no one noticed him. But Jimin had seen him smile once, a gummy and sincere smile, and from that point on Yoongi was all he could see.
Jimin shifted in his seat when a tall guy sat right in his line of sight to stare at Yoongi a bit longer. Namjoon noticed and grinned from ear to ear. His hand landed strongly on Jimin’s shoulder, tearing him out of his thoughts. Taehyung still oblivious to what was happening looked towards where Jimin had been staring moments ago before also noticing Yoongi casually chewing on a piece of his breakfast.
“Woah, really?” Taehyung spoke absentmindedly before going back to his schedule.
“We haven’t even been back for an hour and you’re already back to being hung up on that guy.” The oldest sighed.
Jimin shrugged and let his gaze shift towards Yoongi again. “Nothing wrong with looking.”
As if he had jinxed himself, something happened just then that made him regret staring. Jimin felt a strange discomfort in his chest when a petite girl with long black hair walked up to Yoongi and leaned down to kiss the man’s smooth cheek before sitting next to him clinging to his side. Jimin’s hand balled into fists as he bit his lips to conceal a gasp caused by the growing pain in his chest.
He had always denied having a crush, or whatever this was, on Yoongi. He had never talked to the guy. You can’t fall for someone just from looking at them from afar and hearing their voice once. Yet here he was, on the floor of Namjoon’s apartment, already halfway through his second chocolate bar. Unsure how he had gotten through the day with how damaged and tired his heart felt. Namjoon sat on the edge of his bed and brushed his hand through the black locks of Jimin’s messy hair. The younger leaned back into the touch before speaking.
“I didn’t even think I had a chance, why am I feeling this way?” He whined
“I thought you didn’t like him?” Taehyung looked up from his phone for a few seconds as he spoke but the menacing look Namjoon gave him kept any more sound from coming out of his mouth.
“I didn’t think I liked him either! With his stupid face and his stupid smile.” Jimin tried to be angry without really knowing what made him angry. He just had to let out his frustrations.
Taehyung seemed to have an epiphany, his eyes growing wide suddenly. He gasped loudly and threw his phone aside.
“But we don’t know for sure it’s his girlfriend!” The younger boy lost a bit of his enthusiasm when the two others glared at him, unimpressed.
“I’m serious, some girls are just clingy! Maybe she has a crush on him but he doesn’t like her back. I mean... it’s possible.” The end of his sentence was mumbled with a disappointed shrug. He had obviously expected the others to agree with him.
Jimin seemed to consider the idea, his eyes fixing a far away point beyond the walls of Namjoon’s messy room. “It’s possible...” the dark haired man finally said.
“No. Come on Jimin.” Namjoon quickly countered. “You can't continue living with false hope.” The older knew he was being harsh, but he would have rather seen Jimin face reality right now than see him get even more attached to Yoongi just to be heartbroken later on.
Jimin, however, seemed to focus only on what Taehyung had to say. Both of the younger men got up and started discussing a plan to find out who the girl really was. Namjoon sighed, his face pressed onto the palm of his hand.
2 weeks and 4 days is exactly how much time it took for Jimin to finally find an excuse to talk to Yoongi for the first time. He was in the computer lab working on an assignment about the development of dog’s brains when he bent down to plug in his usb only to find that someone had left their own in the slot. Pulling it out, he could barely read the clumsy handwriting at first. But Jimin nearly dropped the item when he finally distinguished the name : Min Yoongi.
Jimin’s good conscience told him he had to hand it in to the lost and found desk. But the little devil on his shoulder, Taehyung, had convinced him that it was a sign that he couldn’t waste. So here he was, sitting in a chair in front of a blank monitor. Jimin had finished his work an hour ago already but still waited to see if Yoongi would show up too. Another hour passed and still no sign of the the man. Until a loud noise caught Jimin’s attention. He looked towards the windowed door where Seokjin seemed to have crashed. A short man with brown wavy hair beside the clumsy man was laughing, flashing a familiar gummy smile. Min Yoongi. Jimin’s lungs seemed to empty themselves all at once and his heart started beating twice as fast. The two men walked into the room and settled at a computer only 2 posts next to Jimin. The dark haired boy opened a window and pretended to work while subtlety listening to Yoongi and Seokjin’s conversation.
Seokjin seemed to be the most talkative of the two. Jimin learned a bit too much about the strangers life; he was a business major, recently broke up with his girlfriend, had a cooking blog, wanted to adopt a cat during the upcoming week. Nothing interesting really. Until Yoongi started complaining about his research; something to do with kid’s responses to group activities. Was he a teaching major? For some reason Jimin couldn’t imagine the quiet man being comfortable in front of a class. But he could easily imagine sitting in a room and listening to the older speak all day without any problem. Jimin had briefly heard the voice before, deep and almost only a mumble. It was completely different to hear it for an extended period of time though.
After what felt like an eternity, Seokjin announced he had to go meet up with another student to finish some work, leaving Yoongi and Jimin alone in the room, apart from a first year in the other corner. Jimin stared at Yoongi from the corner of his eyes, toying with the usb in his pocket. Finally gathering up enough courage, Jimin coughed to catch the other’s attention. Yoongi looked over at Jimin with curious eyes when he began to speak with a shaky voice.
“Hum.. you’re Min Yoongi, right?”
Yoongi didn’t reply immediately, looking Jimin over before simply saying “Why?”.
“I found this here earlier, is it yours?” The younger’s voice was uncertain. The previous reply he had gotten from Yoongi had startled him.
“Ah, yes thank you! I’ve been looking everywhere for it.” Yoongi’s tone made a complete 180 and was now a lot more lively as he grabbed the item from the small hand, fingers brushing lightly together making Jimin blush. “Sorry, I thought you were someone else.” Yoongi flashed him a warm smile before going back to his work. Jimin wanted to hear his voice again and he knew if he didn’t continue the conversation right away he would lose his chance. He simply said the first thing that came to mind: “Did you have any important files on there?”
It was probably a personal topic, but Yoongi didn’t seem to mind and almost seemed glad to have someone to distract him from the boring text on the monitor in front of him. Jimin learned that Yoongi really was a teaching major but had previously graduated in music. His goal was to become a music teacher. When the older talked briefly about his girlfriend, simply stating he had to meet up with her later, Jimin felt a now familiar pinch in his chest that lasted only a few seconds. He forced himself to smile, changing the subject. He figured that if he could talk to Yoongi like this everyday, he could learn to ignore the way his heart jumped. If he could see his smile and become his friend, he could be content with that.
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