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“Did you see Professor Kim today?” The girl brushing past Jimin squeaked animatedly to another girl beside her. “He looked so, so, so hot!”
Her friend nodded vehemently, so much so that Jimin was a tad bit afraid her head would just loll of her neck. Just who was this Professor Kim, anyways?
Shaking his head, as if trying to shake off the residual thoughts of the mysterious professor from his mind, Jimin continued walking briskly to the staff room to take a breather before he attended another class due about three hours later. He passed by a swarm of students crowding around a class, all of which were whispering loudly to each other.
“What’s going on here?” He asked, genuinely curious.
A girl turned around to respond to his question. “Professor Kim! It’s his legendary cycle on human behaviour!” She said, before whipping back to the figure standing before the classroom.
Standing on his tip toes, Jimin could only catch a glimpse of what seemed like a mop of fiery red hair and a whisper of a deep tenor voice. As he backed away to resume his trip back to the staff room, he heard someone say: “I bet Professor Kim would look good with Professor Park!”
He must’ve heard it wrong. But he didn’t, which was well confirmed by the burst of excited chatter and the mentions of his surname and the other’s together.
Jimin was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice he was already seated at the table of his workdesk, instead staring into space while trying with all his pathetic might to conjure up an image of Professor Kim. Success rate? Zero.
“What’s up?” Hoseok, his deskmate, asked after about five minutes.
“Do you know someone, a professor, perhaps, in the Bio division with the surname Kim?” Jimin blurted, unable to contain his raw curiosity.
Hoseok gave a thoughtful face, then brightened up visibly. “Ah! Yes! His name is Kim Taehyung, the only Kim working as a professor in the Biology department!” He says, then narrows his eyes. “Why do you want to know that?”
pink blooms on Jimin’s cheekbones, as he averts his eyes and mumbles something incoherent. Hoseok’s grin widens, which is practically humanly impossible.
“You heard the students talking about the both of you, didn’t you?” He asks.
“Y-yeah…wait, how do you know that?” Jimin admits.
“Basically everyone, except you, know that.” Hoseok deadpans, before turning back to his laptop, where a powerpoint is on display.
“What?!” Jimin almost-shouts. How come he hasn’t heard of this before?
Hoseok ignores him now, choosing to type away furiously at his keyboard and refusing to look at Jimin.
-
And so a day goes by before our dear Professor Park goes on a quest to find out who the hell this Professor Kim is and why he hadn’t heard of this shipping thing ever before.
He tracked down the man’s schedule for classes, courtesy of him begging Jungkook and promising him a treat to dinner. Aparently, he had a class at ten in the morning in the West Wing of the university, which was, very fortunately, not far away from Jimin’s usual lecture hall. As he wandered down the halls, searching for the specific lecture hall that Kim Taehyung taught in.
He found it, god bless, and slipped into one of the seats in the back, hoping no one would find out who he was. The class was just starting, but Taehyung hadn’t come in yet. And did he just switch to a first-name basis with someone he hasn’t even met yet?
Soon enough, Taehyung swept into the room, his flaming mass of hair unmistakable. Jimin did a once over, silently admiring the tall, lean figure, large hands, and oh- he looked good.
Taehyung regarded the entire class, before introducing the lesson for today and turning to write the title on the whitboard behind him. Beside Jimin, a female student gasped. Turning to find pairs of eyes staring at him, Jimin put a finger to his lips in a ‘shh’ sign. They nodded fervently, but continued to stare at him like he had three heads or something.
Under the scrutiny of the many students, Jimin turned uncomfortably back to face the front of the lecture hall. Taehyung was already launched in the beginning of his explanation of the definition of mitosis and it’s uses.
Jimin found himself entranced by the way Taehyung described the process and drew out diagrams to aid his teaching. Everything about the professor stood out to him, and Jimin thinks he might have a tiny crush on him.
“Now, can I have someone answer my question: Why do we need mitosis to occur?” Taehyung says, eyes roaming the hall expectantly.
Of course, no one raises their hand.
Taehyung sighs, then looks at Jimin. “The boy in the back, yeah, you with the white tee,”
Jimin freezes. He looks to the scores of students recognising him and sniggering for help. Simultaneously, they shrug, not an ounce of remorse found on their faces and wide grins. Jimin thinks their smiles are worse than Hoseok’s.
“Uh-to…to replace the dead cells in the body?” He guesses, relying on his meagre knowlege of cell studies from some book he read when he was bored out of his mind one rainy day.
“Correct. In other words…” Taehyung trailed off and Jimin breathed out the breath he hadn’t noticed he had been holding.
Of course, the other students in the lecture hall found it entertaining, and by then pretty much everyone knew who he was. So naturally, the entire lecture hall broke into loud laughter.
“Hey- What’s going on here?” Taehyung enquires, straight-faced. Jimin gulps.
“Oh my god, Professor Kim, that was Professor Park!” A boy in the front row guffaws, and shit- Jimin’s cover is shot down.
He looks at Taehyung, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. Taehyung stares back, eyes unreadable.
“Uh-I’m-I’m just gonna leave now…” Jimin mumbles and scraambles towards the exit, amidst calls of “Boo…” and “But Professor Park…”
He dashes back to the office, where he promptly buries his head into Hoseok’s chest and not letting go forever. Hoseok laughs and asks, “What’s up, Jiminie?” while patting his head.
“I need to die, like right now, Hobi,” Jimin whines into the cotton of Hoseok’s shirt.
Jimin doesn’t even need to hear the “Why?” to spill.
“Tae-Professor Kim, he found out I snuck into his lecture,” Jimin whimpers, voice high-pitched.
Hoseok just laughs obnoxiously, so much that there are tears in his eyes, and Jimin mumbles something about having no true friends.
-
So Jimin spends his next few days steadfastly avoiding the Biology division, camping out in his lecture hall, until the students filtered in.
So when one day he is marking the quiz his students handed in for a test on the Mole Concept, a pair of black oxfords pause before the teacher's desk, and Jimin assumes it's his first student, even though class doesn't start for another hour.
"So early?" He says, not even bothering to look up.
Then a chuckle. Surprised, Jimin jerks his head upwards, and is greeted by Kim Taehyung, in all his red-headed glory.
Then Jimin's mind is going in a thousand directions at once, and he's going dizzy from the lack of blood in his brain that has gone to his cheeks. He stutters, eyes blinking repeatedly at the smiling face, and at this point Jimin is so sure Taehyung is laughing at him.
"I-I" Dammit, his brain can't even form a coherent sentence.
Taehyung laughs again, the deep timbre of his voice echoing in Jimin's head long after the sound has subsided.
"I'm Kim Taehyung, I teach Bio, as you already know," He says, and Jimin's cheek become even warmer.
So Jimin returns the favour. "Park Jimin, Chemistry sector," He offers a shy smile.
Taehyung mutters something under his breath, and his eyes are flooded with warmth, and Jimin finds it impossible to avert his eyes from the chocolatey depths. The same eyes gaze into his soul, and they fall into a silence that lasts for an eternity until something ignites in Taehyung's eyes that makes Jimin even more attracted to him.
And it isn't until Jimin realises that he has stood up and they have somehow gravitated towards each other that he draws back a fraction. Taehyung seems to realise their close proximity as well, and something flashes in his eyes.
"I-I heard the students talking about the both of us, so out of curiosity, I went to one of your lectures..." Jimin explained, averting his eyes and staring at his students' papers instead.
"I see. Did I meet your expectations?" Taehyung says cheekily, a box-shaped smile etched on his face.
Feeling a little brave, Jimin brazenly nods his head, leaning his face closer to Taehyung's. Taehyung lets out a breath, the warmth caressing Jimin's face.
They fall into a comfortable conversation, and Jimin thinks its nice how they seem to click together so much. But none of them mention the other energy at work in the room, the one whizzing around the both of them and causing goosebumps to rise on their skin. -
It somehow becomes a ritual, the voices and laughs in Jimin's lecture hall hours before his class starts. Through all this, Jimin finds himself falling deeper for the Biology professor, until he can fall deeper no more.
He knows it, and he lets it happen, because he can never stop Taehyung from laying siege to his heart. Taehyung is the only thing he can't and won't change in his life.
-
When Taehyung balls up the courage to ask Jimin out to the Starbucks on campus, Jimin says yes. And over ice-blended mochas and caramel macchiatos, they discover more similarities they share. Well, obviously with the exception of their favourite sciences.
And through the lame scientific pick up lines Taehyung tells Jimin, Jimin finds himself laughing just to see Taehyung's rectangular smile.
They find themself repeating these dates almost twice a week after that. -
It's a rainy night, the kind that Jimin loves the most, when he heads to the ceiling to floor glass that makes up a wall of the office. The room is empty; Jimin is the only one there, and he savours the quietness and the sweet sound of rain pattering against the glass.
Jimin presses a palm to the glass, watching it fog up from the warmth of his hand. From the reflection, he meets the brown eyes. Arms encircle his midriff, and a chin rests on Jimin's shoulder, red strands of hair tickling his neck.
"Jimin," Taehyung's voice rumbles in his chest, and Jimin hums in acknowledgement.
"I love you," Taehyung sighs into his neck.
Jimin exhales. He leans his head against Taehyung's, lifting Taehyung's hands at his waist to tangle with his own.
"Love you too," He mumbles, then staying still, savouring the moment of truth.
"You know, I think I had a crush on you the second time we met in your lecture hall," Taehyung says after some time.
Jimin laughs, voice high and tinkling. "Really? Mine was when I went to your lecture," He admits.
They both smile, undoubtedly thinking of the first time they met and how embarassing it was.
"Well, at least now the ships are coming true," Taehyung says, and leans forward to catch Jimin's lips in a soft kiss. -
So now life has changed drastically for the both of them. Lunches are spent together with the gang, but hands are held underneath the table, which is quickly exposed by Seokjin. Overtime is done cuddle-style, one atop the other chest-to-chest, both facing a laptop. Mornings are when they ride Jimin's car to work, sneaking in kisses during red lights.
Eventually, Taehyung asks Jimin to move into his apartment, which was too empty for his liking anyways, and they split the money Jimin earns from renting his flat out. They hide from the students wandering in the hallways, but they get caught anyways.
How do they get caught? You may ask, so here's what happened.
Jimin was, as usual, in his lecture hall waiting for the first students to trickle in so he could start class promptly. But all plans of his class on electrolysis fades when someone tugs him up and presses him against the mahogany table.
Lips meet and Jimin doesn't need his eyes to know it's Taehyung, just from the way he touches and smells, Jimin can tell. He smells of the shampoo he uses, and the softener he washes his clothes with, and so much like home.
Jimin strings his arms onto Taehyung's shoulders, responding with as much eagerness as Taehyung. Taehyung has a hand caging Jimin in, the other at the small of his back, which is where they stay for the next ten minutes.
Until the door bursts open, and a horde of Jimin's students-female, I might add-squeal at the scene layed out for their hyena eyes to devour.
So now the entire university faculty knows of their relationship they're watched with hound eyes-no, not by the higher-ups-but by the rest of the student population.
-
Ships do come true, I guess.