Work Text:
How dare this little blonde-headed runt sit at their table.
Who does he think he is? Doesn’t he know better than to sit at this table?
If he didn’t before, he will now—
“Yo, Blondie!” he yelled. Yeah, fine, okay, sure, perhaps not the most creative nickname, but it was the best he could come up with on the fly. His long confident strides carried him to his usual table; heads turned to look at him marching through the sea of long cafeteria tables toward the one in the middle of the room, but the one head he called out remained buried in the confines of whatever stupid textbook this nerd decided to read during lunch. He stopped, his imposing figure just feet away from the shorter boy. How dare he.
“Blondie!”
No response. This kid really didn’t have a clue.
Leaning over the laminated baby blue wood toward the pipsqueak parked in the middle of the designated popular table, Jungkook gritted his teeth as he began to whisper his final warning: “I don’t like having to repeat myself three times, Blondie.” The kid froze. “It’s in your best interest to find a new table before I pour your chocolate milk all over your stupid math textbook, Blondie.”
After about three seconds of dead silence, the blonde-haired student finally had the guts to look up at Jungkook directly, eyes wide with fear and regret.
Deep ochre eyes staring at him.
Puffy cherub-cheeks holding up black thick-rimmed glasses.
Tousled blonde hair falling softly on his delicate features.
“I’m sorry,” he squeaked out, hurriedly grabbing his textbook and backpack to find another spot among the maze of occupied tables. Jungkook only stood there, mouth agape and eyes tracking the short nerdy boy as his blonde hair bobbed through the cafeteria to a lone open spot at the end of the one of the tables.
“And stay away, runt,” Yoongi growled, setting his tray full of food next to Jungkook, who was still hovering over the middle of the table. “I hate that kid,” he muttered.
“You know him?” Jungkook mumbled back, standing up straight and looking down.
“Yeah. Name’s Jimin. He’s the biggest goody-two-shoes nerd in this goddamn school. Ratted me out to the teacher for smoking behind the gym. Fucker.”
“Jimin,” he whispered.
“What?”
“N-nothing, just gonna get food. Save my spot.”
Yoongi grunted.
Jungkook dropped his backpack and looked up to try to see if the blonde-haired nerd—Jimin—was still there. No luck.
☀☀☀☀☀
He needed a break. Hoseok was being especially loud today, and he could still hear the upperclassman’s high-pitched laughter ringing in his ears. He walked into the bathroom, fishing his headphones out of his pocket and untangling the stupid cords. Except… he could hear something coming from the bathroom. Running water? No, it was too unsteady to be water. Shoving his headphones back into his pocket and rounding the corner into the main cavity of the guys’ bathroom, the source of noise was right there.
It wasn’t running water. It was sniffling—crying. And the source was Blondie—Jimin. The smaller boy was sitting in the corner of the dingy bathroom, his brown-bag lunch resting on his lap while the blonde-haired student’s body shuddered, sobs shaking his entire body. Jungkook’s sudden stop caused his Timbaland boots to scuff and squeak against the tile floor, earning an immediate mortified look from Jimin’s puffy tear-stained eyes. The same ochre eyes that petrified him yesterday were wet and glimmering under the fluorescent row lights.
“Blondie, I—“
Before he could get any more of his sentence, the shorter boy suddenly got up, shoved his lunch in the trash, and darted out of the bathroom. Jungkook just watched, noticing how he used his sweater sleeve to dry his face and how he hiccupped while rounding the corner out of the bathroom. Looking at the long bathroom mirror, he questioned the raven-haired boy staring back at him: was he really that scary? Jeon Jungkook the bully?
Not even five seconds later, Hoseok’s loud voice pulled him from his trance: “Damn, what did you do to the kid, Jungkook?”
“N-nothing, I didn’t do anything!” he stammered out, eyes looking down while Hoseok walked to the closest urinal.
“Better hope he doesn’t rat you out, kid,” Hoseok hummed, unzipping his fly.
Exasperated, he left the bathroom before Hoseok could get another word in.
But he didn’t do anything, he told himself.
☀☀☀☀☀
He was determined to make it clear to Blondie that he didn’t do anything to him yesterday.
Part of him also wanted to see the shorter boy’s beautiful brown eyes stare back at his again.
Part of him also wanted to make it up to the kid for being so shitty to him two days ago.
Part of him thought he was going crazy.
Yeah, yeah, Jeon Jungkook showing remorse? What happened? Did aliens abduct him and switch his brain with someone else? Did he get hit in the head yesterday? He could hear Hoseok’s howling laughter from three miles away if the junior ever learned that the Jeon-fucking-Jungkook did something—anything—for another human being—especially for a nerd—out of whatever cold, shriveled-up goodness remained in his unflinching heart. Yoongi joined in with the dry wit, he thought to himself; there’s no way Hoseok would come up with poetic shit like that.
“Next,” the lunch lady hissed, beckoning him forward with her steely glare.
He rolled his eyes and slid his singular chocolate milk carton across the checkout counter.
“That’s it?” the lady asked, a mocking undertone subtly tracing its way through her short question.
“Not hungry,” he mumbled back, handing his student ID card over.
“Next,” she said, and he walked off to find his target while shoving his ID back into his pocket.
He wasn’t hard to find. Blondie liked dressing in pale-colored oversized sweaters and those stupid thick-rimmed glasses, like his mother was still dressing him. Disgusting. Leisurely walking toward Blondie’s table, regret started percolating up in the pit of his stomach. Why? Why does he care so much about someone as contemptibly nerdy as Blondie? Whatever, he already bought the chocolate milk, he might as well give it to the nerd.
“Blon—Jimin,” he called out, correcting himself midway through.
The shorter boy’s blonde mop of hair bounced as he jerked his head to look Jungkook in the eye. Immediately the kid started to pack up his stuff, ready to bolt again.
“No, stay,” Jungkook commanded, his voice darker and scarier than he had been hoping. He really wasn’t helping mend the meancing, brooding image he let off yesterday.
The shorter boy wordlessly stared at him, slinking back into his seat while cautiously watching Jungkook’s actions.
Placing the chocolate milk carton on the side of the table opposite of Jimin, he quietly slid the carton toward the blonde-haired kid’s textbook. Jimin couldn’t decide what to look at, his eyes darting between the chocolate milk and Jungkook’s eyes.
“It’s not poisoned,” he deadpanned, earning a confused look from Jimin. Real smooth, Jungkook. “I’m, uh, sorry about yesterday.”
Jimin’s ochre eyes grew wide at the apology.
“Um, bye,” Jungkook stuttered out, eyes darting around to make sure no one noticed him. Immediately, he noticed a group of theater girls standing in a pack near Jimin, like they were ready to intimidate him out of his spot. The girls were warily eyeing Jungkook, as if he had disrupted the social hierarchy of the school by interacting with the blonde-haired math nerd with no friends. He just glared back at him, warning them not to even dare forcing Blondie from his spot. They seemed to get the message, the leader making dissatisfied clicking sounds with her tongue and whispering for the others to go find another table.
He looked back at Jimin, who seemed to be thanking him with a subtle upward crescent shape outlining his eyes and a small smile spreading across his lips. Jungkook escaped before this could get even worse for his self-image: Jeon Jungkook helping a fucking nerd. He speedily found the populars’ table, and he squeezed himself between Yoongi and Hoseok at the center of the group.
“What took you so long, Kook?”
“Nothing.”
“Where’s your food?”
“Not hungry.”
“That’s a first.”
He was starving.
☀☀☀☀☀
Fucking Hoseok managed to get them lunch detention today.
Hoseok just had to be yelling in the general vicinity of Yoongi smoking back behind the gym again and of course they had to drag Jungkook along for shits and giggles. Why doesn’t Hoseok just rat on them? It would be faster and more effective than being a dumbass.
Jungkook had three minutes to get his lunch and get back to the detention room or risk double-detention. Shoving his way through the crowd, he found the stack of chocolate milk cartons. He dealt with the lunch lady rolling her eyes at him (“could you be any slower?”), he dealt with the leader of the theater kids (“don’t you fucking dare to kick Blondie out of his spot”), and he still had time to spare.
Dropping the milk carton in front of Jimin, he hurriedly gave his spiel: “Lunch detention today, theater girls won’t bother you, I’m still sorry,” he blurted out. Jimin’s face lit up, his eyes melting into a beautiful eye smile.
Fuck. He could spend hours looking at Jimin’s smile.
Turning around before he decided to ditch lunch detention altogether, he was caught by a sweet melodic voice from behind—
“Wait!”
Jungkook looked back at the blonde-haired boy, who was looking down at the milk carton sitting in front of him.
“I, um,” he started. “Thank you,” he blurted out.
Jungkook nodded, a small smile spreading across his lips.
Jimin’s eye smile stuck with him all through lunch detention.
☀☀☀☀☀
“Come with me, Jimin,” he spat out.
The blonde-haired boy looked up from his history textbook, that familiar confused look spreading across his face.
“Come on,” Jungkook repeated, pulling the shorter boy’s textbook from across the table and closing the page. He folded the book up against his side (in what perhaps might be documented as the first time Jeon Jungkook has ever been caught alive carrying a book) and grabbed Jimin’s backpack with his other free hand.
Not waiting for Jimin—and knowing that he would follow—Jungkook made his way toward the courtyard. Stares from confused students didn’t faze him, even though he probably looked like an idiot with his backpack, Jimin’s book, and Jimin’s heavy-as-fuck backpack all being dragged by yours truly, Jeon Jungkook.
The blonde-haired boy finally caught up to him: “Wait! Jungkook! Where are we going?
“Trust me,” he hissed back.
Powering through the pain of carrying all of Jimin’s belongings plus his own, he rounded the corner at the end of the courtyard and continued toward the area back behind the gym.
“Wait, Jun—“
“—What do you keep in this goddamned thing?” he asked, cutting Jimin off. “Rocks?”
Jimin giggled. “Books.”
“Should’ve guessed,” Jungkook muttered, adjusting his grip on the smaller boy’s backpack.
Back behind the gym was the school’s lone cherry blossom tree, which was growing in its own planter box separate from the other plants. The stone wall that encircled the tree was his destination; two chocolate milk cartons were waiting there, straws pointing toward each other. Heading toward the farther of the cartons, Jungkook placed all of his cargo along the stone wall and hoisted himself onto the wall. Jimin followed suit, taking his place near the other chocolate milk carton. His feet dangling off the edge of the stone wall, he picked up his chocolate milk carton and took a few small sips while staring at Jungkook with wide eyes.
A chilly spring breeze whistled through the courtyard, earning a shudder from Jimin.
“Cold?” he asked.
The smaller boy nodded.
Sliding his black leather jacket off of his frame, he scooted closer to Jimin on the wall and draped the jacket around Jimin’s shoulders. The blonde-haired boy flushed bright red from the proximity, his face nearly as red as the cherry blossoms above them.
Jungkook couldn’t help himself.
Cupping Jimin’s face with his hands, he forced the boy to look at him. Hands falling from Jimin’s face, he brought his head close to Jimin’s and placed a soft ephemeral kiss on Jimin’s lips. Pulling back, an even-more-furiously-blushing Jimin was staring back at him.
“You’re really fucking cute, Blondie.”
Scooting closer, he wrapped an arm around Jimin’s waist.
“But you taste like chocolate milk.”