Anyone, But A Jock | Jikook (Mini)

Chapter Three: The Musician

Kim Taehyung, Jimin's best friend since childhood, was stretched out on Jimin's tiny, green couch. The wolf shot a rubber band at the wall, which landed on a growing pale mountain of them in the corner of the room while Jimin worked on his art submission.

The two were inside Jimin's art studio, which was a repurposed office in his apartment. It wasn't the largest space, but Jimin did with it what he could. He had access to a second, much larger art studio through his National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Fellowship. But it was on the other side of the city with restricted hours, so painting at home was more accessible and more convenient.

Besides, Jimin had turned the space into a little sanctuary of sorts. It was filled with sunlight pooling through one large window, low golden light flooding from lamps, and a floor covered in a paint-splattered tarp. There was his favorite green couch, a thrift-find from Gangnam's marketplace last year, and a dark wood shelf storing his art supplies that his best friends had signed the frame of. Whenever anyone joined the space to paint with him from his fellowship, he'd have them sign the frame too after finishing a glass of wine and bonding over shared creative panic. He had a couple bottles stored in an old wine cabinet Seokjin gifted him for his birthday last year. It was made of the same wood as the one holding his supplies, but had personality in its slight wear and tear, and sat in the corner away from the sun.

Traveling to MMCA also meant running into fellowship partners he didn't like, which turned into social politics faster than project productivity. Something about the space transformed them. Going from friendly faces to competitive sneers depending on how close to a deadline they all were. More specifically, Jimin preferred to avoid running into Kim Yoona. Jimin respected her as part of the same cohort and an art community member, but something about the beta grated him more than anyone else. She was condescending when talking to others and threw unwarranted advice left and right. He did his best to ignore her. She did his best to piss him off.

Jimin sighed, leaning back on his stool. He countered his weight by gripping its front. He was halfway done with a charcoal outline of the painting he wanted to submit for his fellowship's student showcase. The cohort of fourteen fellows had to complete a twenty-four by thirty-four-inch large canvas under the theme "Still Life." The design, style, and techniques were up to them as long as the wall-length canvas filled mindfully and represented the theme.

The MMCA held four fellowship art shows yearly; this was Jimin's third. He'd been stuck for weeks struggling to come up with an idea, to the point where he'd burned a bunch of bad sketches during a cohort brainstorming bonfire. He gave it another shot the following week, only to burn those while hanging out with his friends. Taehyung even used one to roll a blunt, saying it was like burning sage and a ceremonial cleanse for Jimin's creative block. Really, all it did was leave Jimin smelling like ash and weed.

That was until Jimin met Jeon Jungkook, and inspiration hit him like a truck. Jimin couldn't remember the last time he'd been this eager to paint. He finished the last stroke of Jungkook's jaw, smudging out some of the sharper details. The canvas he was working on was much smaller than the one for the showcase. It was just a standard sixteen by fourteen-inch piece, something he'd submit as a preliminary work to get his professor's approval before recreating it on a larger scale. Jimin was just glad he would have something to submit at all.

The omega huffed, rubbing his forehead with his thumb before stopping, realizing the charcoal was scratching against his skin. Taehyung, who was half awake on the couch, glanced over with a slow, wicked smile. The look was violently handsome, sharp against his square jaw and tanned skin. Jimin blushed, knowing there was probably a streak of black on his forehead - and, if he were honest, probably on his chin, cheeks, and neck, too, after hours of sketching while Taehyung had napped.