trying to behave (but you know we never learned how)

Chapter nine (mini)

November 2013

Saturday, the 16th, 8:05pm

New York, USA

Jimin's going to lose his fucking shit.

'Relax,' Hannah reminds him, for what feels like the twentieth time in the past three minutes and rubs the gel into his fringe with precise fingers; fingers that have obviously done this before, maybe a couple dozen times. It somehow scares the fuck out of him. 'You're shaking,'

He is.

His brain is spinning.

'I'm alright,' he grits out, throwing her a tight lipped smile and digging his fingers into his thigh, wonders when Yoongi's nervous tick became his. 'Not shaking,'

'You are,' she snorts, pushing her pink fringe out of her eyes with her clean hand that's not currently trying to force Jimin's hair into a makeshift quiff. 'It's fine, though. First timers are always like that,'

The younger boy swallows thickly.

First timers.

His fucking virginity.

'Yeah,' a nod, and Jimin's never felt more unsure in his life. 'F-first timers,'

5 days. That's how long he's been in his new...arrangement.

His new home.

5 days he's managed to avoid his new arrangement.

And 5 days of not nearly enough of the suffering Park Jimin had hoped for.

'How're you holding up in here?' Hannah uncaps a pencil and runs it through his eyebrows, tongue poking out in concentration. Her tone is almost maternal, which is a stark contrast from the half dozen piercings littering her face. 'You doing alright?'

Jimin shrugs, tries to look up at his eyebrows and wonders why this is necessary.

'It's okay. Food's healthy, here,'

She snorts and leans back, caps the pencil back up.  'Malnourishment is the way to go! Ever put eyeliner on, before?' she adds, already reaching into her little makeup box of horrors before he can reply and Jimin shakes his head, decides to not argue about the food, because it ishealthy.

Scheduled and healthy.

Healthier than anything back home.

He doesn't want to make her angry.

'Yeah,' Hannah's saying, squinting slightly into the box; sounds distracted. 'First timers are usually eyeliner virgins,'

I'm a virgin everywhere.

'Are they?' Jimin grabs at his thigh tightly, tries to force down the shaking in his limbs because the idea makes him so fucking nervous.

'Yeah, they are. Sit still for this,' she adds, tone authoritative. Makes him want to obey. 'I don't wanna take your eye out,'

'Is it that bad?' he mutters nervously, squeaking low in his throat when Hannah grabs onto his chin and pulls his eye to the side.

The brush stings. He's not sure if it's supposed to.

'No,' she shrugs. 'But if you keep squirming, it will be,'

Somewhere between sitting still on the uncomfortable dresser stool and trying his hardest to not shake like a leaf, his brain eloquently reminds him that having black liquid goo lathered on his eyes will not be the worst thing happening tonight.