Sticks and Stones • Park Jimin

viii.

Jimin thought he was doing okay. Class was still awful, but he was past the point of confusion and denial. Besides, during the whole class, he was busy thinking about his two new friends.

He, Taehyung, and Jungkook ate lunch together on the rooftop. That way, no one from Jimin's class would see them, and he was glad, because they were a secret he wasn't ready to share just yet.

But it was more out of selfish motive than anything else. He didn't want to hear new, sharp jokes about his friends. He didn't want to hear the laughter and the inflection of incredulity that Jimin could even have friends.

So Kyung-soo and the others couldn't know about Jungkook and Taehyung.

And Jungkook and Taehyung couldn't know about Kyung-soo.

Jimin was on his way to the roof when he almost tripped over a boy who was sitting hunched up on the ground with his arms around his news. Jimin started to apologize when he realized that the boy was crying.

"Um..." Jimin began, hesitantly crouching down next to the boy. "Are you...okay, you're not okay...What's wrong?"

The boy sniffled and raised his head, pushing his lips into a pout. "Am I pretty?"

Jimin froze, not expecting those words to come out of the boy. "Wha- um... yes?"

"I know!" the boy exclaimed, throwing his hands out wildly and almost smacking Jimin. "I'm the most attractive boy in this whole school!"

Jimin flinched at his volume. "Did someone call you u-" His throat hitched on the word and he swallowed. "Someone told you you're not pretty, and that's why you're upset, right?"

The boy looked at him strangely. "No, why would I be upset when I hear a lie?"

"Right..."

The boy sniffed delicately. "My hair was sticking up today and nobody told me until lunch."

Jimin just stared at him. First world problems... "Okay..." He tried to feel empathetic, but it was hard to sympathize with such superficial problems. But he knew what it felt like to cry alone, so he decided to try to be nice. "I'm going to have lunch on the roof with two of my friends. Do you want to come with?" He smiled. Then he considered the fact that he actually might be rejected, and he winced. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to..."

The boy looked at Jimin. "O-outside? But...the wind...it might part my hair the wrong way..."

Jimin sighed, standing up. "Okay, I'll stop bothering you. But, just saying, all the pretty people eat on the roof."

The boy only hesitated a second before scrambling up. "I want to eat on the roof."

Jimin smiled. "Okay, come with me." Jimin led him to the roof, whereupon Jungkook and Taehyung looked up in surprise.

"Who's this?" Taehyung asked, sticking a celery stick in his mouth and crunching loudly.

"I'm Jin," the boy introduced, staring first at Taehyung and then at Jungkook for a second before turning back to Jimin with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Jimin asked.

"I thought you said the pretty people eat up here."

rip taehyung & jungkook