The following morning at school, Jimin met Taehyung during lunch to decide on the first tutoring session.
At first, Jimin was too anxious to approach the lunch table swarmed with football players and cheerleaders, but after recalling the words of encouragement from Jaehee the night before, he conjured up enough courage to talk to Taehyung.
He marched up to the table, earning several scowls and glares.
"Hey, Taehyung, can we-"
"Oh, Jimin, lets go talk over there!" Taehyung immediately cut Jimin off while springing up from his chair and leading Jimin away from the lunch table. By then, everyone at the table was shooting the two questioning looks until they were out of hearing range.
Taehyung parked beside the janitor's closet and signaled for Jimin to do the same. He frantically looked around to see if anyone was listening. Deciding it was safe to talk, he slid his hands into his pockets and motioned for Jimin to continue.
"What was that about?" Jimin curiously darted his eyes back and forth between Taehyung and the lunch table filled with popular kids.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Taehyung's cool demeanor convinced Jimin. "I just thought we could use some privacy, that's all." With that, Jimin's stomach exploded with butterflies and his fingers began to tremble. He knew Taehyung didn't mean 'privacy' in that way, but that didn't stop his heart from fluttering.
"O-okay, cool, I was just wondering when a convenient tutoring session would be for you. Like, maybe after school today," Jimin offered.
"Ah, I have practice after school today." Taehyung pushed his luscious hair back with his fingers causing Jimin to melt.
"Well, how about after practice?" Jimin felt proud of himself for forming a sentence with a stable voice while looking his crush in the eyes.
Taehyung noticed his friends at the table staring at the both of them from across the room and became somewhat panicked. "Sure, sounds great! See ya there!" The silver-haired boy quickly responded and held up a peace sign before abandoning Jimin to return to his lunch table before his friends got anymore suspicious.
"Al-Alright," Jimin whispered to himself as he watched the jock prance back to the lunch table. "After practice it is."
❦
Tweet! The ear-splitting whistle caused Jimin to slam his sketchbook shut and cover his ears.
"Nice work, guys! Now hit the showers!" The football coach shouted to the players at the end of practice, his voice echoing across the entire field.
Jimin sat on the water bench, waiting for practice to end so that he and Taehyung's tutoring session could begin as soon as possible. He stood up and waved violently to grab Taehyung's attention.
"Is... is that Jimin?" Junhyeon questioned, pointing in his direction. Taehyung turned around and his eyes widened. "I think he wants you," Junhyeon added.
"Um, go ahead to the locker room. I'll be right back." Taehyung nervously pushed his friend and trotted over to Jimin. Junhyeon glared at the silver-haired boy in utter confusion and slight suspicion, but left for the locker room showers.
Taehyung rapidly closed in on Jimin who began to speak: "Hey, I was-" Jimin was abruptly cut off by Taehyung forcefully pulling the collar of his shirt, jerking him behind the bleachers. He was pinned against a post, knocking the breath out of him.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Taehyung whisper-shouted at Jimin who was stunned frozen. Taehyung realized how aggressive he must have appeared to Jimin and eased off.
"Y-you s-said we could study after... after football practice." Jimin was visibly shaking. He hadn't had the slightest idea of what was going on.
"Yeah, but you didn't have to let the whole team know by sitting there for the entire practice and waving me down like a maniac!" Taehyung scolded Jimin who didn't even realize he was doing something wrong.
Jimin looked down, swallowing the lump in his throat. "S-Sorry," he apologized. "But... but why are you always so concerned about people seeing us talking? It's because of me, isn't it?" Jimin kept his eyes glued to the ground as he couldn't find the courage to look at his crush face to face.
Taehyung stared at the saddened boy with his mouth hung open. He reached his hand up and facepalmed himself. "No, it isn't because of you, Jimin. Not at all." Taehyung immediately felt guilty for making him feel upset, but wasn't sure how to make it up to him.
"It's just that..." Taehyung paused. Jimin finally looked up to find that the jock was now shamefully looking to the ground. "...I'm embarrassed about being tutored."
Taehyung met Jimin's eyes. "Why is that?" Jimin asked.
"I don't know," Taehyung started. "It may not look like it, but I'm really insecure about my grades. Almost everyone on my team makes perfect grades without even trying. And here I am, unable to understand simple concepts and still failing no matter how hard I try. And I do try. I just don't want anyone finding out that I have to be tutored to be as smart as them. I feel like they'll make fun of me." Taehyung hung his head low out of shame.
"You really do care about academics, don't you?" Jimin responded.
"Yeah, I genuinely do." Taehyung smiled softly due to Jimin noticing that he actually cared about his grades.
"Well, I just hope you know that having a little help isn't something to be embarrassed about, but I get it. I know what it's like to be ashamed of something that's completely normal, but if anyone found out it would ruin your life." The two stood there in comfortable silence for several long seconds after Jimin's reassuring statement.
"Why don't we postpone our first tutoring session." Taehyung interrupted the silence.
"I like the sound of that. Maybe somewhere off campus next time," Jimin smiled.
"Deal," Taehyung smiled back. "Alright, I'm off to get showered. Take care." He tapped Jimin's shoulder and pivoted on his foot to leave.
Before he could take a step away, Jimin called out to him. "Tae," the silver-haired boy turned back around to face him. "Our secret is safe with me." Jimin's smile grew, as did Taehyung's. Mimicking his crush, Jimin reached up and tapped his shoulder. Taehyung laughed, ruffling Jimin's hair. With that, he left for the locker room leaving Jimin, a grinning mess, behind the bleachers.
[a/n: adskhsiwhskdbs euphoria is such a fucking bop!
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also, blurryseokis my favorite person in the entire world and y'all need to shower her with love and support!! this has been my ted talk, thank you. xx]
