varsity | vmin

8

"...and then what comes next?" Jimin encouraged Taehyung to answer the question about what they had just went over. Taehyung just sat there, staring down at the math book as if he would find the answer on the page it was opened to.

"I... I... I don't know." Taehyung shamefully admitted, bringing his hand up to meet his forehead. Jimin let out a brisk sigh.

"Come on, of course you do! We just went over this!" Jimin tried to take on a positive tone to help make his crush feel better, but it seemed to do the exact opposite.

"God, why am I so fucking stupid? I'm really, really sorry." Taehyung didn't bother looking up from the paper as he was beginning to feel worse and worse as the lesson went on.

"Don't say that, Tae! And there's absolutely nothing to be sorry about. Maybe we just need to take on a different approach," Jimin comforted. It probably didn't help that Jimin was unusually advanced for his age and was too expecting of Taehyung, he thought.

Taehyung provided no comment.

"Let me explain it differently." Jimin went on to explain the concept, but with a new approach that might would benefit Taehyung. "So, what would you get?"

"You would get... six?" He answered in the form of a question. To Taehyung's surprise, Jimin's face lit up.

"You got it!" Jimin praised the jock who was holding back a smile as he was proud of himself too. "You see, it wasn't so hard after all. It just took a new teaching method and now you understand!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Taehyung snickered. "Let's do some more."

"Now, that's the spirit!" Jimin cheered, turning the page in the book to carry on with the lesson.

❦

"Well, I think that wraps up our lessons for today." Jimin slowly shut his laptop while Taehyung helped him gather books into his backpack. The tutoring session had at last come to a conclusion roughly after two hours.

"Thanks again, Jimin. Are you sure you don't want to be paid?" Taehyung asked.

"Positive," Jimin remarked with a smile. While it wouldn't hurt for Jimin to make a few extra dollars to help pay off his mother's treatments, he couldn't bare to trouble Taehyung with having to worry about affording tutoring lessons. Besides, Jimin had already received a plethora of academic scholarships for college so that wasn't a concern either.

"So, uh... um... I'm gonna get going, I guess." Taehyung awkwardly stood to his feet and bashfully waved at Jimin. It was strange to see his crush so shy like that, he thought.

"Same here, see ya." The smaller of the two also planted his feet on the floor, clutching his laptop under his arm. He reflected a gentle wave back to Taehyung as he followed him out of the cafe.

It became quite awkward as the two finally went their separate ways towards their cars, not saying a word. Then, Jimin stopped in his tracks and darted in the opposite direction, towards Taehyung.

"Hey, when and where do you wanna meet to study again?" Jimin frantically reached his arm out to touch the other's arm in hopes of grabbing his attention. To much success, the jock whirled around to face him.

"Uh, that's up to you. And you could have just texted me instead of flagging me down." Taehyung giggled at Jimin's efforts whose cheeks quickly tinted pink.

"Ah, my bad. Maybe the same as today. Meet Sunday at 11:00 a.m. at the coffee shop?" Jimin offered.

"I would, but I have mandatory football practice every morning, starting next weekend. We're preparing for the playoffs." Taehyung remembered his booked schedule, seeming disappointed.

"Oh." Jimin nodded, pretending to know what 'playoffs' were. "Well, we can meet here after school one day," he tried again.

"Sure, sounds like a plan. Can we do Wednesday? It's the only day practice ends early." Taehyung cringed at how high maintenance he came across.

"Of course! Wednesday it is." Jimin gave a friendly smile as he slowly stepped backwards. Suddenly, he stumbled over his own foot causing him to lose his balance. Instinctively, Taehyung lunged forward catching Jimin in his arms before he came in contact with the ground. Meanwhile, Jimin lurched his arms forward and clutched onto the silver-haired boy's jacket to save his fall. Time almost went in slow motion as Jimin stared up at his crush who was cradling him in a dipped position.

"You alright?" Finally, Taehyung brought him back to an upright position, patting his upper arm.

"Y-Yeah, thanks." His face flushed bright red, Jimin surged with excitement and energy in response to what had just happened. "Goodbye," he blurted. Within a second, Jimin was speed-walking to his car, overflowing with butterflies. He was too busy hyperventilating to hear Taehyung reply with a farewell. Reaching his car, he flung himself inside and closed his eyes. What the fuck just happened!? He thought. Unable to steady his shaking fingers, Jimin was left to wait in the cafe parking lot until he was calm enough to drive back home, safely. He couldn't wrap his mind around anything that occurred in the last minute. All Jimin knew was that no matter how flustered he was now, deep down, he liked it.

[a/n:
i'm so excited for bts's new comeback but my bank account isn't :(
also, when i finish this book, i think i want to do like a "fun facts about this book" at the end bc i think it would be interesting, or i could do a q&a?
idk, y'all decide! xx]