Paper Balls | Yoonmin

projects

"yoongi," namjoon turned to me, "be my partner?"

"why? so i can do everything? no thanks. and plus, i already have a partner." i answered. i don't have a partner but i know nobody will ask to work with jimin so i know he's free. no offense to him.

namjoon just rolled his eyes and left our table, walking over to a group of girls.

i spun around and went over to jimin's seat. he'd been awfully quiet since tuesday. he had his headphones in and face burried in his arms as if he was sleeping.

i gently shook his arm, not wanting to startle him too much. his head popped up and when he saw it was only me, he took out his headphones, pausing his music.

"wanna be my partner?" i asked, turning a chair around to sit in front of him.

"s-sure." he said.

i leaned in a little, lowering my voice, "is everything okay?"

"y-yeah." he nodded, "i'm just t-tired, that's a-all."

"okay but if you need to talk, i'll listen." i gave him a small but reassuring smile. i talked to his grandmother a little more over the phone after tuesday. she is pretty young like i thought. she didn't tell me too much about jimin, knowing he'd tell me sometime. jimin tends to get stressed out easily and she said it's good if he's given the option to talk about it which would result in him receeding into little space but only if they were alone.

jimin nodded.

"it doesn't look that hard, does it?" i muttered, looking over the papers that the teacher handed out.

"im n-not very g-good at math..." jimin said, looking suddenly worried.

"it's okay, neither am i but we'll figure it out. so... we have to create a city? that sounds fun. doesn't it?"

jimin nodded.

▫☁❇☁▫

jimin groaned out of frustration and leaned back against the headboard.

"we can take a break if you want." i suggested.

"n-no it's ok-kay." jimin argued. he leaned forward again and continued to work. i just set down my pencil and watched him. he was obviously biting his lip. and hard. his hand jittered at his side.

"jimin..." i said and he looked over at me. i grabbed the papers from in front of him and closed the laptop, putting it on my desk.

"yes y-yoongi?"

"you can go into little space if you want to. i don't like seeing you trying to hold it in."

"b-b-but-"

"i'm not forcing you to. it's only if you want to. but you don't see me having any problem with it, so you're okay. okay?" i ruffled his hair. i know how to make my friend receed into little space quickly and it seems to work for jimin, too.

jimin laid down, curling into a bit of a ball on the side of my bed with his back facing me. he seemed tired.

i went down the hallway and grabbed an old dark blue fuzzy weighted blanket. my sister used to use it to help with her anxiety and it calmed her down. i figured it would help him become less stressed and feel... safer, in a way.

i gently placed the blanket over him.

"yoongi?" he asked, his voice sounding a little different but not in pitch.

"yes?"

"um, w-will you, um-" he stumbled over his words and he hid his face from me. after seeing my two old friends together for so long, i knew exactly what jimin was asking.

"uh," i bit my tongue, "cuddles, yeah?" his eyes seemed to change. i guess he didn't expect me to know.

he shyly nodded, "b-but only if you're o-okay with it-t."

i didn't respond but crawled under the blanket after kicking off my shoes. i really don't mind. if he wants to then i'm okay with that.

i rolled him over to face me and pulled him in. i like to think that the closer you hold someone, the better and safer they feel. and, after the little information his grandma gave me about his past, i know jimin needs it.

he pressed his face into my chest, holding my shirt in a bunch in his fist. i draped my arm over his waist. i have to admit that i... kind of liked it. affection was never something that was present in my life and having jimin here just felt nice.

jimin was soon out like a light and i surprisingly found myself asleep, too.