Bubble games

eighteen

Jimin walks into the school, passing a hand through his bright orange hair, and swaggers up to his locker. Everybody is gaping at him on his way, and, quickly, he can hear whispers spread through the hallway. The small teenager smirks, without looking at them though, and opens his locker to take a few books out, then readjusting his black backpack on his shoulder.

"Hey, Jimin, welcome back! What did you do to– Wow," a voice says next to him, quite surprised. Jimin smiles to Jin, whose jaw has also dropped at the sight of his friend. "You– You look good."

The younger boy winks at him and puts his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket–one he had never worn at school yet. Jin shakes his head and prompts his friend to get going. On their way, the Senior student seems to be worried because of all the people staring at Jimin's sudden physical change, but the boy actually seems to enjoy their stunned looks.

As soon as Taehyung and Jungkook catch sight of Jin and their classmate, they run to them and bounce on the smallest. "We've missed you so much!" Taehyung whispers, holding him tight.

"New hairstyle?" Jungkook asks, pointing at Jimin's orange hair, which he wears up today. "It's nice."

Jin quietly kisses his little friend's forehead and murmurs, "If you don't feel well, just call me, okay?"

"I'll be fine," Jimin answers, rolling his eyes, and he follows his classmates into the room.

He spends half the lecture joking around with Jungkook, trying to bug Taehyung and get him excluded from class, but the teacher sends him out instead. Jimin only chuckles and gathers his stuff, promising his friends he would wait for them at the cafeteria.

Jimin cannot help but feel a little thrilled. He has never been excluded from class before. What would Jin say? What would Yoongi have said? The boy loses his smile. He must not think about Yoongi. He has decided to come back to school precisely to forget about Yoongi and just get over everything. He refuses to sink back into depression.

As he is sitting at a table in front of the cafeteria, scrolling through his phone, he feels someone approaching him. He raises his head and sees a group of younger girls stop on their way and giggle. One of them boldy steps forward and calls him out, "Jimin oppa!"

He offers her a seductive smile–one he was not even aware he could make–and waits for her to go on. "Will you be my boyfriend?" she squeaks.

Jimin tries not to look astonished, and finally tells her he cannot, but gets up to kiss her cheek, and she blushes, running back toward her friends, who start giggling madly. He feels strange. Nobody has ever paid attention to him. Is wearing ankle boots and leather jackets all it takes for people to notice him? It is just as if every student and teacher in that school truly saw him for the first time today. As if he had been invisible, shielded, this whole time. Was that the bubble Yoongi was talking about? Was that the wall he had built to feel safe?

As the boy is about to get back to his table in order to wait for his friends, he can see someone in the cafeteria, sitting at their usual table, alone. He guesses this must be Hoseok–he always gets there first to save the seats, letting Namjoon go collect Jin after his morning classes. Jimin smiles to himself and decides to pick his backpack and enter the building, slightly rolling his hips as he walks toward the other student.

Hoseok looks up and raises his eyebrows. As he is about to talk, Jimin gets near him and only puts his index on the older's mouth. Hoseok closes his mouth, his lips slowly sliding on Jimin's finger, and gulps. His friend gives him a crooked smile and bends a little to whisper in his ear, "I've been thinking about what you said, hyung. And it happens that I might need you after all."